Badgers Sweep Wildcats off their Feet

MADISON, Wis. –  Finding a way to finish off sets has been an issue for the sixth-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team this season. But that wasn’t the case as the Badgers opened the Big Ten Conference season with a 25-18, 25-19, 25-22 win over Northwestern on Friday night in the UW Field House.

The Badgers (7-2, 1-0 B1G) rallied late in sets two and three, outscoring Northwestern (11-2, 0-1) 11-2 over the closing stages of sets two and three.

UW broke open the first set with a 3-0 run to take a 16-11 lead. That momentum continued to the end of the set as Wisconsin led the rest of the period.

The second set was much closer as the two teams battled through nine ties and four lead changes. The last tie of the set was at 18-all before the Badgers outscored the Wildcats 7-1 in the final stretch. Wisconsin scored the final three points of the set with two tallies coming from Danielle Hart, who had a kill and a block assist, giving UW a 2-0 lead in the match.

Northwestern, which is the fourth team in the receiving votes category of the national coaches’ poll, took an early lead in a must-win third set but the Badgers would again rally late. Wisconsin led 21-18 before the Wildcats came back to knot the score at 21. This time it was a 4-1 run by UW that completed the sweep.

Wisconsin hit .281 (41 kills – 14 errors – 96 attempts) while holding Northwestern, which entered the match hitting .300 on the season, to just .178 (35-19-90). Julia Orzol put away a match-high 12 kills while hitting .500 (12-1-22). Devyn Robinson added 10 kills.

MJ Hammill earned a career-high five aces as UW finished with a 9-3 advantage from the service line. Hammill also led the Badgers in assists, putting up 17 helpers. Izzy Ashburn closely followed with 16 assists to support the offense.

UW blocked Northwestern, 9-8, as junior Caroline Crawford and Hart both stopped four shots.

The Wildcats finished with a 37-33 advantage in digs but freshman Gulce Guctekin led all players with 13 saves.