After a tough defeat Friday night to No. 11 Nebraska, the No. 16 Wisconsin cruised to a 3-0 sweep of the Iowa Hawkeyes in a resounding bounce back victory (25-9, 25-14, 25-20) Sunday afternoon.
The Badgers (19-7, 8-6 Big Ten) recorded its highest offensive attacking percentage of the Big Ten season at .367 and highest since its second overall match of the season against Delaware.
While offensive errors proved costly Friday against Nebraska, Wisconsin committed its fewest errors as a team at 12 since Sept. 14.
Head coach Kelly Sheffield said he was impressed with his team’s ability to spread the ball on offensive effectively.
“I thought our ball control was really good,” Sheffield said. “It was exceptional today. The better you [are at] controlling the ball, the more options you have, and it makes it a little bit tougher on the defense when they’re not able to set up their block and wait for you.”
Five Badgers logged six or more kills on the afternoon, with junior outside hitter Ellen Chapman leading all players with 13 kills on a .545 attack percentage. She said that Iowa’s blocking was considerably weaker than Nebraska’s blocking, and the shorter blockers on Iowa’s side opened more options for UW’s hitters.
Freshman setter Lauren Carlini totaled 37 assists and was a perfect six for six on attacks of her own. She said in the last contest with Iowa on Oct. 2, Wisconsin had difficulty with Iowa’s serving, but the team handled Iowa’s serving with poise on Sunday.
“We hit really good shots today,” Carlini said. “Our passers really buckled down today and got us some good balls. I didn’t really have to move much.”
Wisconsin’s defense was equally effective against Iowa. The Badgers out-dug the Hawkeyes 52-32, with 23 of those digs coming in the opening game. Senior libero Annemarie Hickey led all players with 15 kills, and six Badgers in all had at least six digs.
Sheffield said while sophomore defensive specialist Taylor Morey had seven digs, her defensive coverage, especially in the tone-setting first game, allowed Wisconsin’s net players to stay in opportune positions for attacks on the ball.
Sheffield said much of Wisconsin’s success comes from the tenacious effort of the back row.
“When our little guys in the back row are feisty back there, we can be a pretty good team,” Sheffield said. “One of things we talked about going into the match was [being] ferociously persistent – I think we were that today.”
