No. 6 Wisconsin’s athleticism was simply too much to handle for the Green Bay Phoenix Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Riding the coattails of a six-match winning streak, the Badgers swept the Phoenix to advance to the second round.
The first set was nearly flawless for Wisconsin as it racked up 13 kills and zero unforced errors in the opening frame. Senior middle blocker Tionna Williams, playing in her fourth and final NCAA tournament, led the way with three kills in the first set as she looked to lead by example from the start.
“I have more awareness of myself as a senior, being a leader on this team and having experience in this tournament,” Williams said. “We’ve been doing this all season. We always accept the challenge and rise up.”
Yet Green Bay didn’t give up easily after the first set as the Phoenix opened up a 5-0 lead to begin the second set. Wisconsin quickly responded with a 6-0 run of their own, but a back-and-forth set had Green Bay serving for the set up 24-23. Badgers sophomore Grace Loberg knotted the game at 24 with a violent kill, and an eventual Green Bay error helped Wisconsin escape the second set with a 27-25 victory. Sophomore middle blocker Dana Retake had five of her nine kills in the set as she came out strong as the Phoenix fought back.
“It was hard to score on [Green Bay],” head coach Kelly Sheffield said. “Defensively, they play so well...we came out ready to play and Green Bay really upped their game there in the second. I liked how our mentality there was to stick with it.”
The Badgers were in cruise control by the third set, never trailing once in the final set. Loberg’s eight and final kill put the Badgers in the win column with a 25-15 set win. Junior libero Tiffany Clark had 15 digs in the win, her team-leading fourth consecutive match in double digits.
The win marks Wisconsin’s seventh straight, stretching back to their Nov. 9 match. With Pepperdine scoring a 3-2 win over UNI just before UW’s game, the Wave will face the Badgers Friday night with a trip to the Sweet Sixteen on the line.
“We’ll try to calm ourselves down as quickly as we can,” Sheffield said. “We have to get a good night’s sleep and get after it in the morning. We haven’t prepared for Pepperdine or Northern Iowa this week.”
While the team may not have all their homework done on Pepperdine’s fast-paced offensive attack just yet, senior leader Williams said the team will be ready to go.
“We’re going to go all out,” Williams said. “Time to give it our all.”
First serve is set for Friday at 7:00 p.m.
