The Wisconsin Badgers (11-3, 0-3) fought tough against the No. 7 Illinois Fighting Illini (11-2, 3-0) on Wednesday night but couldn't seem to close out sets and lost the match in four sets. After winning the first set 25-19, the Badgers fell to the Illini in the next three.
Freshman outside hitter Elise Walch once again stepped up for the Badgers, leading the team with 15 kills. Senior outside hitter Allison Wack also added 11 kills in the match for the Badgers. Sophomore right-side hitter Mary Ording started for the Badgers and contributed seven kills. Junior setter Janelle Gabrielsen led the team with a hitting percentage of .357, which came from her strategic dumps to the deep corners.
The defense was a definite key in the Badgers ability to hang tough with the Illini, led by Junior libero Kim Kuzma. Kuzma extended her double-digit digs streak to 18 matches, with 27 digs on the night. Freshman defensive specialist Annemarie Hickey came up with some great digs, adding 14 to the Badgers' 81 total digs.
The Fighting Illini were led by senior outside hitter Laura DeBruler, who lead both teams with 26 kills and a .236 hitting percentage. Defensively, freshman libero Jennifer Bonilla came up with 28 digs on the night. Junior outside hitter Colleen Ward also added 25 digs.
The Badgers started off the first set on the right foot, with a huge kill coming from sophomore middle blocker Alexis Mitchell to make the score 14-10. A big momentum change in the set was a hard serve from Wack, which caused the Illini to pass it back to the Badgers. It was in perfect position for Welch to kill the ball right into the ground. This got the crowd rallied up and the momentum carried the Badgers to win the set 25-19.
DeBruler dominated the second set, racking up seven kills. The Badgers couldn't find the rhythm to get anything going on the offensive side and ended up falling to Illinois, 20-25.
Both teams fought to the end in the third set, as it was the most exciting of the match. The defensive efforts of the Badgers got them off to a 10-6 lead over the Illini. Illinois went on a 5-0 run, which then gave them a one-point lead. With two pancakes in the game coming from Kuzma and freshman right-side hitter Julie Mikaelsen, the Badgers had a 21-19 lead. Despite the late kill from Mitchell to tie the game at 23-23, the Badgers couldn't close it out and lost 23-25.
The momentum from the win of the third set gave the Fighting Illini an advantage going into the fourth set, and the Badgers were down 18-12 quickly in the set. Regardless of the defensive solidity of Hickey and Kuzma, the Badgers could not stop DeBruler, who had eight kills, and fell to Illinois 21-25.
Still, head coach Pete Waite is optimistic for the team's next game against Northwestern.
""We've been hitting top 10 teams the last two matches, top 25 the last three and Friday,"" Waite said. ""They're tasting it, they are getting close and they're ready to grab one here.""
The Badgers close up their homestand on Friday, as they host No. 25 Northwestern at 7p.m. at the UW Field House.
