Sports

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SPORTS

Top athletes from a momentous semester

By Daily Cardinal Staff | Dec. 12, 2016

By several different measures, this was arguably the greatest semester in Wisconsin athletic history. The football team went from unranked all the way up to No. 8 in the country, providing plenty of heart-stopping moments along the way and coming up just shy of a Big Ten title and a College Football Playoff berth. The volleyball team earned its first ever No. 1 ranking before falling in heart-breaking fashion in the Elite Eight.

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HOCKEY

Badgers open Big Ten play with split in Ann Arbor

By Bobby Ehrlich | Dec. 11, 2016

This weekend, for the first time in its history, Wisconsin won its Big Ten opener. The league has only been around for four years, but the win is still an impressive milestone for a program that has floundered in the conference the past two years.

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WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Badgers overwhelmed by Marquette despite valiant effort from McMorris, Howard

By Cal Larsen | Dec. 11, 2016

In what was arguably Wisconsin’s (4-8) most well-played game of the season, the Badgers could not pull off the upset Sunday and knock off in-state rival Marquette.

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VOLLEYBALL

Stunner in Madison: Stanford rallies back from two-set deficit to upset Wisconsin in Elite Eight

By David Gwidt | Dec. 11, 2016

As the Badgers trotted off the court and into the locker room at the end of the second set of the regional final match Saturday night, the fans who filled the seats in the Field House roared with excitement, feeling the dream of a Final Four berth slowing becoming a reality. Three sets later, the raucous atmosphere inside the Field House had been replaced with sobering silence, as the thousands of fans who once seemed so confident in their team struggled to come to grips with what they just witnessed.

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BASKETBALL

Badgers explode in second half, exact revenge on Marquette

By Ben Pickman | Dec. 10, 2016

After less than two minutes of action in No. 17 Wisconsin’s (9-2) victory over Marquette (7-3) Saturday afternoon, sophomore forward Ethan Happ picked up his second foul in as many minutes.

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VOLLEYBALL

Survive and advance: Badgers storm back to stave off elimination, advance to Elite Eight

By Jacob Hams | Dec. 9, 2016

Two teams extremely familiar with each other fought until the very end in a Sweet 16 match for the ages that had one team screaming for joy after a comeback. The No. 3 Wisconsin Badgers (17-3 Big Ten, 28-4 overall) took on Ohio State (10-10, 22-12) for the third time this season, in a match that was very different from the first two meetings.

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PODCAST

Cardinal Zone Podcast: Basketball takes on Marquette, women's hockey dominates Minnesota

Dec. 9, 2016

In this week's podcast, host Bobby Ehrlich gives his weekly weather report and then talks men's basketball with Ben Pickman and women's hockey with Cameron Lane-Flehinger.

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SPORTS

No. 17 Wisconsin heads to Milwaukee for annual I-94 rivalry game

By Thomas Valtin-Erwin | Dec. 9, 2016

For the last three games, the Badgers’ level of competition has steadily declined.

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SPORTS

Mueller named to All-America Third Team

By Isaiah De los Santos | Dec. 9, 2016

In the Big Ten Championship semifinal, junior forward Christopher Mueller stepped up big time giving his team a chance to advance to the championship game.

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WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

Gilreath scores 21 to carry Badgers; Young suspended indefinitely

By Isaiah De los Santos | Dec. 9, 2016

Head coach Jonathan Tsipis and his Badger squad lost last Tuesday night in a game in which it seemed neither team wanted to win.

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HOCKEY

Big Ten hockey preview: The rest of the conference

By Daily Cardinal Staff | Dec. 8, 2016

Penn State Come early April, Penn State fans may be calling Happy Valley, Hockey Valley. The Nittany Lions are unbeaten in their last 13 games and have only suffered one loss in their 15 games on the ice this season. Penn State’s success is, in large part, due to sophomore forward Andrew Sturtz.

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HOCKEY

Big Ten preview: Berry stellar despite weak defensive support

By Ethan Levy | Dec. 8, 2016

After the Badgers’ loss to Omaha, head coach Tony Granato said he thought freshman goalie Jack Berry played a great game. Sophomore Luke Kunin echoed his coach's comments, saying, “He battled hard for us tonight. He was our best player.”

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VOLLEYBALL

Sweet 16 preview: In effort to rally fans, Sheffield donates 1,000 tickets to UW students

By David Gwidt | Dec. 8, 2016

After putting together one of the most successful regular seasons in program history, the 2016 Wisconsin Badgers is a team well-versed in the art of record-breaking. While this group of Wisconsin players is hailed for achievements like earning the highest postseason seed ever, the Wisconsin fanbase has made some history in its own right, shattering the average attendance for home matches this year. But now, much like he does with his own team, head coach Kelly Sheffield is trying to give Badgers’ fans some extra motivation to make the proverbial postseason push. During his weekly press conference Monday afternoon, Sheffield made the announcement that he and his wife would donate up to 1,000 tickets to Wisconsin students for the upcoming regional final match against Ohio State at the Field House.

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VOLLEYBALL

Sweet 16 preview: Nelson at forefront of dominating Badgers' defense

By David Gwidt | Dec. 8, 2016

Midway through the third set of a win over Washington State last Friday, Wisconsin senior captain Haleigh Nelson hustled up to the frontline and let her instincts take over.

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VOLLEYBALL

Sweet 16 preview: The rest of the Madison Regional field

By Daily Cardinal Staff | Dec. 8, 2016

Ohio State Buckeyes  Coming off of a loss to Indiana on Nov. 5, their third in four games, Ohio State’s chances of making a third-consecutive Sweet 16 appeared slim.

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BASKETBALL

Wisconsin stifles Telfair, Showalter shines on both ends

By Thomas Valtin-Erwin | Dec. 7, 2016

At the opening tip-off, the ball hung in the air longer than Ethan Happ expected—just long enough for Novak Topalovic to tap the ball back and steal the first possession for Idaho State.

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BASKETBALL

Koenig leads the way as UW downs Idaho State with ease

By Thomas Valtin-Erwin | Dec. 7, 2016

Everything went right for the No. 17 Badgers (8-2) Wednesday night as they dispatched the Idaho State Bengals (1-8) by a score of 78-44 with next to no problems. UW got things started quickly, racing out to a 19-3 lead in the first half of the first period.

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SPORTS

Idaho State outplays Wisconsin in second half as Badgers fall

By Cal Larsen | Dec. 6, 2016

Badgers drop game one of home stand to Idaho State In what ended up being a sloppy, low scoring night for both teams, the Bengals of Idaho State came out on top Tuesday night in Wisconsin’s return to the Kohl Center. Wisconsin (3-7) dropped game one of a three game home stand Tuesday night by a score of 42-35 to Idaho State (3-5). The Badgers had the advantage when the buzzer sounded at the end of the first quarter, outscoring the Bengals 13-10, which would be the only quarter they had the scoring advantage. Redshirt senior Kendall Shaw, who has started all but two games this season, saw a total of three minutes in Tuesday’s contest.

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BASKETBALL

Happ's paint prowess key as Badgers host Idaho State

By Ben Pickman | Dec. 6, 2016

Six days a week during the summer, sophomore forward Ethan Happ continued practicing until he made 500 jump shots. Every workout Ethan Happ conducted this offseason continued until the sophomore forward made 500 jump shots.

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SPORTS

Hutchins, Pinfold lead Badger men to strong showing in Austin

By Kelly Ward | Dec. 6, 2016

When head swim and dive coach Whitney Hite recruited his current class of seniors in the fall of 2012, he had no idea how successful the group of six would be four years later.