Wisconsin volleyball: UW bounces back from first loss to sweep Rutgers

Bremen is in Chicago for unknown reasons as there certainly wasn’t a Wisconsin sporting even there today, so you’re stuck with me for the volleyball recap!

Coming off their first loss of the season Friday night, a shocking five-set upset at the hands of the Maryland Terrapins, the Badgers (9-1 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) were looking to get back on track against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-5 overall, 0-2 Big Ten). Well, they certainly accomplished their goal, sweeping Rutgers 25-18, 25-16, 25-21, on Saturday night to end their east coast road trip at 1-1.

Dana Rettke, per usual, led the way with a slash line of 15 kills/3 errors/22 attempts (.545 hitting percentage) and added nine total blocks, which was more than Rutgers had as an entire team. Devyn Robinson, who moved to middle blocker from right side on Saturday, also had a bounce-back game. She had 10 kills on 11 attempts with zero errors for an absurd .909 hitting percentage.

Against Maryland on Friday, the Badgers really struggled in the service game and while not everything was fixed on Saturday night, having eight aces compared to nine service errors was a marked improvement. Lauren Barnes, Izzy Ashburn and Joslyn Boyer each had two aces (and two errors to be fair) to keep Rutgers off balance.

Sydney Hilley added 37 assists and Gio Civita had nine digs to lead Wisconsin in those categories. Beka Kojadinovic had a team-high eight kills for Rutgers but she only hit .130. Kojadinovic also had 10 digs. Inna Balyko had 22 assists and two aces to pace Rutgers in those categories.

Wisconsin was back to their dominant ways on Saturday evening and now head back to the Field House to face arch-rival Minnesota on Friday night, live on the Big Ten Network.