December 05, 2003
Sheila Shaw posted 18 kills and Aubrey Meierotto added 17 as Wisconsin defeated No. 22 Arizona, 30-24, 25-30, 32-30, 30-26 Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at G. Rollie White Coliseum on the Texas A&M University campus.
With the win the Badgers improve to 22-10 and advance to meet the winner of the Texas A&M/Nicholls State match in the second round on Saturday at 7 p.m. Saturday's winner will advance to the round of 16 and the NCAA Regional in Lincoln, Neb. next weekend. Arizona ended its season at 17-15.
The Badgers hit .415 in the first game and led virtually the entire way en route to a 30-24 win. A 5-0 run by the Wildcats pulled them within one at 13-12, but they would get no closer the rest of the way. Leading Arizona by two late in the game, the Badgers paired two kills with two Wildcat attack errors to increase their lead to six at 28-22. After the teams traded points and an Arizona kill off a setter dump, Shaw ended the game for Wisconsin with one of her game-high seven kills.
Wisconsin carried that momentum into the second game and opened up an 11-6 lead. Arizona got the ball back on a kill by Jennifer Abernathy and, behind the serving of Griffin-Halfaker, went on a 7-0 run to take the lead for good at 14-11. Griffin-Halfaker, a senior setter who saw her first action of the night at the start of the game, scored four of the seven points on aces.
The rest of game two was tight until very late, when the Wildcats took advantage of a pair of Badger hitting errors to take a 27-23 lead. One point later Kim Glass, the Pac-10's kill leader, posted back-to-back kills to put Arizona at game point. Wisconsin scored once before Jolene Killough notched a kill to give the Wildcats a 30-25 win. Abernathy tallied eight kills in the game.
The Badgers survived a furious comeback by Arizona in the third game and held on for a 32-30 win. A tight game early, Wisconsin went on a 7-1 run midway through to open up a comfortable 20-11 lead. A kill by Shaw later on put the Badgers two points away from the game at 28-21 when the Wildcats started their comeback. After a Wisconsin service error Arizona scored on a kill and a service ace to pull within four. Jill Odenthal then put the Badgers at game point with her eighth kill of the night.
Glass answered with back-to-back kills to make the score 29-26, then a Wisconsin attack error and a pair of Wildcat blocks tied the game at 29.The teams traded points before Arizona's Stephanie Butkus was called for two hits at the net, setting up another game point. Shaw responded with an ace to seal the win.
Game four featured eight ties and five lead changes early on, but back-to-back kills by Meierotto midway through the fourth game extended a Wisconsin lead and the Badgers eventually took the match with a 30-26 win. Trailing 24-19, Arizona got consecutive kills by Jolene Killough to cut the deficit to three and force a Badger timeout. Glass followed that with a pair of kills to make the score 24-23. Wisconsin regained serve on a service error and got another kill by Meierutto for a 3-point lead. Arizona would get back within two three more times before a Jill Odenthal kill gave the Badgers match point. Glass' final attempt went into the net to give Wisconsin the match.
In addition to her team-high 18 kills, Shaw hit .485 on the night and posted three blocks. Meierotto hit .457 and added two blocks. Also in double-figure kills for the Badgers were Lisa Zukowski with 12 and Odenthal with 11.
Arizona was paced by Glass' match-high 20 kills and 14 digs. Killough hit .600 with 16 kills and four blocks, while Abernathy added 11 kills and Bre Ladd 10.
For the match, Wisconsin out-hit Arizona .295 to .199 and out-dug the Wildcats 74 to 72. Each team posted seven blocks.