"I was pleased with [our play]," head coach Pete Waite said. "I have been seeing it for the last couple of weeks, as far as what they are capable of."
In the Badgers' first match of the season, they faced off against in-state rival UW-Milwaukee, winning 30-21, 30-24, 30-19.
"There is a reason [the Badgers] are ranked No. 11 preseason in the country," Panthers head coach Susie Johnson said. "They are a really really good team, and they showed it tonight."
Game one got off to a rough start for both teams as they traded errors. UW didn't get its first kill until sophomore Brittany Dolgner put one down to put the Badgers up 8-6.
From there, Wisconsin cruised to a sweep of the Panthers.
Dolgner, a member of the All-Big Ten first team last season as a freshman, led all hitters with 16 kills. Senior co-captain Taylor Reineke added eight kills and led all blockers with six. With her first block of the game, Reineke became just the sixth Badger to eclipse 500 during her career.
Perhaps the most impressive player, though, was sophomore Caity DuPont. She finished the night with three personal bests — attack percentage (.438), digs (5), points (10.5) — and tied another with nine kills.
"(DuPont) is banging the ball," Waite said. "She didn't get a lot of court time last year, but she's got a lot of great shots, and she's powerful."
In addition to being an in-state rival, UW-Milwaukee also presented a sibling rivalry for senior defensive specialist Amanda Berkley, whose sister is first-year Panther head coach Susie Johnson.
Neither Johnson nor Berkley seemed to take notice of the other, as they directed their attention to the match at hand.
"I was focused on my first match as a head coach and on my team," Johnson said. "I didn't really notice, and it didn't seem to affect me too much. All of a sudden I noticed she was in and was playing well. I didn't want to hit it at her because she did really well, but I'm proud of her."
Wisconsin's next opponent was Gardner-Webb, an undersized and understaffed team from the Atlantic Sun conference. It took little time for the Badgers to dispatch the Running Bulldogs, 30-16, 30-12, 30-13.
In the match, Waite gave his bench players significant court time. Redshirt freshman Nikki Klingsporn and freshman Allison Wack started all three games at setter and the left side respectively. Both looked comfortable, and Wack even managed to record a double-double with 10 kills and 11 digs.
"It was exciting," said Allison of her first start. "Always a little nerves before coming out to a big crowd. Compared to high school this crowd is huge, but that goes away once the game starts. It was fun to get out there and take some big swings."
Junior Morgan Salow also played all three games on the right side and led all hitters with a career high 13 kills.
"It was a good match for us to get a lot of different people in there and get some court time," Waite said. "It was good to see some different combinations."
Wisconsin used tough serves to control the match. In all, the Badgers had 10 service aces. The Runnin' Bulldogs managed just one ace. Badger senior and co-captain Jocelyn Wack was particularly good, leading all players with a career high four service aces. Coach Waite attributes Wack's success to her running serve and offseason regimen.
"I think [Jocelyn's] training this spring as a hitter got her more ready," Waite said. "[It] got her legs ready, got her arms ready for doing that. If you're just a defensive player and you never jump, you're not getting the training that you need. And it takes a while, so I think it worked out well for her."
With the match already in hand, Waite started freshman Kim Kuzma over Wack at libero for the third game.
It marked the first time she didn't start in her collegiate career. The senior didn't mind however, and had only good things to say about the freshman who replaced her.
"Kuzma's a great player, and we are going to be battling it out all season, which is awesome to have every day in practice and every match," she said.
However, Jocelyn did get in late in game three, , only not at libero. Given the chance to swing for the first time in a regular season match, Wack took full advantage by ending the match with a kill.
"It was interesting getting in there to hit," Jocelyn said. "I got really excited and had two errors right away, but it was fun. That was the first time I've hit in a fall match."
Wack was back in at libero for the third and final match of the Inn Towner Invitational against Syracuse, a match Wisconsin won 30-16, 30-17, 30-27.
UW got off to a good start in game one and never looked back. Much of the Badgers' success came from their dominating serving game, which recorded four aces. Game two went the same way. Wisconsin took it by the final score 30-17 to go up two games to none heading into the break seemingly on the verge of another sweep.
But game three didn't start out as planned. With Dolgner on the bench to start the game, the Orange jumped out to a commanding 8-0 lead.
It was then that Waite turned to Dolgner to help get them back in the game. She immediately contributed with a block assist and a kill on her first swing to pull the Badgers within seven points, at 9-2.
"There's always that one person who wants to be the one who comes in and turns the game over," Dolgner said. "When (Waite) sent me in I'm like, 'He's sending me in for a reason; somebody's got to turn this game around,' and I just put in on my shoulders."
The Orange maintained a seven point lead until Wisconsin began turning things around late in the game. Trailing 16-22, the Badgers went on a 14 to five run to close out the game and the match sweep, 30-27.
"I think that was a good finish to the weekend," Waite said. "We did really well the first two games, and then I made some slight changes to the lineup and tried some things. We got out to a bit of a slow start, and we were a little flat, but I thought it was a good comeback.
"That says a lot for a team to step up when they needed to, and getting stronger and tough together."
Dolgner led hitters with 17 kills and junior Audra Jeffers chipped in with 12 kills. Sophomore Katerine Dykstra was also a key contributor, finishing with a career high eight kills and matching her career high with four blocks.
Per the norm, the winning team takes home the most hardware. Three Badgers were named to the all-tournament team — Jocelyn and Dolgner while senior setter Jackie Simpson was named the tournament's MVP.
"A lot of it says how well our team is doing," Simpson said about winning the MVP. "Any time the setter gets recognition, it means the team is doing really well."
