The No. 11 Wisconsin Badgers kicked off a back-to-back with a 3-0 sweep over the Michigan State Spartans on Friday, fighting through some adversity at the end for their 19th win of the season.
Wisconsin
(19-4, 12-3 Big Ten) had a back-and-forth battle early in the first set, leading 14-13 at the midway point. A three-point run gave them some distance, and the Badgers closed the set with a 5-1 run to win 25-17 and go up 1-0. Mimi Colyer was dominant, recording four straight kills on Wisconsin points to give the Badgers the set.
The Badgers trailed early in the second set, as Michigan State used some early momentum to take an 11-8 lead. But, Wisconsin went on a hot streak, scoring four straight points after cutting the lead to 12-10 to flip the script, with Colyer recording two more kills in the stretch.
Michigan State fought back, though, taking the lead back at 19-18. But, Wisconsin went on a 7-2 run to cap the second set at 25-21 and go up 2-0. Colyer was dominant, recording four kills in the stretch, while Una Vajagic and Carter Booth each had a kill as well.
The third set was where the most fireworks happened. Once again, Michigan State had the momentum early, taking a 5-2 lead, which parlayed into a 10-6 lead moments later. But, the Badgers weren’t going down without a fight. They took a 5-2 run of their own to cut the lead to one, as Colyer had two kills, Booth had a kill, and Charlie Fuerbringer had a service ace.
Still, Michigan State found a way to grow its lead back to 15-11, thanks to a service ace, a Wisconsin service error, a Zuzanna Kulig kill, and a Kulig block. The Spartans maintained their lead late in the set at 20-15, and it looked like Wisconsin was going to head to a fourth set.
But, Colyer added four more kills and Booth had a pair herself as the Badgers fought back to tie things up at 23 apiece on an 8-3 run. They even took the lead with an Una Vajagic kill at 24-23, but a service error tied things up at 24.
Then, after another Booth kill, Michigan State’s Taylah Holdem tied things at 25 with a kill of her own. Both sides added a point before Wisconsin delivered the final blows with Alicia Andrew and Colyer getting the game-winning kills to complete the sweep.
Colyer finished the match with 21 kills, while Vajagic had 12 and Booth had nine. Booth was a monster on the front line with 10 blocks, though, as the Badgers had 13 as a team.
Wisconsin out-hit Michigan State .398 to .189 and improved to 19-4 on the season. They have a back-to-back, facing the Illinois Fighting Illini in Champaign on Saturday night. First serve is at 8:00 p.m. on Big Ten Plus.
