Match Stats
- #3 Wisconsin def. Illinois 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-21)
- Wisconsin moves to 21-3 (13-2 Big Ten); Illinois falls to 14-12 (7-8 Big Ten)
- Huff Hall, Champaign, Illinois
- Attendance: 2,559
With 57 digs and 9 blocks, the Wisconsin defense carried them to a 3-0 win over the Illinois Illini.
“I thought that was right up there with some of the best defensive play we’ve had in my time here,” Wisconsin head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “I thought we were really, really good defensively tonight.
“Amber (MacDonald) really set the tone early. Some of those were (Naya) Crittendon bombs. I mean just bombs that she just got there and got up, and we converted off quite a few of those – big-time dig, set, kill. Kind of right back in your face.
“I loved the defensive intensity. I thought we did a great job of maintaining that as well out of the locker room, in the third as well.”
Wisconsin out-dug Illinois 57-41, with Amber MacDonald (10), Molly Haggerty (11), and Kelli Bates (15) all digging out double-digit balls. Haggerty chipped in 9 kills as well.
The Badgers offense was carried by Lauryn Gillis, who had 13 kills on .346 hitting; and Tonna Williams, who had 10 kills on .421 hitting.
Illinois didn’t have any players with double-digit kills (or points of any kind), led by Katie Stadick’s 6 kills (0e, 13ta, .462 pct). Brandi Donnelly picked up 18 digs for the home team.
The win makes 6 in a row for Wisconsin.
Press Releases
Courtesy Wisconsin Athletics:
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Strong defense led the third-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team to a 25-17, 25-18, 25-21 win at Illinois on Friday night. It was the sixth-straight win for the Badgers who improve to 21-3 overall and remain second in the Big Ten Conference standings at 13-2.
“I thought that was right up there with some of the best defensive play we’ve had in my time here,” head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “I thought we were really, really good defensively tonight.
“Amber (MacDonald) really set the tone early. Some of those were (Naya) Crittendon bombs. I mean just bombs that she just got there and got up, and we converted off quite a few of those – big-time dig, set, kill. Kind of right back in your face.
“I loved the defensive intensity. I thought we did a great job of maintaining that as well out of the locker room, in the third as well.
The Badgers out dug the Illini 53-34 and out blocked them 9-8.
Three UW players finished in double-figure digs behind 15 from junior Kelli Bates. Freshman Molly Haggerty added 11 saves while MacDonald chipped in 10 digs, including seven in the first set.
Senior Haleigh Nelson led all players with seven blocks, including one solo. Redshirt senior Romana Kriskova added four blocks for Wisconsin.
UW’s defense allowed Illinois to hit just .069 (28 kills – 20 errors – 116 attempts), the fourth lowest by an opponent this season. No Illini (14-12, 7-8) player had more than six kills in the match.
Wisconsin hit .268 (46-16-112), including better than .300 in the first and third sets.
Junior Lauryn Gillis led all hitters with 13 kills while sophomore Tionna Williams added 10 kills and a .421 (10-2-19) attack percentage. Senior Haleigh Nelson and freshman Molly Haggerty each added nine kills to the Badgers’ balanced attack.
“(Illinois) is a really good blocking team and (Gillis) got blocked quite a few times early,” explained Sheffield. “What I liked is that it didn’t bring her down, it didn’t bring really any of our attackers down. We got blocked quite a bit by them, especially that second set. ‘Let’s swing a little bit higher, let’s look for some high hands, and not try to force it.'”
Senior Lauren Carlini put up 36 assists at setter and had of UW’s three service aces.
UW jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the first set as Gillis had three kills and Wisconsin was out digging Illinois 14-4. The Illini didn’t have a kill until Ali Bastianelli put away an attack to make it 8-5 Badgers. Wisconsin led 12-7 before Illinois went on a 6-1 run to pull within one (13-12). A Nelson kill ended the rally and kicked off a 7-1 run to put UW up 20-13. The Illini would get no closer than six points the rest of the set.
Set two played out very similar to the first set with the Badgers going up early, this time taking an 8-2 advantage. Wisconsin held its six-point advantage through 10-4 before Illinois rallied again, going on a 6-1 run to make it an 11-10 game. The Illini remained within four points, pulling within one again at 15-14. Four kills from Gillis put Wisconsin up 21-18 before two blocks from Nelson and Kriskova keyed a 4-0 Badger run for a 2-0 lead in the match.
UW led by as many as seven points in the third set (16-9) with Illinois again making a mid-set charge to come within one (20-19). A Gillis kill started a 4-0 Badger run that included two blocks by Nelson and a Carlini ace. Illinois held off two match points before a kill from Nelson completed the sweep.
The Badgers play at Northwestern on Saturday, serving off against the Wildcats at 7 p.m. from Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois.
Courtesy Illinois Athletics:
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Junior Brandi Donnelly collected a match-high 18 digs and senior Katie Stadick registered a .462 hitting percentage with a team-high six kills on 13 swings and no errors, but the Fighting Illini volleyball team suffered a three-set setback (25-17, 25-18, 25-21) to No. 3 Wisconsin on Friday (Nov. 11) night at Huff Hall.
The Illini fall to 14-12 on the season and 7-8 in the Big Ten, while the Badgers improve to 21-3 and 13-2 in the conference.
Senior Michelle Strizak also turned in a team-high six kills and nine digs, while sophomore setter Jordyn Poulter totaled 25 assists. Classmate Ali Bastianelli added a team-high four blocks on the night.
After the Illini opened the scoring in the first set, the Badgers raced out an early 7-2 advantage. Trailing by five at 11-6, the Illini put together a 6-1 run to close within one at 13-12 on a Strizak solo block midway through the first. UW responded with its own 7-1 run to grab a 20-13 edge before taking the opening stanza, 25-17.
It was another quick start for the visitors in the second set as UW score the period’s first five points en route to an 8-2 lead. A Strizak and Bastianelli block then opened a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to one at 11-10 as Strizak teamed with Stadick to finish off the run with another block.
Four-straight UW points pushed the visitor lead back to 14-10, but again the Illini responded to come within 15-14, before another five-straight scores from the Badgers put the UI in a 19-14 hole. Out of a timeout, the Illini battled back on the serve of senior McKenna Kelsay with a Bastianelli kill, followed by back-to-back scores from freshman Jacqueline Quade to close within 19-17. Wisconsin then finished off the set by connecting on six of the final seven points for the 25-18 win.
Out of intermission, the Badgers continued to control the match and jumped out to an early 8-3 edge. Four-straight Illini points midway through the set cut the UW lead to 16-13, but back-to-back Badger scores stalled the comeback. Trailing by four at 20-16, the Illini rallied again to close within 20-19 on back-to-back setter dumps from Poulter, but four-unanswered Badger scores gave the visitors a 24-19 advantage. After UI fought off two match points, the Badgers wrapped up the win with a 25-21 set three victory.
The Illini continues its four-match home stand on Saturday (Nov. 12), welcoming in No. 2 Minnesota for a 7 p.m. match in Huff Hall.
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