MATCH STATS
- #3 Wisconsin dominates #17 Ohio State (25-16, 25-19, 25-17)
- Wisconsin (9-1,1-0), Ohio State (10-3, 0-1)
The #3 Wisconsin Badgers defeated #17 Ohio State Buckeyes at home in 3 (25-16, 25-19, 25-17) to open Big Ten Conference play and take their first conference win of the season.
The Badgers out-blocked the Buckeyes 15-2, and some players broke their personal records. Sophomore Tionna Williams matcher her career-high 8 blocks, and Kelli Bates also tied her career-high with 7.
QUOTES
“First of all, I thought defensively we were pretty solid tonight,” UW head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “Front court and back court, we were getting quite a few stuff blocks tonight. (We were) finishing our blocks and the back court was fighting back there, which is good because this is a team that really gives you a whole lot of different looks. They’re running a lot of different plays at you, and this team, probably about as much as anybody that we’ll see all year, you really got to have your eyes because they’re just changing things so much. I thought we did a really good job defensively.”
Video Courtesy of Wisconsin Athletics
PRESS RELEASES
Courtesy of Wisconsin Athletics
MADISON, Wis.– After a four-match stint on the road, the third-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team opened Big Ten Conference play at the UW Field House with a sweep of No. 19 Ohio State, 25-16, 25-19, 25-17, on Friday.
“First of all, I thought defensively we were pretty solid tonight,” UW head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “Front court and back court, we were getting quite a few stuff blocks tonight. (We were) finishing our blocks and the back court was fighting back there, which is good because this is a team that really gives you a whole lot of different looks. They’re running a lot of different plays at you, and this team, probably about as much as anybody that we’ll see all year, you really got to have your eyes because they’re just changing things so much. I thought we did a really good job defensively.”
Wisconsin (9-1 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) did just that, out blocking the Buckeyes 15-2. Sophomore Tionna Williams tied a cares-high with eight blocks, while junior Kelli Bates tied a career-high with seven blocks and senior Haleigh Nelson added six.
Senior Lauren Carlini led the Badger backcourt defense with 14 digs while adding 30 assists. She was followed by Bates with 12 digs and Haggerty with nine.
Wisconsin hit .333 percent (37 kills – 8 errors – 87 attempts) while holding the Buckeyes (10-3, 0-1) to a .115 (39-25-122) hitting percentage.
Bates led the Badgers with nine kills, as well as serving a career-high four aces. Redshirt seniorRomana Kriskova recorded eight kills and a season-high .500 hitting percentage (8-1-14) while senior Haleigh Nelson and freshman Molly Haggerty each tallied six kills.
Both teams struggled to get in an offensive groove in the first set as both were unable to string together a run longer than three points. UW took a 10-5 lead after Bates made a diving save and freshman libero M.E. Dodge hit a kill from out of the back row. Several points throughout the match came in similar fashion, after long rallies and big saves on both sides of the net.
“When people are scrapping really hard,” Carlini explained, “and our side is battling and their side is battling, whoever wins that point is going to get the momentum. What I liked about that is we got back to work right away. We celebrated – it was great – but then we cleaned the floor and got back to work. It’s not this celebratory thing, it was ‘okay that was cool, let’s get this serve in and defend hard’.
The teams traded short runs, but Wisconsin was able to outlast the Buckeyes, 25-16, to win the first set.
Ohio State grabbed an early 6-3 lead in the second set, but the Badgers responded with a 6-1 run, taking a 9-7 lead on a service ace from Bates. The Badgers forced OSU to take a timeout after a 4-2 run, then added two additional points to keep a 15-11 lead. After taking a timeout of their own, the Badgers went on a 5-1 run that put the game out of reach for Ohio State, finishing the match on an OSU service error to win 25-19 and take a 2-0 set lead.
Wisconsin held the Buckeyes to a .068 (14-11-44) hitting percentage in the second set, out blocking OSU 8-0.
Wisconsin started the third set in commanding fashion, jumping to a 5-0 lead on a Kriskova and Nelson block. Ohio State head coach Geoff Carlston won a challenged play to cut the UW lead to 9-6, but three service aces from Bates helped the Badgers go on a 5-0 run to widen the lead, 14-6.
“I’ve been working on my serve a lot,” Bates said. “I haven’t been killing myself over getting a good serve but every time we serve in practice or every time we’re doing mental things, I just try to lock in as much as I can and put myself in game-like situations.
“The one play that Lauren got the kill on and Molly had a bunch of ridiculous saves, it was so loud that I almost couldn’t hear anything. Everybody was just screaming and running around. It was so crazy. Those kinds of momentum shifts make it so much easier for us to keep the momentum going. The Field House makes a huge difference.”
The Buckeyes came within five point (19-14) on a kill from junior outside hitter Luisa Schirmer, but the Badgers finished off the match on a 6-3 run, winning the final set 25-17 on a service ace by sophomore Amber MacDonald.
What’s Next: The Badgers continue Big Ten play on Saturday, facing Maryland at the UW Field House. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
Badger Stats
Kelli Bates (9 kills, 4 aces, 12 digs, 7 blocks)
Lauren Carlini (2 kills, 14 digs, 2 blocks)
Molly Haggerty (6 kills, 1 ace, 9 digs, 2 blocks)
Follow the Badgers on Facebook, Twitter @BadgerVB and Instagram @wisconsinvolleyball
Courtesy of Ohio State Athletics
MADISON, Wis. – The No. 17 Ohio State University women’s volleyball team’s winning streak came to an end at four consecutive victories, dropping its Big Ten opener at No. 3 Wisconsin (9-1, 1-0 B1G). Thirteen different Buckeyes saw action in the 25-16, 25-19, 25-17 setback.
Ohio State (10-3, 0-1 B1G) fell victim to a 15- block effort by the Badgers. Thus, despite out-killing the opposition 39-37, the Buckeyes’ attacking efficiency came up short at .115 compared to .333 for Wisconsin.
Valeria León continued her quest to the peak of the all-time Ohio State career digs rankings. With 17 more digs added to her tally, León now owns 1,450 to her name. The school record belongs to 2004 National Player of the Year, Stacey Gordon, and her 1,572 grand total.
In addition to assisting on 28 kills, setter Taylor Hughes also put away a half dozen kills of her own on 13 swings. Luisa Schirmer posted a match-high 13 kills while Audra Appold joined her in the double-digit kills club, terminating 10.
Schirmer started out hot, bouncing half of her eight attempts for the kill and picking up three digs in the opening frame. Hughes got it done as well, pushing out 10 assists and finishing off kills on all four attacks. The tandem’s superb effort was ultimately spoiled though as the Badgers were triumphant, 25-16.
Set number two was tightly-contested, tied up on six different occasions. The final stalemate came at 11-11 before a four-point Wisconsin surge pushed the Badgers ahead 15-11. The UW edge would not be relinquished, jogging into intermission with a 25-19 winner.
Schirmer continued to fire away in the third, unleashing 14 attacks. She paced the Buckeyes with five kills in the frame. Ohio State was unable to overcome a 5-0 deficit to start the set, however, falling 25-17.
What’s Next: The Scarlet & Gray are back at it again Saturday (Sept. 23) night, scuffling with another top-3 opponent in the second-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers (9-1, 1-0 B1G). First serve is set for 8 p.m. ET, broadcast by BTN Plus.
Buckeye Stats
Luisa Schirmer (13 kills, 8 digs)
Audra Appold (10 kills, 6 digs, 1 block)
Valeria Leon (17 digs, 3 assists)
Follow the Buckeyes on Facebook, Twitter @OhioStateWVolleyball and Instagram @ohiostwvball
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