[media-credit name=’GREGORY DIXON/Herald Photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]EVANSTON, Ill. — Wisconsin's volleyball team tipped off the Big Ten season with a spike, sweeping both Illinois (30-26, 30-26, 30-25) and Northwestern (30-22, 30-24, 30-22) on the road this past weekend.
"I was really pleased with the way we came out," head coach Pete Waite said following the Northwestern match. "Overall, I think we had control of the match pretty much the whole time and really out-dug them.
"It's a great way to start the Big Ten season, on the road especially."
The Badgers edged Illinois Friday night with strong serving (seven aces) and blocking (12 team blocks, nine coming from junior middle blocker Taylor Reineke).
Senior floor captain Maria Carlini led the team with a match-high 16 kills, but was an obvious omission from the starting line-up the following night versus Northwestern.
Carlini still played the same amount, but junior defensive specialist Megan Mills replaced her as a starter, a move Waite said was to improve passing, serving and defense from the get-go.
"Sometimes Mills is passing and serving so well, we decide to give Maria a break in the back-row and let her rest a little bit," Waite said. "Mills has been doing a great job defensively for us as well."
After playing from behind for much of early season tournament play, Waite wanted to see his team gain the lead from teams early.
The Badgers did just that in the first game against Northwestern, going on a five-point run after being tied at five-all to force Wildcats head coach Keylor Chan to call a time-out.
"We definitely did a better job of starting games," Waite said. "The players are working really hard to get a fast start so we're not playing from behind."
However, the Wildcats went on a run of their own later in the first game.
Down 20-13, junior outside hitter Lindsay Anderson recorded three kills to help pull the Wildcats to 20-17.
While Northwestern seemed to be threatening, Waite refused to call a time-out and instead let his team play it out.
"I'll wait as long as I can to call a time-out," Waite said. "If they would've scored another point or two, I probably would've called a time-out or made a sub. That's how I have to manage the game — just see where the momentum swings come from."
In the second game, Wisconsin struggled to break away, flirting with the Wildcats at 16-all. At 21-17, Northwestern coach Chan was livid following a controversial kill by Carlini, which proved to be the turning point of the game.
The Badgers bounced back in the third and final game, jumping out to an early four-point lead, later turning into a 10-point lead at 20-10. However, Wisconsin had trouble putting the game and match away, allowing Northwestern to creep back to within five points at 22-17.
Freshman phenom Brittney Dolgner led UW with a career-high 22 kills and .429 hitting percentage. She was undoubtedly the go-to hitter with 42 kill attempts, the second closest being senior Amy Bladow with 19.
"She's one of our go-to hitters, it's nice to have another one in her," Waite said of Dolgner. "There's often times we'll have four hitters in double-digit kills and some nights, other people are going to step up and this was her night. We were getting her better looks out of the back-row than we were against Illinois."
Junior libero Jocelyn Wack led the Badgers' digging charge, extending her NCAA record of consecutive matches with double-digit digs to 76 on the weekend with a team-high 17 digs. Wisconsin out-dug Northwestern 60-43 and also controlled the net, stuffing 11 blocks to the Wildcats' eight.
Heading into Saturday night's match, Waite was a bit concerned Northwestern was a stronger team than he expected. Picked to finish sixth in the conference, the Wildcats took Minnesota — unranked in the CSTV/AVCA Coaches Poll, but picked to finish third in the Big Ten — to five games.
"We were getting on the bus and heard they were going to five," Waite said. "We were cheering for them, that would've been a big upset if Northwestern got them, but I think they put so much energy into that match and came out a little quiet against us."
Wisconsin now returns back home to the Field House for the Big Ten home opener this weekend, taking on Michigan State and Michigan. It will be the first home game since Sept. 2 for the Badgers.
"We've been on the road for three weeks so we're going to [be] happy to get back home and open the Field House," Waite said.