Wisconsin volleyball: Final Four notebook

The No. 4 Wisconsin Badgers volleyball team has one game left this season and it just so happens to be for the national championship! Standing in Wisconsin’s way is the No. 3 Stanford Cardinal. The Cardinal are the defending national champion and also won the title three years ago. They are absolutely not a team to overlook and honestly I’d be shocked if you get this far in a single elimination tournament by overlooking anyone, let alone the best team of the last four years.

Anyways, we will have more on the game throughout the day on Saturday but for now, here are some fun statistical facts, courtesy of the UW Athletic Department, about Wisconsin’s win over the No. 1 Baylor Bears on Thursday night.

• Wisconsin improved to 27-6 on the season while Baylor lost just its second match of the season and finished the year 29-2.
• Junior Dana Rettke led the Badgers with 19 kills while Molly Haggerty added 15 kills.
• UW hit .267 (54 kills – 19 errors – 131 attempts) while holding Baylor to .183 (54-26-153).
• Wisconsin outblocked the Bears 14.5 – 10, behind eight blocks from Rettke (see a compilation of Rettke’s highlights right here).
• UW also had a 62-56 advantage in digs with senior Tiffany Clark recording a match-high 18 digs.
• The Badgers also finished with a 9-4 advantage in service aces with Rettke and Sydney Hilley both scoring on three aces.
• In the last three sets, all Badger wins, there were only five lead changes. In the first set, which Baylor won in extra points, there were nine lead changes.

Wisconsin will face Stanford for the national title on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT from PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pa. live on ESPN2.