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Post by edburby on Oct 1, 2005 19:44:00 GMT -5
Does anyone know the stats of this match - looks like gametracker isn't working... ?
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Post by chrisreed on Oct 1, 2005 21:24:29 GMT -5
Wisconsin sweeps: 30 -15, 22, 21
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Post by bucky415 on Oct 2, 2005 19:17:40 GMT -5
This was a strong match for the Badgers and an ugly one for the Illini. The Badgers passed pretty well and ran their offense effectively, with Shaw (11 kills, .500), Carlini (11 kills, .429), and Meierotto (8 kills, .304) leading the way. Illinois did a good job of digging some hard hit shots from the Badgers (Vrdsky especially), but the Badgers are hard to stop when they are in system. On the good side for the Illini, their block was better than it was when I saw them earlier in the season. The blocks were tied 8-8, but the Badgers seemed to get more touches on the block that led to digs.
That was pretty much the extent of the good for the Illini in last night's match, though, except for the fact that they played better in the third game. There is a lot of bad news right now for Illinois and their fans. I read in the Champaign paper that Jen Hynds, the starting middle from last year who hadn't played this year due to injury, and Jana Wojcik, a freshman DS who had played in every match, have both left the team and the school for personal reasons. The story said that the two decisions weren't related and quoted Hardin saying that both left the team in good standing. Thus, there seems to be some chance both could be back, but not this season. The Illini are really short handed now. Virsilaite is playing back row for Turner, but her fingers are very heavily wrapped. She earns my respect for her toughness for even being out there. They also had Rachel Henderson, who didn't even play back row earlier in the season, cleared to play back row, and she played there at times. Lizzie Bazzetta, the backup setter, is at RS but doesn't usually get any swings. Thus, the offense is pretty much either the back slide to the middles or outside to Turner and VanMeter, with VanMeter also hitting from the back row at times.
The result of all of this is that Illinois has a very predictable offense, which makes it tough to score. Even worse, their passing was really poor last night (and the night before, apparently). The Badgers served them tough, but they gave up a lot of aces (11) and really struggled when Mills and Simpson served them short. The Illini had a slew of hitting errors when they were either out of system or tried to avoid the Wisconsin block, which was pretty good. The net result of the Illinois struggles and Wisconsin's solid defense was an .027 hitting percentage for the Illini on the night. Turner and Brown hit negative. VanMeter had 10 kills but only hit .125. Macdonald had some nice slide attacks and ended with nine kills, hitting .333.
As I said earlier, it was a solid effort in all areas for the Badgers, showing that they are capable of winning in a manner that isn't ugly. They played well throughout except for one short stretch in the middle of the third game in a tough environment. The Illinois student section is really good. They have a lot of students there, and they are pretty inventive with their cheers. This is in marked contrast to Wisconsin students at most events, who usually have nothing that doesn't rhyme with "truck." I hope the Badgers can play well next weekend; they will need to do so in order to win against OSU/PSU. Illinois, on the other hand, looks to be in trouble. They need to improve their passing in order to have a shot against most teams in the Big Ten. If they can get Henderson or Virsilaite back in the front row, that will help, but they have little depth and really need to execute well to win.
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