The Wisconsin volleyball team was in high spirits after earning its first Big Ten victory against the Purdue Boilermakers (13-6, 4-4). The Badgers won in four sets (25-22, 21-25, 25-16, 25-17) in an exciting home win for a team that has struggled lately.

Head coach Pete Waite was in a good mood after the team’s first win.

“On the bench at the end, one of my assistants, Brian, thought the crowd would be rushing the floor like after the football game,” Waite said. “They didn’t do it, but we thought that might have been fun.”

The team has the right to be excited after an impressive win over a Purdue team that entered the weekend ranked No. 15.

In the first set, Wisconsin held a small lead over Purdue, until the Boilermakers came back to take a 20-16 lead. The Badgers responded well and showed composure to come back and win the first set 25-22.

“In the first set, we talked about making a comeback and driving the momentum,” Waite said. “That was huge to give us hope to say we can do it anytime this match.”

Wisconsin lost the second set, but rebounded with a strong finish in the third and fourth sets. The Badgers’ momentum carried them through the rest of the match.

“Momentum’s always huge,” senior Kim Kuzma said. “I just think we were playing well. When we have fun we play well, and when we play well we have fun.”

Kuzma played very impressive with a team-leading 26 digs. As a whole, the Badgers played very well defensively with six blocks and 69 digs. There were many times in the match that they showed their resiliency by keeping rallies alive.

Freshman outside hitter Elise Walch also played extremely well against Purdue.

“She had not been doing that well recently, and she really had a great hitting percentage, [and] led us in kills,” Waite said.

Walch had a .370 hitting percentage and 14 kills Sunday afternoon.

The Badgers were glad to win Sunday, after a disappointing loss in three sets to Indiana (16-25,18-25,8-25).

“We were making some of the same defensive plays [today], but on Friday night we would maybe make a hitting error and give it away,” senior outside hitter Allison Wack said. “It kills your energy. Tonight for the most part we really stayed within ourselves. I think that’s easy when you’re not making a ton of errors to just keep rolling and feel confident in what you’re doing.”

Another bright spot for the Badgers was the play of Julie Mikaelsen. The right side hitter brought a lot of energy coming off the bench. She had seven kills in the match against Purdue.

“She’s started for us before, and she’s always eager to be in there,” Waite said. “I think that did make a big difference. It kind of sparked us, and being a lefty makes a difference too [because] it’s a little hard to stop.”

Sunday’s victory against Purdue was big for Wisconsin. The Badgers showed they have the potential to be a tough team when they play well in all aspects of the game.

“It’s great to get the win in the Big Ten [and] get the monkey off our back,” Waite said.