Wisconsin Badgers Star Sarah Franklin Wins AVCA National Player of the Year

While the season didn’t end the way she was hoping, Wisconsin Badgers outside hitter Sarah Franklin can take some solace in knowing that she was still the best damn player in the country this year.

On Friday morning in Tampa, it was announced that Franklin had won the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year award.

Sarah Franklin @BadgerVB is the 2023 AVCA Division I National Player of the Year. She elevated her game again in her second year in Madison and helped the Badgers return to the NCAA Championship semifinals.
Release: https://t.co/26YFcm4dZy#WeAreAVCA pic.twitter.com/1qE4KdYdF7

— AVCA (@AVCAVolleyball) December 15, 2023

Franklin can add this award to her overflowing trophy case from this season which already includes:

• unanimous First-Team All-Big Ten
• Big Ten Player of the Year
• AVCA Northeast All-Region Team
• AVCA Northeast All-Region Player of the Year
• Most Outstanding Player (Madison Regional)
• AVCA First-Team All-American
• Big Ten Player of the Week (3x)
• AVCA National Player of the Week (Nov. 28)

She registered career-highs in points, points per set, kills, and kills per set this year and was best on the team in all of those categories as well. Franklin notched double-digit kills in 28 of Wisconsin’s 34 matches and also crossed the 1,000-kill mark for her career at the beginning of the season.

• 4.60 points per set (552.5 points)
• 4.14 kills per set (497 kills)
• .298 hitting percentage (497-110-1298)
• 239 digs
• 65 blocks (four solo)
• 15 assists
• 21 aces

Sarah Franklin is the moment! 💁‍♀️@BadgerVB Outside Hitter @sarahfrankk13 is the @AVCAVolleyball National Player of the Year 🐐#NCAAWVB pic.twitter.com/t7TWwjCfkb

— NCAA Women’s Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 15, 2023

Wisconsin Badgers Outside Hitter Sarah Franklin Overcame Adversity, Balled Out.

Sarah Franklin, a senior from Lake Worth, Fla., wasn’t even sure she was going to be able to play at all this year after a CT scan last May showed multiple small blood clots in her right forearm that came from a larger blood clot that would need to be removed via surgery. Jesse Temple of The Athletic has an excellent story on Franklin’s recovery if you have a subscription there. Obviously the surgery went well and Franklin made it back out onto the court earlier than expected and, well, proceeded to dominate all season.

Wisconsin has now had a player win this award in two of the last three seasons and Franklin will join UW legend Dana Rettke as the only two Badgers to be named best in the country. UW finished their season at 30-4 and lost to Texas in the Final Four. The Longhorns will take on Nebraska in the finals on Sunday afternoon and, while I’m sure it’ll be an excellent match, I’ll be wishing that Franklin and the Badgers were out there instead.

Fresh off the press, a record year for @sarahfrankk13.

The @AVCAVolleyball National Player of the Year. pic.twitter.com/4NMPokPTua

— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) December 15, 2023

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