Sept. 25, 2011
3 Illinois 3, Wisconsin 0
UW Field House • Madison, Wis. | |
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| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Illinois
| 25 | 25 | 25 | -- | -- | Wisconsin
| 18 | 17 | 22 | -- | -- | | | | Stats Leaders
| | ILL | | WIS | | Ward - 12 | Kills | Mitchell - 11 | | Luhrsen - 28 | Assists | Thomas - 17 | | Luhrsen - .333 | Hit %
| Mitchell - .500 | | Beltran - 12 | Digs | Hickey - 14 | | McMahon - 5 | Blocks | Mitchell - 4 | | Bartsch - 3 | Aces | None | | Stats Comparison
| ILL | WIS | | Kills | 34 | 37 | | Hitting Pct. | .213 | .133 | | Assists | 32 | 35 | | Service Aces | 6 | 0 | | Digs | 49 | 54 | | Total Blocks | 7 | 6.5 | | |
Box Score | Box Score 
| Quotes | Archived match video
MADISON, Wis. - Despite rallying numerous times in the match, the Wisconsin volleyball team couldn’t match up and fell to No. 3 Illinois 25-18, 25-17, 25-22 on Sunday afternoon at the UW Field House.
The Badgers fell to 1-1 in Big Ten Conference play and 9-5 overall, while Illinois remains undefeated on the season at 2-0 and 13-0 overall.
Junior Alexis Mitchell led Wisconsin with 11 kills and a .500 hitting percentage (11 – 3 errors – 16 attempts), while Illinois' Colleen Ward led all players with 12 kills. Michelle Bartsch added 10 kills for Illinois. Despite putting away three more kills as a team, the Badgers hit .133 (37-22-113) compared to the Illini's .213 (34-11-108).
Illinois had a slight advantage in blocks, outstuffing the Badgers 7.0-6.5. The Illini’s Liz McMahon finished with five total blocks to lead all players while Mitchell chipped in a team-high four for the Badgers.
Wisconsin outdug the Illini 54-49 with sophomore Annemarie Hickey and senior Janelle Gabrielsen combined for 27 of those 54 digs. Hickey finished with a match-high 14 digs while Gabrielsen had 13 saves. Gabrielsen tallied a double-double, also putting up 14 assists. Freshman Courtney Thomas had 17 kills for the UW.
Three players finished with double-digit saves for Illinois.
Serving was the biggest difference in the match as the Badgers had nine serving errors and no aces. Illinois scored on six aces and tallied eight serving errors.
After falling behind at the start of the first set, the Badgers used a 4-0 run to go up 5-3. Wisconsin led 6-4 thanks to a kill from Mitchell before Illinois responded with a 4-0 run to take the lead, one it would not relinquish the rest of the match.
Illinois was able to slowly pull away in the second set, leading for the entire set. Although the Illini hit a match-low .143 (8-4-28) as a team in the middle frame, unforced hitting errors kept the Badgers to a .074 (10-8-27) hitting percentage.
The beginning of the final frame saw Illinois string together more than three points twice, including a 4-0 run to go up 15-9. The Badgers then went on a 7-4 run to cut the Illini's lead to two (19-17) but Illinois scored three straight to go up 22-17. Wisconsin held off three match points by Illinois but a Ward kill gave the Illini the sweep.
Wisconsin goes on the road for the first time in the conference season this weekend when it travels to No. 5 Penn State on Friday night. The Badgers then visit No. 25 Ohio State next Sunday at 5 p.m.
