MADISON, WISC. (Nov. 25, 2015) - Despite a strong showing in the opening set, the Rutgers women's volleyball team fell to No. 10 Wisconsin three sets (25-20, 25-15, 25-10) on Wednesday night at the UW Field House.
Rutgers was led by sophomore outside hitter Meme Fletcher (Overland Park, Kan.) with eight kills, along with eight digs in the loss. Senior outside Megan Stephenson (Burbank, Calif.) followed with seven kills of her own. Senior setter Anna Sudbury (Tomahawk, Wisc.) notched team-best 22 assists and three service aces, while junior right side Lauren Cloyd (Champaign, Ill.) posted a team-high four blocks.
Wisconsin's Lauryn Gillis posted a match-high 11 kills, while Haliegh Nelson and Kelli Bates followed with seven kills in the win. Lauren Carlini, the Big Ten leader in assists per set, led the stat sheet with 33 assists. Tionna Williams recorded a mach-best five blocks for the Badgers.
The teams traded points to open the match before Wisconsin established an 11-6 lead. Rutgers responded with three uncontested points fueled by two consecutive service aces from Sudbury to bring the score to 11-9. The Scarlet Knights kept the count as close as two, until the Badgers found a 19-15 lead. Back-to-back kills from junior middle Mikaela Matthews (San Diego, Calif.) and Fletcher brought the margin back within two, 19-17. Despite RU holding the score at 20-18, UW found the edge needed to close the first set with a 25-20 victory.
Although Rutgers fell behind, 10-4, at the start of set two, the Scarlet Knights rallied three straight points, including another ace from Sudbury, to pull within three at 10-7. The Badgers jumped to a 19-9, holding at least a 10-point cushion until Rutgers stumped the run. The Scarlet Knights cut into that margin with a block from Cloyd and Matthews followed by a kill from Fletcher to set the score a 22-14. A Badger miscue brought the count to 22-15, however, that is as close as RU would come as UW took a 25-15 win in set two and a 2-0 advantage in the match.
After Wisconsin rattled off four consecutive points to start set three, Stephenson stumped the run with a kill for RU. The Badgers would go on to commit four service errors, however, RU was unable to capitalize on the miscues, committing two errors of their own. UW held a 9-5 lead as both squads tried to snap out of the slow start. Wisconsin discovered that surge following a service ace from Madison Duello to bring the UW lead to 12-5. The Badgers never looked back, claiming a 25-10 victory in set three for a three-set victory on the night.
The Scarlet Knights dropped to an overall mark of 4-27 and a Big Ten record of 1-18, while the Badgers improved to 23-6 overall and 15-4 in league action. UW entered the match tied for third in the conference standings.
KNIGHT NOTES
- Rutgers has faced a ranked opponent in five of its last seven matches.
- Ronnie Komisarek brought her career digs total to 992, a mark good enough for eighth place in the Rutgers' record books. The senior is 8 digs away from hitting 1,000 career digs.
Up next, Rutgers concludes its 2015 campaign at No. 16 Ohio State. The match is set for a 7 p.m. ET start.
Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook (www.facebook.com/RutgersAthletics ) and (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding women's volleyball, follow the program on Twitter @RUvball.
-RU-
