Match Stats
- #3 Wisconsin def. Howard 3-0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-10)
- First Round of the NCAA Tournament
- Wisconsin advances to play #25 Washington State on Friday
- UW Field House (Madison, Wisconsin)
- Attendance: 5,183
The Wisconsin Badgers were the highest-seeded team to play on the opening night of the 2016 Women’s Division I NCAA volleyball tournament on Thursday, and they also came away with the most dominant result, holding Howard to just 39 points in a 3-set sweep. The win propels Wisconsin to a matchup with #25 Washington State on Friday, while it ends the season of the MEAC Champions from Howard.
“We just played our game,” UW head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “I thought our passers did a really good job of first contact and we just went from there. Good match.”
Wisconsin is one of 4 teams to hit better than .400 on Thursday (Michigan, Purdue, and Missouri were the others) and as a team had 51 kills on just 12 errors for a .402 average. Freshman Molly Haggerty, playing in the first NCAA tournament game of her career, led the Badgers with 16 kills (2e, 28ta, .500). Senior Lauryn Gillis and junior Haleigh Nelson, who now have a combined 20 NCAA tournament games on their resumes, had 11 kills each. Nelson hit a monstrous .733 percentage in the game with no errors.
Senior Lauren Carlini, likely headed for a spot on Team USA after graduation, got her 73rd career double-double in the game with 41 assists and 10 digs.
“I think we did a great job right away,” Haggerty said, “coming in strong with passing and getting it to Lauren (Carlini) so we could get our middles involved and we did a great job focusing throughout the whole match.”
Nelson and Tionna Williams, the two Badger middle blockers, combined for 18 kills.
Howasd senior Katherine Broussard went out on a high note, leading the team with 7 kills on par with junior Jessica Young. Howard was able to give Wisconsin a small scare early in the second set by taking a 4-3 lead, forcing a Wisconsin time out. The Bison stayed steadfast to grow that lead to 8-4, but the Badgers straightened out thereafter to take the set.
Videos
Opening statement from @coachkup at the post-game conference. #RiseUpBison pic.twitter.com/e49wO7HcND
— Howard Athletics (@HUBisonSports) December 2, 2016
Too much heat to handle! Here's a closer look at @haleighnelson1 kill down the line! This was her 9th of the match, hitting .750! #LetItRip pic.twitter.com/s0CGiZ9iUF
— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) December 2, 2016
Leave a Reply