The Wisconsin volleyball team has finally put an end to its two-game losing streak.

After dropping matches against Washington and Penn State over the course of the past week, the Badgers defeated Ohio State in three sets Sunday afternoon.

According to head coach Kelly Sheffield, losing two games straight has not hurt the Badgers in their pride whatsoever. He said he sees Wisconsin as a strong team and believes that strong teams are able to come back. The Badgers displayed determination and perseverance against the Buckeyes, fighting off several OSU rallies throughout the three-set sweep.

Although the match against Ohio State was the first time in the last four matches Wisconsin hasn’t faced off a ranked opponent, Sheffield was confident his team was ready to take on any opponent.

“It wouldn’t have mattered who was wearing the uniform on the other side of the net,” Sheffield said. “You totally expect this team to come out and make a statement and I thought that’s what we did that today.”

The distribution of hitters made a statement for the Wisconsin offense, helping it get back on the right track. The attackers seemed to be particularly challenging for Ohio State’s defense. The tandem play of Wisconsin’s middle blocker Dominique Thompson and right side hitter Courtney Thomas forced OSU’s back court defense to stay on its toes, as the two Badgers finished the match with a combined 21 kills.

“We all were very focused, and we all wanted to get out of this losing streak that we were in,” Thompson said. “We wanted to come out hard today and show everybody what we could actually do.”

Due to OSU’s constant substitution and switching between running a 5-1 and a 6-2 offense, Sheffield strategized multiple plays to mix up where Thompson and Thomas hit from along the net in order to throw the Buckeyes off balance.

“Part of our game plan was to attack the middle part of the court. Our middles did a really good job today of transitioning hard,” setter Lauren Carlini said. “Courtney [Thomas] also did really well hitting from the middle of the court too.”

Throughout the match, Thomas ran a route in which she approached her kills from the middle of the net, while Thompson would simultaneously approach from the right side for a slide shot off a quick back set from Carlini.

“Lauren was trying to get the ball to Dom [Thompson] a lot early,” Sheffield said. “We thought we could be successful early at the middle part of the court, not just with her, but we thought that we could get the ball to Court on some second tempo balls in the middle.”

That game plan set up was very effective for the Wisconsin’s offense as Thompson swung for 10 kills, while hitting at a .391 clip, and assisted on three blocks by the end of the match. That was an improvement from Thompson’s performance against Penn State where she had only six kills and a .333 hitting percentage.

“I think we’ve got players that take pride when things don’t go the way that they want them to in a match,” Sheffield said. “They’re going to make sure that they come back with strength.”

This is particularly true for Thomas, Wisconsin’s right side hitter.

In Wednesday’s match, Penn State silenced Thomas, who completed the match with only one kill. Sunday, she finished on an entirely different note as she emerged from the match against OSU with 11, the highest amount of kills on either team.

“I knew they [Penn State] set up a good block against me. I’m not always going to have a great game,” Thomas said. “If they set up a good block on me, so what, the next game gives me an opportunity to bounce back.”

Sunday was an ideal time for the Badgers to bounce back and finish on top, as this win signifies both the end to a losing streak, as well as their first conference win of the season.

“It feels good,” Carlini said. “It’s hard to play well against this team, but we executed the game plan well, and came out this week for our first Big Ten win. We’re excited about it.”

Wisconsin will travel to Illinois to face off against the Northwestern Wildcats this Wednesday, as the Badgers continue to work their way through a challenging Big Ten schedule with a growing determination and confidence in their play.