Box Score
| | | | | | 13 Wisconsin 3, 18 North Carolina 0
ACC/Big Ten Challenge
KFC Yum! Center • Louisville, Ky. • Attendance: 3,879 Box Score | Box Score  |  | |
| Â | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | | Â Wisconsin | 25 | 25 | 25 | -- | -- | Â North Carolina
| 22 | 20 | 19 | -- | -- | | Â Stats Leaders
| | UNC | Â | WIS | | McPherson - 12 | Kills | Bates - 12 | | Schnabl - 17 | Assists | Carlini - 30 | | McPherson - .526 | Hit %
| Nelson - .579 | | Durr - 13 | Digs | Morey - 20 | | McPherson - 7 | Blocks | Three tied - 3 | | Three tied - 1 | Â Aces | Carlini - 1 | | Â Stats Comparison
| UNC | WIS | | Â Kills | 36 | 45 | | Â Hitting Pct. | .109 | .202 | | Â Assists | 33 | 40 | | Â Service Aces | 3 | 1 | | Â Digs | 49 | 61 | | Â Total Blocks | 13 | 6.5 | | |
Sept. 4, 2015
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- It wasn't pretty to start but it looked great by the end as the 13th-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team won its third straight match. The Badgers swept No. 18 North Carolina 25-22, 25-20, 25-19 at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in the KFC Yum! Center on Friday evening.
The Badgers improve to 3-1 on the season, having won their last nine sets in a row.
|  Fast Facts | | • Badgers win third straight match | | • Nelson hit ..579 with 11 kills, 19 attempts, 0 errors | | • Morey records 20 digs | |
"We didn't get a whole lot of team in this week for certain reasons," head coach Kelly Sheffield said. "We knew we were expecting to be a little bit rusty because of that. And we were, it showed.
"What I thought we did a lot early on is we showed some toughness. We stayed in the fight (even though) we were getting blocked off the court early on. We knew this was going to be a team that is very physical and athletic at the net. We knew that we were in for a challenge up here. We just stayed in the fight."
The first set featured three lead changes and eight ties, including at 18-18. A 3-0 run, capped by a kill from Haleigh Nelson, put UW up 21-18 but the Tar Heels (1-3) cut it to 21-20 off of a Wisconsin hitting error. Kelli Bates recorded back-to-back kills to end the UNC rally. One of six North Carolina blocks made it 23-22 but a Tar Heel error and kill from Romana Kriskova put the Badgers up 1-0.
Lauren Carlini served nine straight points to put UW up 9-0 in the second set. UNC finally got on the board at 9-1 and made a late rally to cut the lead to 20-18. Errors hurt the Heels as a kill by Nelson finished off a 3-0 run and put Wisconsin up 23-18. Another kill by Nelson set up set point at 24-20 before an ace from Carlini put UW up 2-0 heading into the break.
"Lauren got us off to a great start in game two," explained Sheffield. "That really got them behind the eight ball in game two then it was point for point from there on out.
"Game three was just a battle. We just kept getting cleaner as the match went on and that was certainly important."
In the third set, neither team led by more than two points as there were 13 ties, including at 15-15. Freshman Tionna Williams had a kill and a block to put Wisconsin up 18-15. UNC would get no closer as Bates had two kills and North Carolina native Nelson scored the match-winning kill.
"Nellie showed up to play against her home-state team," Sheffield said of Nelson. "Really happy for the match that she was able to put together."
Nelson finished with 11 kills while hitting a match-high .579 with no errors on 19 attempts. Bates shared match-high honors with 12 kills.
Taylor Morey finished with a match-high 20 digs while Lauryn Gillis added 11 saves as the Badgers outdug the Tar Heels 61-49.
Wisconsin's hitting improved as the match went on, finishing with a .202 (45-20-124) attack percentage for the match after hitting just .040 (13-11-50) for the first set.
North Carolina hit .109 (36-22-128) as a team but outblocked the Badgers 13 - 6.5.
"We were attacking their seam a lot, we were not going for the edges of the block too well," Sheffield said of the UNC block. "What we started doing a little bit better there as well is Gilly and Kelli, those guys started attacking the line a little bit, mixing in role shots. We were trying to go at the heart of their block early and you can't do that against really good teams."
Wisconsin, which wraps up tournament play on Saturday when it takes on host Louisville at 6 p.m., looks to continue to improve and build team chemistry.
"There has to be this inner toughness that comes from teams and that doesn't come over night, especially with new kids because that inner toughness comes from trust and working through things," Sheffield said. "Getting into a really good, superior athletic opponent and staying with the fight, staying with the battle, we got going at the end."
