In the NCAA Tournament, the name of the game is “survive and advance.”

No. 6 Wisconsin (25-6) extended its winning streak to 13 as it defeated a scrappy Oregon (16-14) team 3-1.

After a sloppy start to the match, Wisconsin won the first set behind the offensive prowess of outside hitter Kelli Bates. Bates led all hitters in the first set with eight kills and fueled the Badger attack to a 25-18 Game 1 victory.

Game 2 was a much different story, however. After Wisconsin got off to another quick start, Oregon responded valiantly turning the set in their favor and setting up what would be an intense second half of the match. Oregon was led by attackers Martenne Bettendorf and Taylor Agost, who had five and four kills, respectively.

Oregon carried their set 2 momentum into the third set and jumped ahead 6-3. However, the seasoned Badgers would not be foiled and used a balanced attack to win the 3rd and 4th sets to end any hope of an Oregon upset.

Offensive Player of the Game: Lauryn Gillis

Gillis had a game high 14 kills and continuously energized the crowd and her team with massive spikes that swung crucial points in Wisconsin’s favor. Gillis also was a surgeon on the outside committing only one error in her 36 attempts.

Defensive Player of the Game: Lauren Carlini

Carlini, mentioned as the top setter in the country by Oregon’s head coach Jim Moore, had a career high seven blocks and was a constant thorn in the side of the Ducks attack. In addition to her presence at the net, she had 11 digs and was constantly running cross-court to organize the Badger offense.

Quotable

Oregon head coach Jim Moore on Lauren Carlini:
“Great team, obviously, with the best setter in the country, there’s no question about that. They played great defense and did a lot of really good things, so congratulations to them.”

Lauren Carlini on her career high seven blocks:
“It’s always exciting getting a block, especially if it’s you and someone else and you both touch the ball. It’s very personal. It just goes straight down and it’s just a good feeling and it creates a lot of momentum for the team. That’s one of the parts of the game that I’ve really been working on the last few weeks and so I think it’s finally starting to come together and it’s starting to show.”

Wisconsin head coach Kelly Sheffield on Oregon and the match in general:
“That was a heck of a battle. That is a really, really good team and it’s unbelievable, as you go through and you’re watching a team, I don’t know how many matches we had of them, but you see the type of team that they were for half of the season, two-thirds of the season, and what they were the last part of the season.”