Saturday, the University of Wisconsin men's rowing team claimed five out of the six races against the University of Michigan and Oregon State University on Lake Mendota. In the varsity eight event, the sixth-ranked Badgers took an early lead and never looked back as they crossed the line 3.5 seconds ahead of second place Oregon State, while Michigan finished a distant third. Wisconsin took control from the beginning and kept the lead, crossing the finish line in 5:56.48.
In the second varsity eight event the Badgers defeated the Wolverines and Beavers to finish in 6:11.09. Michigan edged out Oregon State by a second, with a time of 6:15.75. UW's only loss came when the freshman team lost to the Michigan freshman for the first time ever in the novice eight event. Michigan clocked in at 6:16.2 while Wisconsin took second in 6:19.7. The Badgers travel west this coming weekend to Seattle, Wash. and Redwood Shores, Calif., where they will meet No. 3 Washington and No. 1 University of California.
The University of Wisconsin Lightweight women's crew team did damage to its opponents when it won the Knecht Cup on Saturday and the Villanova Invitational on Sunday. Currently ranked No. 1 in the country, the UW lightweights went to Camden, New Jersey coming off an early season victory in San Diego last weekend. Saturday, the Badgers gained an early advantage and went on to take the Knecht Cup in a time of 6:52, a full seven seconds ahead of second-place Radcliffe. Princeton University took third place in 7:00.7. On Sunday the lightweights did not miss a beat as they won the Villanova Invitational. Despite a slow start that had the Badgers down to Princeton early on, the UW turned it on in the second half of the race and won by a sizeable margin.
The UW volleyball team lost their match on Saturday night at LaFollette High School to the talented Tianjin Sports School, which is a elite-level club team from the country of China. The Badgers dropped the three games, 26-24, 25-19 and 25-15. The Badgers were led by freshman Jill Odenthal, who had 39 assists and nine kills. Junior Morgan Shields had limited playing time due to a broken left pinky finger. Normally a setter, Shields, who had 11 assists, was restricted to serving and playing in the back row to prevent further injury. The Badgers were leading in the first game 16-11 before Tianjin came back to tie it at 23 all. Tianjin then took the victory 26-24. The team will next face UW-Milwaukee Tuesday.
Junior goalie Scott Kabotoff was named the Badgers' Most Valuable Player this weekend at the annual hockey banquet. Kabotoff, who was third in save percentage and sixth in goals against average in the WCHA, had an impressive .920 save percentage and a 2.87 GAA in conference play. In addition to Kabotoff winning the award, outgoing Head Coach Jeff Sauer was honored with a modest presentation and ceremony honoring his 20 years as head coach of the Badgers. Sauer leaves coaching as the winningest coach in WCHA history. In addition senior captain Andy Wheeler was awarded the Ivan B. Williamson Award for Scholastic Excellence.
The University of Wisconsin women's tennis team (6-3 Big Ten and 13-7 overall) lost to the University of Illinois (5-3 Big Ten, 10-10 overall) 4-3 on Sunday afternoon. It was a rough weekend for the tennis team as they lost to Northwestern (8-0 Big Ten, 16-5 overall) 4-3 on Saturday. Juniors Linde Mues and Shana McElroy both won their matches in straight sets.
