Wisconsin wins ninth straight with sweep over Illinois

The No. 7 ranked Wisconsin Badgers continue to be on a roll as they swept Illinois Thursday night. 

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“We played within ourselves, and that allowed us to get on some of these really nice long runs that we had tonight,” said head coach Kelly Sheffield via USA Today the after a match that included an 11-0 run in the first set and 9-0 run in the second set.

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The Badgers were led by Oregon transfer Mimi Colyer led the Badgers with 16 kills.

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“She had some bombs today, but there was some craftiness to her swings to get her to get the block the direction that she wanted them to,” Sheffield said.

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Her teammate Charlie Fuerbringer agreed that Colyer opened up the match for the Badgers.

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“We knew scouting that they wouldn’t have more than two hands up on the block,” Fuerbringer said. “So that BIC (back row attack) was super open the whole match, and she was just killing the ball, hitting it super hard.”

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Another bright spot for the Badgers was the play of freshman Kristen Simon, whom the Fightin Illini targeted for 32 of their 53 serves. The freshman only had one error the whole night, finishing with a .969 reception percentage. 

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“My mindset this game was just, ‘Come at me,’” Simon said. “I wanted to pass the ball. I was kind of sad sometimes when they missed.”

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What wasn’t sad was the Badgers' continuing dominance on the court. They will next face Michigan Sunday afternoon. 

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