MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- In the second Border Battle match of the week, the Wisconsin volleyball team hoped to seek redemption for Wednesday's loss. But the result was the same as the No. 15 Badgers fell at No. 11 Minnesota 25-20, 25-23, 19-25, 25-19 on Saturday night in the Sports Pavilion.
 
Against a team full of experience, the young Wisconsin (12-6, 4-4 Big Ten) squad took away plenty of lessons from the hard-fought loss.
 
"That's a team that's capable of winning the whole thing, and we played nine sets in two matches and were right there," UW Head Coach Kelly Sheffield said. "That ought to tell you a lot about where we're at."
 
UW hit .233 (58 kills - 18 errors - 172 total attempts), while Minnesota hit .235 (61-21-170). Leading the Badgers on offense was sophomore Lauryn Gillis, who totaled a career-high 20 kills. Freshman Tionna Williams followed with 12, while redshirt junior Romana Kriskova added 10.
 
"This is a work in progress," Sheffield said. "There are things to take away from it. We were way better in these last two matches than we were against Penn State and Ohio State, and the message is that we're not there yet, but I see us heading in the right direction. "
 
On defense, UW outblocked Minnesota 11-7.5 but the Gophers had an 86-80 advantage in digs. Senior Taylor Morey recorded a match-high 25 digs, followed by 21 from junior Lauren Carlini to tie her career high.
 
At the net, Williams put up a match-high six blocks, while junior Haleigh Nelson recorded five.
 
The teams traded points to begin the match thanks to strong hitting. After tying the first set at seven, two kills by Gopher Santana Daly and a Badger attack error proved to be a costly run for the Badgers. UW came as close as 18-17 behind a kill by sophomore Kelli Bates, but that was as close as the Badgers would come for the rest of the set. Gillis brought it to 22-20 with a kill, but a kill by Minnesota's Paige Tapp sparked a 3-0 run capped by a service ace to close the first set.
 
UW grabbed a quick 10-6 lead to start the second set behind six kills by five different Badgers. Gopher Sarah Wilhite responded with three kills and a block, however, to give Minnesota the lead at 12-11. Strong hitting by the Gophers extended the lead to 17-13, but four Badger blocks propelled UW to a 20-18 lead. A kill by Hannah Tapp of the Gophers tied it at 21, and two straight service aces and a Wilhite kill brought set point. Gillis staved off the first set point by tallying a kill, but Gopher Molly Lohman responded with a kill of her own to give Minnesota a two-set advantage.
 
With the match on the line, the Badgers started the third set off on a high note as a kill by Williams sparked a 5-0 run and forced an early Minnesota timeout. Two straight kills by Williams extended the lead to 8-2, but the Gophers cut the Badger lead to 12-10. After Bates and Williams combined for the block to put the Badgers up 16-11, Minnesota called a timeout in hopes of curbing the Badger momentum but UW could not be slowed. A kill by Bates brought set point, and Williams combined with Carlini for the block to keep the Badgers alive.
 
"We got our backs against the wall, and we came out swinging in game three," Sheffield said. "We've probably played other games where we maybe played a little cleaner than we did in game three, but there wasn't a game this season where we were more locked in."
 
After battling for every point to start the fourth set, a kill by UM's Hannah Tapp sparked a 6-0 run to set the Badgers back 12-5. Although two kills by Gillis keyed a 5-0 Badger run, it wasn't enough for the Badgers to complete the needed comeback.  Another Bates kill brought it to 20-16, but the Badgers had no answer to the powerful Gopher attack recorded one kill to stave off the first match point but Gopher Paige Tapp sealed the Minnesota victory with one final kill.
 
Up next for the Badgers is a road test in Iowa City, Iowa, as they face Iowa at 7 p.m. in the Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Friday at 7 p.m.