Oct. 2, 2011
Wisconsin 3, 24 Ohio State 1
St. John Arena • Columbus, Ohio | |
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| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Wisconsin
| 25 | 25 | 21 | 25 | -- | Ohio State
| 16 | 20 | 25 | 20 | -- | | | | Stats Leaders
| | WIS | | OSU | | Graff - 14 | Kills | Danks - 14 | | Gabrielsen - 28 | Assists | Peterson - 40 | | Mikaelsen - .421 | Hit %
| Peterson - .364 | | Hickey - 22 | Digs | Mignin - 24 | | Thompson - 3 | Blocks | Barhorst - 7 | | Thomas - 3 | Aces | Danks - 2 | | Stats Comparison
| WIS | OSU | | Kills | 61 | 51 | | Hitting Pct. | .292 | .171 | | Assists | 59 | 48 | | Service Aces | 5 | 2 | | Digs | 70 | 59 | | Total Blocks | 5.0 | 11.0 | | |
• Box Score | Box Score 
MADISON, Wis. -- The Wisconsin volleyball team came to Columbus, Ohio on Sunday night looking to bounce back after dropping two straight matches to ranked Big Ten teams.
The Badgers did just that, upsetting the 24th-ranked Buckeyes on the road by winning 3-1 for their first win over a ranked opponent since last season at Northwestern and their first win over OSU in two years.
| Fast Facts | | • UW keeps OSU to .171 as a team | | • Hickey leads four Badgers with more than 10 digs | | • Wisconsin gets first win over Ohio State since 2009 | |
Wisconsin won 25-16, 25-20, 21-25, 25-20 to improve to 2-2 in the Big Ten and 10-6 overall.
“Sometimes we have a terrible match and everybody really focuses on it – we certainly did in practice even more yesterday,” said head coach Pete Waite. “We had an excellent practice yesterday on our off day, and I think their mental toughness was there.
“We have been giving away a lot of points (in previous matches) and we just didn’t (Sunday).”
Freshman Crystal Graff led the Badgers with 14 kills as one of three UW players with double-digit kills. Emily Danks also finished with 14 to lead Ohio State (12-5, 2-2). Sophomore Julie Mikaelsen came off the bench for one of her best matches as a Badger, finishing with a season-high 11 kills and only three errors on 19 attempts to hit a team-high .421.
OSU junior Mari Hole, a teammate of Mikaelsen’s from the Norwegian National Team, also finished with 11 putaways, but the outside hitter was kept to a team-high 11 errors as well.
“We won the battle of Norway in this one, that’s for sure,” said Waite. “She’s (Julie) got bragging rights now, and I’m sure that means a lot to her.”
Wisconsin hit .292 (61 kills – 19 errors – 144 attempts) as a team while keeping the Buckeyes hitting .171 (51-24-158) overall.
Although the Badgers were outblocked 11.0-5.0, they had the advantage in digs at 70-59, which proved to help them win the match. Four Badgers finished with more than 10 saves, led by sophomore Annemarie Hickey, who had 22.
“Our blocks weren’t as high as theirs but we had some people that got some good blocks,” said Waite. “Just (getting) touches on the ball at the block slowed things down and we were able to transition on that.”
Wisconsin started the first set with a 4-0 run, which set the momentum for the entire opening frame. The Badgers led by nine points on three different occasions during the first set. Wisconsin put together points and took advantage of key Buckeye errors to also win the set by nine points at 25-16.
Although Ohio State kept Wisconsin from running away with the lead in the second set, the Badgers used a 3-0 run early in the frame to keep it after the Buckeyes briefly led 2-1. OSU kept the score close, finishing with six more kills as a team than in the first set. However, Wisconsin committed a set-low three errors and hit a set-high .389 (17-3-36) as a team to go up two sets to none at the break.
The Buckeyes took control in the third set as the Badgers found themselves trailing 7-2 early. Ohio State went on a 14-5 run to open the set before Wisconsin began to rally with a kill from Mikaelsen.
The Badgers used a 3-0 run late in the third set to cut OSU’s lead to three, but it wasn’t enough, as they lost the set 25-21.
Although the Badgers lost the set, Waite was happy with how his team improved from being in that situation in earlier matches.
“We were down 10 or 12 points it seemed, but we came back to make (the final score) 25-21,” he said. “And I think we felt the momentum coming back to our side of the net.”
The Badgers slowly got that momentum back, despite falling 4-0 to start the final set. Both teams made it a close set, as there were 11 of 14 total tie scores and seven of eight total lead changes in the fourth frame alone. After what would be the final tie score at 18-18, the Badgers went on a 7-2 run to complete the upset. Although Wisconsin committed a set-high seven errors in the set, the Badgers kept Ohio State to a set-low .057 (9-7-35) hitting percentage as a team.
Wisconsin completes its four-match road stand next weekend, visiting Michigan State on Friday at 5:30 p.m. before taking on No. 17 Michigan on Saturday at 6 p.m.
