Sept. 10, 2011
Wisconsin 3, Columbia 0
Keaney Gymnasium • Kingston, R.I. | |
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| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Wisconsin
| 25 | 25 | 25 | -- | -- | Columbia
| 15 | 22 | 20 | -- | -- | | | | Stats Leaders
| | Wisconsin | | Columbia | | Thomas - 11 | Kills | Worthy - 9 | | Gabrielsen - 23 | Assists | Voss - 11 | | Thomas - .733 | Hit %
| Two with - .500 | | Hickey - 18 | Digs | Two with - 6 | | Thompson - 4 | Blocks | Fletcher - 2 | | Three with - 1 | Aces | Rumer - 1 | | Stats Comparison
| WIS | CU | | Kills | 53 | 29 | | Hitting Pct. | .386 | .216 | | Assists | 50 | 28 | | Service Aces | 3 | 1 | | Digs | 46 | 29 | | Total Blocks | 6 | 4 | | |
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• Box Score | Box Score 
KINGSTON, R.I. - The Wisconsin volleyball team swept its third-straight opponent to win the Art Carmichael Invitational on Saturday morning. The Badgers beat Columbia 25-15, 25-22, 25-20 to win their first tournament of the season.
Wisconsin finishes 6-3 in its second-longest season-opening road swing in program history.
| Fast Facts | | • Freshman Thomas named tournament MVP | | • Mitchell, Thompson also receive all-tourney honors | | • Badgers hit .386 as a team | |
"I was pleased with the way we played this weekend," says UW head coach Pete Waite. "It was probably the strongest we've played in the first three weekends which makes me feel that our lineup is starting to come together and our team is gelling better.
Five Badgers finished the match with eight-or-more kills, led by freshman Courtney Thomas with a career-high 11. She also had 21 assists, giving her the third double-double of the year.
Because of her efforts, Thomas was named tournament MVP for the first time in her career. Junior Alexis Mitchell and sophomore Dominique Thompson were also named to the all-tournament team for the Badgers.
"With Courtney, Dom and Alexis making all tournament (it) just shows that they had real solid perfomrances in all three matches," said Waite. "The setters and middles are connecting well on offense."
Wisconsin hit .386 (53 kills - 14 errors - 101 attempts) as a team while keeping the Lions to a .216 hitting percentage (29 - 10 - 88). The Badgers also outblocked Columbia 6-4.
Sophomore Annemarie Hickey had 18 of Wisconsin's 46 digs to lead all players.
Although the Badgers committed four more errors than the Lions, they were much more dominant offensively. Wisconsin almost doubled up Columbia in kills, 53-29. Also, senior Janelle Gabrielsen led all players in assists with 23 - just five fewer than the entire Lions' squad.
Both teams came out roaring in the first set, as there were nine tie scores in just the first part of the set. The Badgers were finally able to break away when the score was tied at 10. Thomas and Mitchell combined on a kill to start a 4-0 run of all Badger points.
The defense went to work for Wisconsin as it kept the Lions from putting together consecutive strings of points once the Badgers had the lead. UW also only needed one set point to win thanks to a block from Thompson and sophomore Julie Mikaelsen.
Although there were two fewer tie scores in the second set, it was still anybody's to win. Columbia held the lead for most of set two thanks to critical Wisconsin errors and a 5-0 run that gave the Lions their biggest lead of the entire match at 15-9.
After two straight Columbia errors, things began to turn around for the Badgers, as freshman Crystal Graff scored four of seven consecutive points, including three kills in a row, to put the score in Wisconsin's favor. The Lions fought back but it wasn't enough, as the Badgers won set two 25-22.
UW dominated on both sides of the ball in the third set, despite committing one more error than CU. The Badgers hit .441 (18-3-34) in the final set after only hitting .278 (17-7-36) in set two, and their two service aces in the final set came at pivotal times.
The first, from Graff, put the score at 18-16 as part of what would be a 3-0 run to give the Badgers the lead for good. Then Gabrielsen got a service ace of her own, which made the score 22-19 before a Columbia timeout. The Badgers got the match point to seal the win - and the tournament title - on a kill from Thomas, the tournament MVP.
After spending three straight weekends on the road, Wisconsin comes home for the 20th annual InnTowner Invitational next weekend at the UW Field House. The Badgers will take on South Florida in their home opener on Friday at 7 p.m. before facing Western Michigan and Notre Dame on Saturday.
"After three weeks on the road, it's going to be nice to get back home and have our players play in front of our own crowd and the fans," said Waite. "I know they're all lookng forward to that so we're excited about that."
