The No. 1 ranked — and undefeated — Wisconsin volleyball team is off to an excellent start this season. We here at Badger Notes want to get you up to speed with the four-time defending Big Ten champions as they get ready to start their conference campaign on Friday night at Northwestern on B1G+.
First things first, here are the results of Wisconsin’s difficult non-conference slate, which, as you may remember, they survived unscathed.
Season Recap (9-0 overall, 0-0 Big Ten)
- (W) 3-1; No. 15 Baylor Bears; Minneapolis, Minn.
- (W) 3-0; TCU Horned Frogs; Minneapolis, Minn.
- (W) 3-2; No. 21 Arkansas Razorbacks; Fayetteville, Ark.
- (W) 3-0; No. 21 Arkansas Razorbacks; Fayetteville, Ark.
- (W) 3-2; No. 24 Tennessee Volunteers; Madison, Wis.
- (W) 3-0; Arizona Wildcats; Madison, Wis.
- (W) 3-0; Miami (Fla.) Hurricanes; Madison, Wis.
- (W) 3-1; Marquette Golden Eagles; Milwaukee, Wis.
- (W) 3-2; No. 3 Florida Gators; Gainesville, Fla.
You may have noticed that they played Arkansas twice and thought “huh, Drew made a typo there, especially since the scores are different.” Well, you’d be wrong! I NEVER MAKE TYPOS! The Badgers played the Razorbacks twice because a different team in the area backed out of playing UW at the last minute, and Arkansas kindly offered to play twice so Wisconsin didn’t feel like they were wasting a trip down south.
The Badgers also played Marquette at Fiserv Forum and set the indoor regular season record for attendance at a volleyball match as well as being the most attended women’s sporting event in Wisconsin state history. UW also boasts five ranked victories on the season and has shown a penchant for thrilling comebacks and five-set heart-stoppers.
In their first match against Arkansas, the Badgers dropped the first set and then were down 13-8 in the second set before storming back and evening the score at one set apiece. In the third set the Badgers were, at separate times, down 14-7 and then 24-19, but fought off five (!!!!!) set points and won the third set 26-24. Arkansas won the fourth set and then a back-and-forth fifth set (featuring 10 lead changes) saw the Badgers emerge victorious. Against Tennessee at the Field House, UW won the first two sets before the Vols took the next two to set up a decisive fifth frame. The Badgers ended up winning that set 15-13 but Tennessee battled until the final hit.
UW’s most impressive win, by far imo, of the season was their most recent one. Heading down to Gainesville to take on the undefeated No. 3 ranked Florida Gators is not something many teams would choose to do, but the Badgers had revenge on their minds. Last year, Florida came into the Kohl Center and beat Wisconsin in front of the largest (at the time) crowd to ever watch an NCAA volleyball match. On Sunday afternoon, the Gators had a program record crowd (10,323) at the O’Connell Center and were looking to beat UW for the second straight year.
After the first two sets it looked like the Gators were not only going to win, but win in dominating fashion. UW lost the first set 25-15 and the second set 25-22 but, per usual, never seemed down and out. The Badgers came out scorching hot in the third set and took a 13-4 lead, before holding on for a 25-21 win. They won the fourth set 25-22 and everything came down to the fifth set. It was two of the best teams in the country and it just so happened to be televised by ESPN. Really a perfect scenario for a neutral fan, but a terrifying, nail-biting proposition for Gators and Badgers fans.
Set five had seven ties and four lead changes and when Kelly Sheffield called a timeout after UF’s Gabbi Essix hammered down a kill to give the Gators a 10-8 lead…I’ll admit I was resigned to a heartbreaking defeat. Thank God that I wasn’t in that huddle because the Badgers came out of the timeout and won five straight points to take a 13-10 lead (shoutout MJ Hammill’s serve) before winning 15-13 thanks to two massive Anna Smrek kills.
A reverse sweep, on the road, against the No. 3 team in the nation is, quite possibly, the best way to enter the meat grinder that is Big Ten volleyball conference play. While I am writing this on Monday morning before the new AVCA rankings come out, I am 100% positive that the Badgers will remain the top team in the country.
One of the more interesting things about their fantastic run to start the season is how balanced the team has been. Through the first three weeks of the year, zero Badgers have won a weekly Big Ten award while eight other schools have had players recognized. Looking at the conference statistical leaders won’t find you many Badgers either. The depth of talent on this squad is incredible and most likely incomparable around the country.
Let’s take a peek at some of the stats for the team and individual players after nine matches. I’ll only be posting their B1G rankings because the NCAA stats page hasn’t been updated to include Sunday’s match as of me writing this sentence.
Team Stats
- Hitting Percentage: .295 (482 kills/133 errors/1183 total attacks); No. 2 Big Ten
- Assists: 12.89 per set (35 sets, 451 assists); No. 1 Big Ten
- Kills: 13.77 per set (35 sets, 482 kills); No. 1 Big Ten
- Blocks: 2.66 per set (35 sets, 14 block solo, 158 block assist, 93 total); No. 4 Big Ten
- Service Aces: 1.26 per set (35 sets, 44 aces); No. 11 Big Ten
- Digs: 14.26 per set (35 sets, 499 digs); No. 4 Big Ten
- Opp. Hitting Percentage: .165 (402 kills/203 errors/1204 total attacks); No. 6 Big Ten
- Opp. Assists: 11.03 per set (35 sets, 386 assists); No. 9 Big Ten
- Opp. Kills: 11.49 per set (35 sets, 402 kills); No. 7 Big Ten
- Opp. Blocks: 1.49 per set (35 sets, 4 block solo, 96 block assist, 52 total); No. 1 Big Ten
- Opp. Service Aces: 1.54 per set (35 sets, 54 aces); No. 9 Big Ten
- Opp. Digs: 13.91 per set (35 sets, 487 digs); No. 11 Big Ten
Individual Stats Leaders
- Total Kills: Sarah Franklin, 123
- Kills per Set: Sarah Franklin, 3.73 (No. 5 Big Ten)
- Hitting Percentage: Carter Booth, .439 (62 kills/8 errors/123 total attacks; No. 5 Big Ten)
- Total Assists: Izzy Ashburn, 206
- Assists per Set: Izzy Ashburn, 5.89
- Service Aces: Julia Orzol, 0.29 per set (10 total)
- Block Solo: Carter Booth, 4
- Block Assist: Carter Booth, 44
- Block Total: Carter Booth: 48
- Blocks per Set: Carter Booth, 1.37 (No. 4 Big Ten)
- Total Digs: Julia Orzol, 117
- Digs per Set: Julia Orzol, 3.34
These stats don’t even quantify the all around brilliance of grad transfer Temi Thomas-Ailara or the imposing dominance of Anna Smrek at the net or Devyn Robinson being a lethal scorer or Gulce Guctekin’s infectious positivity even when getting drilled in the face by a Florida kill or Joslyn Boyer’s ability to deliver a timely ace off the bench after not playing all match against the Gators or MJ Hammill’s accurate serving or Caroline Crawford’s stout defense all over the floor.
If it isn’t abundantly clear now that this team has so many players who can go out and win a match by themselves, I don’t know what else to tell you. Get on board this train as it barrels towards another conference (and hopefully national) title, or get out of the way!
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