Jill Odenthal's 16 kills in 23 attempts and Morgan Shields' key serving made the difference for Wisconsin, but Illinois State made the Badger volleyball team earn its victory, staying on 16th-ranked Wisconsin's heels during most of a 30-21, 30-24, 30-17 victory.
Jenny Kabbes led the Redbirds with 11 kills, but the Badger offense dominated the hitting .419 to .222 as UW rebounded from an upset loss last week at North Carolina.
Redbird coach Sharon Dingman saluted the Badgers.
"When they needed to, Wisconsin was able to get more physical and put some balls away," said Dingman, whose Redbirds fell to 2-2. "For two games, we were right with them. Emily (Kabbes) and Jenny were big in the middle and Erin Jones was digging some balls she wasn't getting last week."
The 'Birds came out strong in game one behind Jenny Kabbes' five kills. A couple of three-player blocks in the middle and a Staci Boyce service ace put ISU ahead 9-6. The Badgers converted a side-out for point No. 9, then Shields served five point in a row to get the Badgers to a 14-10 lead. ISU chased the Badgers, staying within four points until Shields served again to add two more points to the lead and secure UW's game-one victory. Odenthal scored on 7-of-8 swings.
Game two was tied 11 times, the last at 22-22 when Boyce knocked down Badger back-row defender Erin Byrd with a powerful swing. But a pair of Lisa Zukowski kills and two Redbird service errors helped Wisconsin, now 3-1, get the lead. Shields finished the game with four more service points.
Wisconsin got the spurt it wanted in the middle of game three, putting together a 9-1 run around Shields' service to take a 20-9 lead. Dingman thought serving made the difference.
"We didn't serve very well and couldn't keep them out of system," said Dingman. "Tomorrow (Saturday against No. 17 Texas A&M) we will have to serve much more aggressively."
Badger coach Pete Waite, a former Illinois State assistant, praised the Redbirds' performance, but believed his team was ready to elevate its game after last week's loss.
"Jones was hitting some balls well outside and their middles were able to get some good swings," said Waite. "But we were better than last week. We passed better. We blocked better and we played good defense. The loss at North Carolina was disappointing to all of us because we did not play well at all. Tonight, it showed that we were hungry."
In the first match of the tournament, No. 17 Texas A&M downed Montreal 30-19, 30-15, 30-16 in a match which counts as an exhibition. The Aggies' Melissa Munch converted 8 of 15 kill attempts without an erorr as A&M out-hit Montreal .289 to negative-.066.
