MATCH STATS
- #4 Wisconsin def. Southern Miss 3-0 (25-8, 25-10, 25-11)
- Wisconsin moves to 9-0; Southern Miss falls to
- Madison, Wisconsin
- Attendance:
- Box Score
MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin was nearly flawless on offense, hitting .461 with just five miscues, while outblocking Southern Miss 10-0 in a quick match Saturday night.
The Badgers downed 40 kills, while allowing just 22 in the match.
Senior outside hitter Lauryn Gillis paced Wisconsin with 11 kills on a .500 hitting effort, while senior outside hitter Kelli Bates and freshman middle blocker Dana Rettke chipped in nine apiece. Rettke hit at a team-best .571 clip, with just one error in 14 swings, to go with a team-leading five blocks. Freshman setter Sydney Hilley and freshman middle Nicole Shanahan added four stuffs apiece. Sophomore libero M.E. Dodge pulled up team-high nine digs followed by Hilley’s eight.
Freshman outside Chandler Marshall was tops among the Golden Eagles with six kills, while junior outside Kylie Grandy and senior right side hitter Kelsey Chambers added five apiece. Senior libero Natalie Druhan pulled up a team-best nine digs.
Wisconsin held a slim 4-3 lead in the early part of Set 1 but soon boasted a 14-4 edge as six Southern Miss errors piled up. The Golden Eagles scored three straight to slow the Badgers, but that simply sparked a 6-0 UW run and made it 20-7. The rally included two stuffs by Shanahan and Hilley. A service error was a temporary road block, but two kills and a block by Gillis guided a final 5-0 run.
Up 6-5 in Set 2, Wisconsin cruised to a 15-5 lead as Bates downed two kills and Southern Miss chipped in a trio of points on errors. A 5-0 run later in the set pushed the Badger lead to 14 at 22-8. A pair of kills and a block by Rettke contributed to the run. The Golden Eagles couldn’t manage more than one point at a time merely slowing the inevitable. A service error followed by a Bates putaway capped the 25-10 win.
Wisconsin led by just three at 7-4 in the finale stanza, before breaking away. A 4-0 run including kills by Bates, Hilley and Grace Loberg made it a seven-point game at 11-4. A kill and a block by Rettke aided another run to make it 16-7 midway through. A Marshall kill and UW miscue followed, but Gillis put things out of reach at 20-9 with four straight kills. A Chambers putaway and another Badger error brought the margin down to nine, but Loberg turned in two kills and a block as the Badgers sealed a 25-11 win and the match.
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy: Wisconsin Athletics
The fifth-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team made quick work of Southern Miss, sweeping the Golden Eagles in the final match of the Badger Classic in the UW Field House on Saturday Night. The Badgers downed USM, 25-8, 25-10, 25-11, to go undefeated in the non-conference season.
The UW (9-0) offense was on fire, hitting a season-high .461 (40 kills – 5 errors – 76 attempts) which ties for the second best hitting percentage in program history. USM (9-6) struggled on offense, hitting negative .043 (22-26-92).
Senior Lauryn Gillis led the Badgers on offense with a match-high 11 kills. Kelli Bates and Dana Rettke added nine kills apiece.
On defense, the Badgers put up 10 blocks while not getting blocked for the first time this season. Rettke led all players with five blocks. Sydney Hilley, Nicole Shanahan and Grace Loberg all added four stops.
UW also out-dug the Golden Eagles 39-25 with libero M.E. Dodge earning a match-high nine digs.
The Badgers shined from the service line, collecting five aces with only two errors. Sydney Hilley, Kelli Bates, Mallory Dixon, Madison Duello and Dana Rettke each recorded one ace. UW did not give a service ace for the first time this season.
Quotable
“The thing I was telling the team downstairs that I thought we did a good job tonight was playing our game, and that’s something that we discuss quite a bit in practices. Can you play the same way point after point after point, and not get caught up in the first point of the match or the last, whether you’re beating someone handedly or its close. Can you play a clean game, one ball at a time? I think we did a good job at that.
“One of the things I’ve enjoyed about this weekend has been hearing stories about the Southern Miss head coach (Amanda Berkley), a former Badger. And hearing about her experience here and hearing about her.
“A player that just came to a tryout here. And not just a player that made the team, but one who was a starter and had a big role on some really good teams. I just think that’s a heck of a story.
“I was telling these guys that we’re over pre-conference and we’re right back into Big Ten play, and that’s got to get our attention.”
– Head coach Kelly Sheffield
“We still have a whole week of practice left to get ready for Michigan State. But we’ve been working hard in practice and I think we played pretty clean through most of our matches.”
– Junior captain Amber MacDonald
“I think we’re in a good place after pre-season, but we’ll have to improve every week and every day because the competition is just going to get better and better.”
– Redshirt sophomore Madison Duello
9-0, baby!
Notables
The Badgers are off to their best season opening since 2010 with a 9-0 record.
Redshirt sophomore Madison Duello hit a match-high .714 (5-0-7).
As a team, UW recorded a season best hitting percentage of .461 (40-5-76). The Badgers had no errors until late in the second set.
It was the first match this season that Wisconsin did not allow an ace.
Freshman Grace Loberg had a career-high four blocks.
Freshman Nicole Shanahan earned her second straight start and tied her career high with two kills.
Sophomore Mallory Dixon tied her career best with one service ace.
Thirteen Badgers saw action on the court, including transfer Tiffany Clark, who saw her first action in the Cardinal and White. The 5-11 defensive specialist had five digs and three assists.
Up next
Wisconsin opens Big Ten Conference play on Friday at the UW Field House, taking on No. 23 Michigan State at 7 p.m. The Badgers will be celebrating the 26th-annual Steve Lowe night, a night honoring the former UW head coach and his many contributions to the program.
Courtesy: Southern Miss Athletics
No. 5 Wisconsin flexed its muscles inside a packed field house Saturday night, defeating Southern Miss in straight sets (8-25, 10-25, 11-25) on Saturday night in the Badger Classic.
“That was a really good Wisconsin team,” head coach Amanda Berkley, also a graduate of the school, said. “They are ranked fifth in the nation for a reason. We didn’t play our best, but they were incredible with ball control and defense and just a very physical team. It was overall a good experience for the team to see what that level is like and to play in an atmosphere like that.”
Berkley played for the Badgers from 2004-07, first making the team via an open walk-on tryout before ultimately earning a scholarship and becoming a key player on the No. 14 ranked team in the country as a senior.
Kelsey Chambers posted five kills and a .357 hitting percentage while Chandler Marshall also swatted home six. Wisconsin (9-0) has lost only one set on the season and hit a blistering .461 on the night.
Natalie Druhan led the Golden Eagles with nine digs on her 22nd birthday. The Golden Eagles also improved their hitting percentage in each set.
Southern Miss begins Conference USA play at home on Friday night (6 p.m.) against North Texas.
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