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Post by wiscvball on Sept 28, 2007 21:05:48 GMT -5
Dolgner leads UW with 23 kills, 11 digs, 5 blocks, hitting .375. Dykstra adds 15 kills, hitting over .370 and 4 blocks Wack has 21 digs and 5 aces with no service errors.
For Northwestern, Hyser has 15 kills, .583, 6 blocks, but 3 blocking errors. Brittani Gray has 21 kills, hitting .439 with 3 blocks. Nobilio with 15 digs, but was aced 6 times.
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Post by bucky415 on Sept 30, 2007 1:32:41 GMT -5
It was kind of an uneven effort from the Badgers, but I have to give Northwestern credit for some of that. In the first game, after the Badgers jumped out to a lead, Nobilio was digging everything, Northwestern blocked pretty well, and the Badgers didn't put up a great block. Fortunately, Reineke took over the net at the end and the Badgers pulled out the game. Still, Glab did a nice job of spreading the ball around and kept the Badgers off balance defensively.
In the second game, Northwestern's passing fell apart. Thus, the Badgers looked great and the Wildcats terrible as the Badgers grabbed a 17-6 lead. Jurivich replaced Glab and set the rest of the match for Northwestern. Northwestern was able to recover and played okay the rest of the game, but the deficit was way too much to overcome.
I thought the Badgers would win the third game, but Northwestern came back and played well. Anderson's serve really got the Badgers out of system and turned the game around. The injury to Paulus was scary; I was glad she was able to come back and play back row after a while. I have to give Northwestern credit for overcoming that to win the game. The Wildcats had a 6-0 run late as the Badgers got stuck in a bad two hitter rotation, with AWack/DuPont and Reineke in the front row. Northwestern kept stopping them and strung together a lot of points.
In the fourth game, the Badgers continued to be putrid for a while, falling behind 9-3 with some ugly errors. Fortunately, JWack's serve got them back into it, and they were able to take the match in four.
Individually, Wisconsin won mainly because they had Brittney Dolgner and Northwestern didn't. She hit really effectively and had some big out of system kills. Dykstra also played well offensively, scoring on a couple of tips and otherwise just hitting over people. That is an effective weapon. Jeffers had some nice kills on quicks to the middle, and they finally got Reineke going on the back slide. I wish they would set her more, as she can be effective. Unfortunately, the L2s really struggled, as Northwestern blocked well against them. DuPont finally got rolling at the end of game four to help put away the victory. I thought Simpson did a pretty good job of running the offense on the night.
On the other hand, the Badger defense was not very good. The block was really inconsistent, especially against Gray. She is an emotional player and got hot, but I think the Badgers should have been able to slow her down more with better blocking. The block was just out of position or mistimed way too often. Also, the back row play was inconsistent, good at times but really shaky at others. There were times when there were no defenders even close to the attack, which isn't what you expect from an experienced team. Mills served tough but missed some digs and struggled to pass at times. Kuzma replaced her at times but didn't do much. Berkley played pretty well, though, and had at least one highlight film dig. Dolgner showed her quickness in picking up tips, and JWack had 22 digs and served tough.
Northwestern was better than I expected. I am really surprised the Illini swept them tonight. Glab isn't the most fluid setter in the world but did pretty well when the passing was there. The Wildcats also didn't have many unforced hitting errors after the middle of the second game. Some service errors at key times really hurt them in the first game. Nobilio made some really impressive digs but had a few spurts where her passing wasn't great. Anderson served tough but didn't really get going offensively. Hyser was really tough; she is quick and has a nice variety of shots. I am not sure the Badgers would be able to do much against her on a regular basis, other than hopefully serve her out of the offense. Gray and Moffett both seem to be demonstrative players who could go hot or cold. I think they do upgrade Northwestern at those positions, but I think a better defensive effort could slow them down somewhat at this point in their careers. Paulus didn't do much offensively before she got hurt, but she has never really done much against UW from what I remember. Anyway, I do see Northwestern back in the NCAAs, the two losses this weekend notwithstanding.
I think the 909 fans NU reported might have been a bit low. Unfortunately for them, a lot of the people were wearing red. It was my first visit to Evanston, which I liked. The campus is really pretty when you aren't freezing. The trip there isn't too fun, though. Chicago driving is always iffy, and Edens construction started last night.
Anyway, it was good for the Badgers to get the win. I hope the L2s avoid similar matches in the future, as I don't want to have too much of the all Dolgner all the time show this year. That was a sure sign of trouble last year, although she did lead the Badgers to some wins, most notably against NW in Madison. I hope the blocking/defense improve, but you take any road wins you can get. Also, it is nice to see Dykstra emerging as an offensive force. I think her two errors were balls she just hit long. She can really be a matchup problem for teams.
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