Just when it looked like the schedule was easing up, the reality of playing in the Big Ten set in. Coming off of a home win against Ohio State, No. 6 Wisconsin (1-1 Big Ten, 10-2 overall) will take on Northwestern (12-1, 2-0) at the Welsh-Ryan Arena in Evanston, Ill.
While Wisconsin started the season off with some tough games against No. 19 Southern California, No. 4 Washington and No. 3 Penn State, Northwestern’s first real test of the season will come against the Badgers.
The Wildcats’ first (and really only) tough match of the season resulted in their first loss. In the USD-SDSU 2014 Challenge in San Diego, Calif., the Wildcats were swept by No. 23 San Diego (9-5, 2-0).
However, since the loss Northwestern is undefeated, dropping only five sets in their last seven matches.
They opened up their Big Ten season against Rutgers at home by sweeping the Scarlet Raiders 3-0. Their second Big Ten match against Maryland, however proved to be more difficult.
Again at home, the Wildcats easily won the first set 25-15 but the Terrapins came back strong in the second set taking it 25-23. Again coming out strong in the set, Maryland was able to squeeze out the third set victory 25-23.
However, the Wildcats seemed to figure out Maryland in between the third and fourth set, as they easily won the fourth 25-16 and went on to win the decisive fifth set 17-15.
While the Badgers did start the season off with some tough opponents, they were able to navigate through it. After going 1-1 against Southern California and Washington in the Pac-12/Big-Ten Showcase the Badgers were swept by familiar foe Penn State.
As has become common place with this team, the Badgers were not affected by back-to-back losses and instead turned their focus to Ohio State.
Even though Badger head coach Kelly Sheffield admitted that Ohio State was a hard team to prepare for because of their versatility in both players and formations, Wisconsin seemed more than ready for the challenge.
Wisconsin completely dominated the game as they held Ohio State to a .123 hit percentage and boasted a .266 hitting percentage themselves. Wisconsin also out-killed the Buckeyes 45-37.
All of this added up to a 3-0 sweep of the Buckeyes. The first two sets were close at times but anytime Ohio State would start to make a run the Badgers would come up with a big play to continue to separate themselves from their competition.
However, in the third set Wisconsin seemed to almost have broken the Buckeyes’ will by storming out to a 11-1 lead before the Buckeyes started to show some resistance. Even though Ohio State started to make a run, they could not sustain it and the Badgers took the decisive set 25-17.
Wisconsin is hoping to build on this momentum and start their win streak up again against the Wildcats. After taking on Northwestern, Wisconsin will travel to Urbana, Ill., to take on Illinois before returning home to take on Rutgers Oct. 10.
