(UW ATHLETICS) MADISON – The No. 9 Wisconsin volleyball team picked up their second sweep against Northwestern this season, winning 25-13, 25-23, 25-20 at the UW Field House on Sunday afternoon.
CC Crawford put up eight of Wisconsin’s (11-4, 5-1 B1G) 12 blocks, as Anna Smrek added five.
The Badgers hit .433 (50 kills – 8 errors – 97 attempts) on the day, as Sarah Franklin led the team with 14 kills. Smrek was right behind her with 13, while Julia Orzol rounded out double digit kills with 10.
Northwestern (3-11, 1-5 B1G) hit .211 (40 – 17 – 109), as Alexa Rousseau and Lily Wagner both tallied 10 kills.
After Northwestern came out strong with an ace to start the match, the Badgers went on a 6-0 run fueled by four kills and a block to grab an 8-3 lead as Northwestern called an early timeout. Out of the timeout, Wisconsin scored two points for every one point the Wildcats scored. The Badgers doubled Northwestern’s score at 18-9 to prompt the second Wildcat timeout. From there Franklin and Gulce Guctekin both tallied an ace, propelling UW to a 25-13 set one victory.
It was a completely different story in set two, as Northwestern stayed with Wisconsin for the entirety of the second set. With 12 ties and five lead changes, the Wildcats took a 14-13 lead with back-to-back kills and forced a UW timeout. Out of the break Northwestern tallied a block for a two-point lead. Wisconsin tied it up at 16-all with kills from Franklin and Julia Orzol. Northwestern responded with a 4-0 run, to grab a 19-16 lead. Franklin tallied a kill and assisted on a block with CC Crawford to force an NU timeout. The Badgers scored two more points for another Wildcat timeout, as UW led 20-19. Anna Smrek scored four-of-the-five final points for the Badgers, as they took the second set 25-23.
The teams traded points back and forth to start the third set, but the Badgers’ 5-1 run gave them a commanding 11-7 lead. Northwestern chipped away at the lead and brought back within two (14-16) after three kills in a row. The Badgers extended the lead back to four, thanks to a block from CC Crawford and Julia Orzol, Northwestern burned their final timeout, trailing 15-19. Devyn Robinson called the match with a kill to finish it 25-20.
Lola Schumacher recorded 14 digs for her ninth double figure dig match of the season. Franklin tallied nine digs, just one short of a double-double.
Charlie Fuerbringer put up 38 helpers. The Badgers added five service aces, as Franklin and Guctekin each recorded two.
Straight from the court
On the match overall: “I thought we put up some really good offensive numbers over the over the match. That’s when you’re hitting over .400 I think you probably take that most nights, certainly, and just about everybody kind of got into it, offensively. Defensively, for Northwestern I thought they they were getting stronger as the match went on offensively as well. We had a tough time the first two sets slowing down their one middle and she wasn’t able to get a kill. And in the third set we served a little bit better in her rotations, and it found a little bit tougher to get her the ball. But they got stronger. I’m not sure that we were as strong defensively as what we’d like to pride ourselves on there toward the end. But, certainly happy to get a 3-0 sweep and you know moving on to the next.”
Senior Anna Smrek
On winning the second set: “When another team starts to push back on you a little bit, you can either sit there and take it and think, ‘okay, we can go to the next set,’ but it’s sticking in it. Next ball mentality, side out.”
Senior Julia Orzol
On what worked against Northwestern: “I feel like getting that, getting them more out of system, and eliminating that middle as a threat, she was scoring a lot in that set, and being able to push them out of the net was a big factor in Charlie serving going there and serving with a great confidence, going aggressively driving them. That was the biggest key.”
Notes to know
- For the seventh time this season, the Badgers reached double-digit block totals. Badgers totaled 12.0 blocks against Northwestern.
- Fifth year Sarah Franklin tallied 14 kills. She has now reached 13 matches where she has recorded double-digit kill totals, and is her seventh match in a row with 10 or more kills.
- Wisconsin hit .433 (50-8-97), and is the four time this season where the Badgers hit .400 or better this season.
- Freshman Lola Schumacher collected 14 digs, and is the ninth this season with 10 or more digs.
Up next
The Badgers will take the week to prepare for No. 11 Oregon on Friday night. First serve is slated for 7 p.m. at the UW Field House.
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