Wisconsin flexed its muscles and dominated an overmatched Indiana team early Sunday morning.

The Badgers (16-6, 8-4 Big Ten) used an efficient offensive performance and a stout front line to overwhelm the Hoosiers (13-11, 3-9 Big Ten) from the opening serve.

Wisconsin jumped out to an early 10-3 lead in the first set behind the dominating performance of freshman Tionna Williams, who had four blocks in the first set. Wisconsin then parlayed their early defensive prowess into an offensive onslaught on the backs of sophomores Kelly Bates and Lauryn Gillis who each had four kills in the first stanza to lead the Badgers to an easy 25-16 win.

The Hoosiers showed signs of life at the beginning of the second set but ultimately could not keep pace with the Badgers, who pulled away after the score was even at nine. Junior Haleigh Nelson led the charge in the second set and showed excellent precision with five kills on five attempts to down the Hoosiers 25-17.

Wisconsin then made quick work of Indiana in the third set to complete one of their most complete performances of the Big Ten season by dismantling Indiana 25-12. Nelson again led the team in kills with five and was aided by junior Romana Kriskova, who had four kills of her own.

Offensive player of the game: Haleigh Nelson

Nelson tied for the team lead with 11 kills, hitting an outstanding 56 percent. Nelson also added a service and was an imposing threat all game for the Indiana defense.

Defensive player of the game: Tionna Williams

Williams came into the weekend as the Big Ten leader in blocks and solidified her position atop the charts with another defensive spectacle. The middle blocker finished with five blocks and wreaked havoc amongst the Indiana attackers throughout the match.

Quotable

Nelson on her adjustments following the first set:

“I just had a couple mental errors and I wasn’t coming out swinging hard like I should have, and [head coach] Kelly [Sheffield] let me know that right before the second set. I went out ready to go and I wasn’t going to let anything phase me. I was going to be there for my teammates and put more energy into them and focus more on the good and the winning and it made the match better.”

Williams on her productive day:

“Being able to have that many blocks I think is a result from our serves, which helps us read really well. The whole system was set up pretty well.”