April 23, 2012

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin volleyball team wrapped up its spring season at the Northern Iowa Spring Invitational in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Saturday. The Badgers split four of five matches on the day.

UW struggled on offense against Missouri, winning the first set 25-18 but losing the second set 22-25. Freshman Ellen Chapman led the Badgers with seven kills while junior Bailey Reshel added five kills. Sophomore Annemarie Hickey tallied eight digs for Wisconsin while junior Alexis Mitchell led the team with four blocks. Junior Mary Ording added three blocks.

Wisconsin lost a close first set to Iowa, 26-24, but rallied to win the second set 15-8. Sophomore Julie Mikaelsen and freshman Courtney Thomas were error free in the match, both hitting .667 (6 kills - 0 errors - 9 attempts). Freshman Caroline Workman took over at libero, tallying six digs. Thomas led the UW blockers with five stuffs.

The Badgers battled Northern Iowa close in both sets, losing the first 26-24 before coming back to win the second 25-23. Mikaelsen continued her error-free hitting, putting away seven kills on 14 attempts for a .500 hitting percentage. Reshel added six kills while Thomas had five putaways.

UW lost to Northwestern in both sets, falling 25-17 and 25-20. No Badger finished with more than four kills.

The Badgers wrapped up the day by splitting sets with an alumnae team. The alums won the first set 25-22 with Wisconsin winning the second set by the same score.  Chapman had nine kills while Mikaelsen added seven kills. Ording hit .833 (5-0-6) to lead all hitters in percentage.

Wisconsin will release its 2012 fall schedule this week, opening play on Aug. 24-25 in Tampa, Fla.