[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]The No. 10 Wisconsin volleyball team (26-6, 16-4 Big Ten) is advancing to the Sweet 16 for the third year in a row after a pair of victories this past weekend, dispatching Notre Dame and Iowa State from the UW Field House.

In the opening round match, the Badgers faced a familiar foe in Notre Dame (18-14, 10-4 Big East), and for the third year in a row, Wisconsin bounced the Fighting Irish from the tournament with a 36-34, 30-26, 30-21 win.

"We knew Notre Dame was a good team, a very different team," UW head coach Pete Waite said. "That's part of the difficulty of scouting them, is they had so many new people on the court, but they are all aggressive and they are scrappy."

Game one was reminiscent of the last time the Badgers played Notre Dame in Madison.

With the score tied at 14, the Badgers used a 5-0 run to take a 19-14 lead and seemed to be pulling away from the Irish, but Notre Dame came charging back and tied the score at 28-all.

After a kill by freshman Brittney Dolgner gave Wisconsin their first game point, Notre Dame fought off six more before the Badgers were finally able to butt them away.

"Notre Dame is a team that always fights and scraps for everything," junior setter Jackie Simpson said.

"I think it got our players charged up once they won that game," Waite said. "That was a huge game. If [Notre Dame] had won that it would have been a lot different outcome, probably."

Appearing in her first postseason match, Dolgner played like a seasoned veteran in leading the Badgers with 10 kills in game one and a monumental .909 hitting percentage.

"We had pretty solid passing and great sets from [Simpson]," Dolgner said of her high hitting percentage. "She was putting the ball on the money, every ball. Just the location of the setting was on and the great passing to [Simpson]."

Game two started out much like game one ended with both teams going back and forth. With the score knotted at 20, Wisconsin used a small 3-0 run to begin to pull away from the Irish. A kill by Dolgner gave the Badgers game point at 29-24, but Notre Dame was again able to hold off a couple of game points before a kill by sophomore Audra Jeffers ended the Irish's comeback.

Led by junior Taylor Reineke and Jeffers with six and five kills respectively in game three, the Badgers were able to wear down the Irish and complete the sweep.

For the night, Wisconsin led Notre Dame in every statistical category. Dolgner led all players with 21 kills and a .545 hitting percentage.

"Obviously she played very well," Notre Dame head coach Debbie Brown said. "She's a very talented player. She's only a freshman and certainly she is going to be one of the best players to come through Wisconsin in my estimation."

Jeffers (14), Reineke (11) and Maria Carlini (10) also reached the double-digit kill mark.

Wisconsin also out-blocked Notre Dame 11-6 thanks in large part to five blocks in game three.

Waite attributed the pick-up in blocking by game three to "being on the court and the players seeing the tendency of the hitters and what shots they like and trying to take it away … They had some extreme shots where (Christina) Kaelin hit really well, sharp cross courts from the outsides. Earlier they were beating us on the slides and the seam. We needed to fill the hole a little bit better, and we did that."

In Saturday night's second round match, the Badgers swept Iowa State (21-11, 12-8 Big 12) 30-20, 30-25, 30-27.

"I thought we lost to a very good team tonight," former UW assistant and Iowa State head coach Christy Johnson said. "Obviously Wisconsin is very deserving of their No. 10 ranking. They are a very physical team."

Game one saw both teams going back and forth for most of the game until Wisconsin used a 7-2 run to take a 23-16 lead. The Cyclone's block kept the game close early on as they out-blocked the Badgers 4-3 in game one, but Wisconsin was able to make the adjustments needed and cruised to an easy victory.

Wisconsin's balanced offense again proved to be too much for the Cyclones as they once again had four players with double-digit kills.

"We focused on trying to slow down their outside hitters," Johnson said. "I thought we did a good job of that, but unfortunately, they have enough other good players that they could redirect their offense to other people. Those people hit really well."

Jeffers led all players with 14 kills. Reineke chipped in with 11 kills while Dolgner and Amy Bladow both put down 10 kills apiece. Carlini ended the game one shy of reaching double-digit kills but managed to get her 1,000 career kill in the third game becoming the 16th Badger to reach the mark.

"This past week we've connected," Reineke said of the slide attack. "I could just tell that going into this weekend that it was going to be a great weekend in terms of connecting with the setter.

Serving proved to be a key in Wisconsin's victory, as they served tough throughout the match. The Badgers had seven aces with Jocelyn Wack and Carlini leading the way with two apiece.

"It was one of our goals going into the game," Waite said of the Badgers' tough serving. "We knew they had very strong middle attackers, and if we served tough and kept them away from the net, they couldn't run that quick offense. We did that right away and kept [Iowa State] on their heels."

Now Wisconsin will get a rematch with Texas — who swept them in the first match of the season — in the Sweet 16, and the Badgers are looking for revenge.

"There is a lot of extra motivation," Simpson said of their rematch with Texas. "The very first time we came out and played them, the first match of the season, there were all those jitters and [we were] just trying to get use to everyone. I think we are a lot different team since then, and I'd like to see the matchup again."