 Rolfzen |  Rolfzen |  Fien |
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1 2 3
Wisconsin(5) 25 25 25
NEBRASKA (14) 19 21 18
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The Huskers fell to 12-7 overall and 6-4 in the Big Ten. Wisconsin moved to 18-2 overall and 9-1 in conference play to take sole possession of first place in the Big Ten. The Badgers have won nine straight matches, five against currently ranked teams.
Amber Rolfzen led the Huskers with 10 kills, while Kadie Rolfzen and Kelsey Fien each had nine kills. Mary Pollmiller had 29 assists, and Justine Wong-Orantes had 15 digs.
Wisconsin setter Lauren Carlini had 34 assists and a career-high nine kills to lead the balanced Badger attack. Six Badgers had kills in the match, and each had at least six.
UW outhit NU .265 to .143. The Badgers had a 56-51 edge in digs and 8-6 edge in blocks. Each team had three aces, but the Huskers had six service errors.
The Huskers took an early 4-1 lead but saw the Badgers reel off an 8-1 run to go up 9-5. The Huskers got back within 10-9 and still trailed by one at 18-17. But Wisconsin got kills from Courtney Thomas and Kelli Bates to go up 20-17. A kill by Pollmiller closed the gap to 20-18, but the Badgers scored the next three points to take control, and they finished out the 25-19 win.
In the second set, it was Wisconsin who went up 3-1 early and the Huskers who rallied to a 9-6 lead after an 8-3 spurt, as the Rolfzen twins combined for five kills with Kadie Rolfzen adding an ace. Wisconsin reclaimed the lead at 14-13 on a Bates kill, and the Badgers pushed it to 16-14 on a Dominique Thompson kill. Carlini added a kill and a solo stuff to put the Badgers up 19-15. After a timeout, Fien put down two kills around a block by Pollmiller to get the Huskers within 19-18 and force a Badger timeout. Nebraska tied it 19-19 after two hits by Carlini, but the Badgers responded with two points to go up 21-19. Nebraska appeared to close the gap to 22-21 after Carlini hit wide, but it was ruled off a Husker and instead UW went up 23-20. The Badgers closed out the 25-21 win with an ace.
UW went up 11-7 in the third to force a Husker timeout, but the Huskers battled back with kills by Amber Rolfzen and Kadie Rolfzen to cut it to 11-9. However, a 5-0 Badger run put them up 16-9. NU pulled within four, 18-14, after a Sydney Townsend ace, Meghan Haggerty kill and Alicia Ostrander/Haggerty block. But the Badgers answered to go up 20-14 and finished out the sweep with a 25-18 win.
The Huskers are on the road again next weekend for matches at Rutgers on Friday at 6 p.m. (CT) and at Maryland on Saturday at 6 p.m. (CT).