After being upset by Michigan State Friday night, the University of Wisconsin volleyball team dropped four spots to No. 11 in the latest rankings and is now two games behind Big Ten conference leader Penn State.

“On Friday, it kind of took me by surprise a little bit,” head coach Pete Waite said during his Monday press conference. “Michigan State is a very good team, and I had said that they’re really a hot team and they played maybe the best they have all season, but we were a little off. They were out of sync for some reason.”

While Waite gave credit to Michigan State’s defense for holding Wisconsin to .222 hitting percentage in the match, he cited some of his players being banged up as a reason for the poor showing Friday night.

“I think part of that is we’ve been a little banged up,” Waite said. “Practices during the week haven’t been able to be as high intensity all the time as we’d like because you’ve got to be careful to keep people on the floor. That might have had a little bit to do with it, and that’s just kind of my decision as far as how much you can push at any given point.”

While Wisconsin was able to bounce back with a win over Northwestern Saturday night, the squad still didn’t play up to its full potential, including senior setter Jackie Simpson who was benched in the middle of the second game.

“I thought in general, the team was a little bit flustered,” Waite said. “[Simpson] was getting a little flustered and frustrated trying to create things and force things a little too much.”

However, Waite credited Simpson’s time on the bench as reason for her improvement over the final three games of the match

“Sometimes when you take a player out, they sit on the bench and they actually see what their coaches and the fans see,” Waite said. “I think Jackie got back in there and did a better job.”

Now after a not-so-stellar weekend for the Badgers, Waite is expecting his team to come out this week and play at its normal high level.

“It was a bit of surprise,” Waite said of his team’s play over the weekend. “That’s not typical of our team, and I think they’re going to be real motivated this week to correct things.”

Salow provides spark off the bench

For junior Morgan Salow, playing time has been hard to come by so far this season, as she has only appeared in 33 of Wisconsin’s 85 games this year.

However,  in Saturday night’s win against the Wildcats, Salow came off the bench and provided a spark for the Badgers over the finally three games.

“[Salow has] been the kind who, both on the left side and the right, has been ready to go the whole year,” Waite said.

One of the reasons Waite said he brought Salow into the third game was to provide a different kind of block on the right side.

“Sometimes Kat (Dykstra) can put up such a big block that it’s actually a detriment because it’s such a target for the hitters. And if she’s not really on, then it really goes off for her and we can’t even defend when it goes out of bounds like that. Morgan’s good size, but not the same kind of block, but [she] just kept the ball in play.”

For the night, Salow had six kills and chipped in with two blocks.

“(Salow) scored at some critical times. (She) had a tip — an off-speed kill — late in the match that really made a difference for us. It was great for her. It’s going to be a great confidence for her, too.”

Wisconsin wins 20 again

For the ninth straight year under Waite, Wisconsin has won 20 matches in a season with its win over Northwestern Saturday night.

“Our goals are to play great every time,” Waite said. “It’s not always the wins because if we play great, the wins will come. And that’s what we have to do is get the passion for the players on the court, having a great time, playing high quality ball, and they’re going to get their wins.”

During Waite’s nine-year career at Wisconsin, he has a career record off 224-63. The fewest number of wins one of his Badger teams has won in a season was 22, which has happened twice (2003 and 2004). The high-water mark for wins under Waite is 34, which occurred during the 2000 season when his team won the Big Ten title and reached the NCAA championship match.