Mark StewartMilwaukee Journal Sentinel
MADISON – The Wisconsin volleyball team survived.
That is the simplest way to describe the state of affairs for the Badgers on Sunday afternoon. After taking the first two sets against Indiana, the Big Ten’s co-leader found itself in a fight to the finish before scoring a 3-1 victory in front of an announced crowd of 7,229 at the UW Field House.
UW was perilously close to going to a fifth set but rallied from an eight-point deficit to close out the 25-18, 25-17, 23-25, 26-24 victory.
“We hung in there,” Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield said. “The story of this match is our grittiness. The team was gritty. They fought. They stuck with a team that gave us everything.”
The win raised third-ranked Wisconsin’s record to 19-3 overall and 13-1 in the Big Ten, pulling it back into a first-place tie with Ohio State, which swept Michigan State on Saturday night. Nebraska beat Northwestern in five sets Sunday to maintain its share of conference lead as well.
UW's Sarah Franklin had match-high 18 kills against Hoosiers
Fueled by strong hitting in the final two sets, sophomore outside hitter Sarah Franklin finished with a match-high 18 kills and .277 hitting percentage. Junior right-side hitter Devyn Robinson added nine kills (.318 hitting percentage). Sophomore middle blocker Anna Smrek also had nine kills, posted a .533 hitting percentage and recorded a team-high five blocks. Junior settler MJ Hamill finished with 21 assists, 11 in the fourth set, and a team-high three aces.
The match was the latest example of UW’s depth showing its worth. Junior middle Caroline Crawford (right hand) didn’t play, which caused Sheffield to use Smrek at that spot rather than on the right side.
The injury also meant more work from Jade Demps on the right side. The junior finished with five kills, three digs and three blocks. She was key down the stretch, first for her work to help stabilize the team’s passing and later for her hitting and blocking. She recorded two kills and a block (with Danielle Hart) during the final five points of the match.
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Also, freshman libero Gulce Guctekin (leg) missed her third straight match. Senior Shanel Bramschreiber started at that spot and finished with 13 digs and four assists
“We actually talked earlier this week about how we have the ability to do so many things and to not let it be something that is a detriment to us,” Demps said. “I think we showed tonight that we can change it up and it still work.”
UW had its easiest time in the first two sets when, ironically, its hitting percentage was its lowest. The Badgers hit much better in the final two sets, but Indiana’s serving took off during that portion of the match and it almost helped the Hoosiers score a major upset.
After recording seven service errors in the first set and four in the second, Indiana had just three for the remainder of the match. Its 13 aces were the most for a Badgers opponent this season.
“I don’t ever remember getting aced 13 times in a match. That is a ridiculously high number,” Sheffield said. “To start the match, they had people who couldn’t get the ball in the court and then as the match went on those babies started staying inside and we were in a battle. We were having a tough time getting into any types of swings.”
Comeback in the fourth leads way for Badgers
That tough serving helped the Hoosiers take an 8-1 lead in the third set before hanging on for a two-point win. In the fourth set, they led, 21-13, after a 10-2 run that included three aces.
UW’s comeback in the fourth started at the service line where Bramschreiber served four straight points to cap a 5-0 run that cut the IU lead to 21-18. In addition to Demps’ contribution, senior Joslyn Boyer came off the bench to serve the final three points and record a dig during UW’s 4-0 run to close the match.
The victory extended Wisconsin’s winning streak to 12 and sends it on a high note into the team’s final two regular-season home matches: Rutgers on Friday and Maryland on Saturday.
“I don’t think we realized we were down by eight points at the time,” Smrek said of the comeback. “We were very one ball, next ball mentality. We were never thinking about the past ball. We were very much in the moment and stayed calm. We didn’t let our nerves get frantic, which can cause errors and a lot of jumpiness on our side. It just felt very calm and slowly but surely those points started to chip away.”
