The Wisconsin men’s soccer team has yet to tally a goal in Jed Hohlbein’s two-game absence, losing at Northern Illinois 1-0 and at Ohio State by the same score. Hohlbein, who suffered an ankle injury at the end of the Badgers’ 2-1 home loss to IUPUI, may not be back in the Wisconsin starting 11 anytime soon.

“He’s still day to day. His ankle is still bothering him,” head coach Jeff Rohrman said. “Looking ahead, I wouldn’t anticipate him for the next couple of weeks for sure, maybe longer.”

Hohlbein’s six goals are the third best total in the Big Ten, and his 13 points rank fourth in the conference.

“Certainly we miss Jed, but I also think we’re a team that has some other weapons and can score some goals from some different spots, as I’ve said the whole season,” Rohrman said. “I thought on Sunday against Ohio State, we created some pretty good chances; 50 percent of our shots were on goal and I think the keeper came up big probably three times.”

Ohio State goaltender Ray Burse Jr. earned the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts, while Indiana sophomore forward Jacob Peterson collected the Offensive Player of the Week for his game-winning strike to beat Penn State and give the Hoosiers their 48th-straight Big Ten match without a loss.

After tonight’s match against UW-Milwaukee, Wisconsin will face the two highest-ranked squads in the conference, with a home fixture against No. 9 Penn St. before traveling to Bloomington to take on Peterson and the third-ranked Hoosiers.

Volleyball: What a difference a week has made for the Wisconsin volleyball team.

The team began conference play 0-2 after dropping matches to Ohio State and Penn State, both of whom are currently ranked in the top 10 in the latest USA Today/CSTV coaches’ poll.

In those two matches, UW averaged just 14.43 kills per game and hit .168 as a team.

Since then, the Badgers have evened their conference mark at 2-2 with consecutive wins over Northwestern and Illinois. In the victories, Wisconsin is averaging 17.57 kills per game while hitting at a .320 clip. Those numbers happen to coincide with the insertion of sophomore setter Katie Lorenzen into the UW lineup.

Lorenzen took over for freshman Jackie Simpson, who struggled at times to establish a connection with some of the Badger hitters. In the first weekend of league play, UW was unable to get anyone other than Jill Odenthal fully on track.

Outside hitters Aubrey Meierotto (.133 hitting percentage) and Marian Weidner (.038) struggled to find a rhythm, as did middles Taylor Reineke (.000 percentage) and Sheila Shaw (.197). With Lorenzen at setter, those percentages have risen significantly, although it should be noted that Northwestern and Illinois are not the caliber of teams Ohio State and Penn State are.

Meierotto (a combined .265 hitting percentage), Reineke (.382) and Shaw (.400) all enjoyed greater success last week. Sophomore Maria Carlini, who replaced Weidner in the lineup at left-side hitter, hit an even .400 against the Wildcats and Illini.

“Our hitters’ numbers — hitting percentages — are real high and that’s a credit to Katie and the balls she was giving them,” Wisconsin head coach Pete Waite said following the Illinois match. “They’ve been having trouble getting in a real good rhythm and we got four players over a dozen kills with high hitting percentages.”

While Lorenzen deserves much of the credit for the improved attack, some of the kudos must also go to the play of the Wisconsin back row, where the offense is initiated. Freshman libero Jocelyn Wack has been rock solid in both service receive and passing all season, and lately the Badgers have been getting contributions from fellow freshmen defensive specialists Megan Mills and Amanda Berkley.

“It’s all reliant on passing and defense,” Waite said. “If you can get the setter to the center of the court — no matter who she is — she’s going to be able to disperse the ball better. If you pull her off the net 10 to 15 feet out, she has about one option. Then the opponent knows you have one option and they’re going to put up a better block.”

Women’s soccer: After a rough opening to the Big Ten season, which saw the UW women’s soccer team score only one goal through four games, the Badgers came back with a vengeance over the weekend scoring six goals in wins over the Hoosiers and the Boilermakers.

The ladies’ matches against Indiana and Purdue were a breath of fresh air for a stagnant offense. The Badgers entered the Big Ten season on a roll, scoring 22 goals in six games prior to the Big Ten season.

But the momentum failed to carry over into the Big Ten season — up until this weekend, that is. The weekend saw the lady Badgers collectively finding their scoring touch as five players scored, including a pair of goals by sophomore Allison Preiss.

Yet, through their struggles, the Lynn Murray-led defense has been stellar (other than a 4-0 loss to open the Big Ten season against Penn State). In the five games since Penn State, the Badgers are allowing only one goal per game, including a pair of overtime matches and a pair of shutouts.

The Badgers will look to combine their resuscitated offensive momentum with continued stout play from the defense in this weekend’s home matchup against Minnesota and Iowa at the McClimon Sports Complex.