The No. 4 Badgers (13-1 Big Ten, 22-2 overall) added two more wins to their record after defeating Michigan (6-8, 11-13) and Michigan State (6-7, 13-12) on the road this past weekend.
Wisconsin leads the Big Ten Conference in wins and has surpassed last year’s record of 12-8. The Badgers now maintain a 7-0 record on the road with only three remaining away games in the season.
The Badgers beat Michigan Friday night in a competitive five-set match by a score of 25-20, 24-26, 25-19, 21-25, 16-14. Although the Badgers won the match, head coach Kelly Sheffield shared the girls’ disappointment in their play.
“[The girls] are not happy with how they came out and played,” Sheffield said. “But they are really excited and happy that they were able to stick together and play tough when the other team had a lot of momentum and confidence, and we were able to win on somebody else’s court.”
Michigan was able to out-assist and out-kill Wisconsin throughout the match. Michigan freshman outside hitter Adeja Lambert had 21 kills, outscoring Wisconsin sophomore Haleigh Nelson with 16. Michigan senior setter Lexi Dannemiller had 61 assists, beating Wisconsin sophomore Lauren Carlini’s 48. Michigan had three players in double digits and more recorded kills.
“Michigan played really well, they were a handful tonight,” Sheffield said. “They gave us all we could handle, that’s for sure.”
Although the Badgers were put to the test, they proved they could handle it like they have this entire season.
“Our ball control has gotten better, servicing has gotten better, blocking has gotten a lot better,” Sheffield said at a press conference earlier this week. “Some of our servers see patterns, people are dining some cracks in the armor, if you will, and we find those, and we try to get to work with when we get back to the practice gym.”
After defeating the Wolverines Friday night, the Badgers took on Michigan State Sunday afternoon. Wisconsin did not let the match get down to the wire like against the Wolverines, beating the Spartans in three sets 25-23, 25-19, 25-22.
Wisconsin senior outside hitter Ellen Chapman led the Badgers with 13 kills throughout the match, with freshman outside hitter Kelli Bates closely behind her with 12.
Michigan State’s sophomore outside hitter Chloe Reinig led the Spartans with 15 kills throughout the match. Wisconsin led the Spartans in digs 37-35, with junior libero Taylor Morey reaching 11 throughout the match. Michigan State senior libero Kori Moster led the Spartans with 17 digs respectively.
Wisconsin returns home for their match Wednesday night against Michigan at 6:30 p.m. at the Field House.
UWBadgers.com contributed to this report.
