Wisconsin Badgers Volleyball Heading Back to the Final Four

The Wisconsin Badgers volleyball team is heading back to the Final Four!

For the fourth time in five seasons, the Badgers will be playing on the final weekend of the season and looking for the program’s second national championship. During a raucous weekend at the UW Field House, Wisconsin dispatched of Big Ten rival Penn State in the Sweet 16 and then took care of Oregon in the Elite 8 to win the Madison Regional and punch their ticket to Tampa.

BADGER NATION, HOW WE FEELIN??? 😎😎😎 pic.twitter.com/zSUBxdURiM

— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) December 10, 2023

Wisconsin Badgers Volleyball Dominates Penn State

On Thursday night, the Badgers dominated the Nittany Lions 3-1 (25-11, 28-30, 25-12, 25-18) and avenged a loss from earlier in the season. UW had runs of 10-1, 10-0, and 9-0 during the match to make the three sets they won look rather lopsided. Wisconsin’s defense was outstanding yet again, holding PSU to .082 hitting (48 kills – 35 errors – 159 attempts) on the evening and stuffing 17 shots (to Penn State’s four). It was the 18th time the Badgers had double digit blocks and the tenth time they held an opponent to under .100 hitting.

“I mean we work on blocking every day. It’s one of our strong suits and we just went out there and executed. We stood on business,” Devyn Robinson said after the match.

The blocks just keep coming 🤫

Watch on ESPN2 pic.twitter.com/ppmopmp3FZ

— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) December 8, 2023

CC Crawford stuffed a season-high 10 shots and four Badgers had double-digit kills (Sarah Franklin 15, Temi Thomas-Ailara 11, Robinson 10, Carter Booth 10) which is the third time that has happened this season. MJ Hammill had her ninth double-double of the year (20 assists, 14 digs) while Izzy Ashburn had a team-high 22 assists and Julia Orzol had a match-high 16 digs. As has been the case all season, this was the definition of a “team win.”

“I think it all boils down to one thing and that’s work. We made it our mission to outwork them in transition to get those trans numbers up and that’s where we really took it to them on that front,” Crawford noted post-match.

Badgers Handle Business Against Oregon, Heading to Programs Sixth Final Four

On Saturday night in the Elite 8, the Badgers outlasted a game Oregon Ducks (29-6 overall) team and will head back to the Final Four for the sixth time in program history. UW (30-3) beat the Ducks in four sets, 25-22, 25-22, 25-27, 25-18, at the Field House in front of an appreciative and rowdy Badgers crowd.

“Having such a knowledgeable crowd helps a lot. Especially with those really close plays, they can appreciate the long rallies, and all the great shots like throwing it to the corner. I love it here,” Robinson gushed afterwards.

The Wisconsin Badgers ended the home portion of their season with a perfect 17-0 record, the first time they’ve ever gone undefeated (they were 6-0 at home during the COVID year, which doesn’t really count tbqh) at home in a year. They are also 69-25 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 39-9 under Kelly Sheffield.

Wisconsin and Oregon battled back and forth in the first set, but UW always had an answer for whenever the Ducks tried to take the lead away. The same thing happened in the second set, after the Badgers came back from an early five-point deficit, as Wisconsin closed out set two on a 3-0 run. Wisconsin forced Oregon into extra points in the third set, but the Ducks would not be denied, and so UW made a show of stomping Oregon in the fourth set for the Gentlewoman’s Sweep. The amount of mind-bending rallies in this match was so high I can’t even include them all in this post, but here is (maybe???) the best one.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED⁉️#NCAAWVB #SCTop10 x 🎥 ESPNU / @BadgerVB pic.twitter.com/0e2Yoy80Kx

— NCAA Women’s Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 10, 2023

Ashburn sparked a 7-0 run in the fourth set with her service game and then a Robinson/Booth combo block gave UW match point. Oregon fought off two (of a potential eight) match points before firing a serve into the net to give Wisconsin a berth in the Final Four. “A lot of the time we weren’t even going for stuff blocks, it’s how we can get the ball in good position on our side. We stayed disciplined and we knew our defense was behind us and had our backs. All we had to do was go up and do our job,” Smrek noted after the match.

Franklin was an absolute monster again, notching 20 kills and 11 digs for her eighth double-double of the year. The Badgers out-blocked Oregon 16-4 to continue their dominant run at the net this season. A couple of records were also set during the match as Robinson earned her 1,000th career kill and Ashburn broke the school record for career sets played (523, breaking Sydney Hilley’s record of 520).

SEE Y’ALL IN TAMPA 😏 pic.twitter.com/OsSVZrsQOh

— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) December 10, 2023

Booth, Orzol, and Robinson joined Franklin (the regional MVP) on the NCAA Madison Region All-Tournament team and now they’ll travel to Tampa for a Final Four date with the Texas Longhorns. The match will be played on Thursday night after the conclusion of the first semifinal (which will see Pitt take on Nebraska at 6 p.m. CT) which should be around 8:30 p.m. CT.

You may remember that Wisconsin Badgers volleyball lost to the Longhorns in 2021 in the national title game. If the Badgers win they’ll get a chance to either win the season series with Nebraska OR avenge last season’s Elite 8 loss to Pitt. LOTS OF STORYLINES, BABY!

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