Wisconsin Volleyball Sweeps Northwestern & Indiana to Open Big Ten Play

The No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers volleyball team opened up Big Ten play this past weekend with two sweeps. On Friday night, the Badgers rolled into Evanston, Ill. and easily dispatched of the Northwestern Wildcats by the score of 25-18, 25-12, 25-13. To follow that up, Wisconsin (11-0 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) took care of the Indiana Hoosiers, 25-13, 25-23, 25-18, on Sunday afternoon at the Field House.

In the first two sets against Northwestern, the Badgers went on a pair of lengthy scoring runs (6-0 in the first set and 8-0 in the second set) to blow the ‘Cats out of the gym and then decided, smartly I might add, to just dominate the third set from start to finish. To be frank, this match was never going to be competitive but when Wisconsin hit .376 (41 kills – 8 errors – 90 attempts), their highest hitting percentage of the season, it was crystal clear that they were on a different level than NU (6-6 overall, 0-2 B1G).

Ballin’ with our bros 🥰 pic.twitter.com/s7uiNEWEtO

— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) September 23, 2023

Devyn Robinson led the attack, hitting a season-high .556 (11-1-18), and Carter Booth also recorded a season-high hitting percentage (.667; 8-0-12) in the match. Izzy Ashburn notched a double-double (17 assists, 13 digs), her sixth of the season, and MJ Hammill chipped in 13 assists too.

Everything was clicking for UW as the Badgers had eight aces (NU had one) and eight blocks (NU had four) while holding the ‘Cats to .079 hitting (23-16-89), which was UW’s second best defensive showing of the year. “I feel like our block has been better than it has been. We’ve been working a lot on it,” Robinson said after the match.

Grad transfer Temi Thomas-Ailara, in her return to Northwestern, had four kills and an ace but didn’t hit particularly well (.059; 4-3-17) and had the team’s only receiving error on the match. Julia Orzol had two aces (but three errors) and 12 digs from the libero position. “She’s serving with a lot more pace and hitting it nice and clean and flat…her errors are going up but her opponent passing percentage is dropping. We’re scoring a lot of points off her serves. The kid has a lot of confidence that her serve is better than people receive,” head coach Kelly Sheffield noted.

Wisconsin Badgers Volleyball Had a Tougher Matchup vs. Indiana

Indiana (11-4 overall, 1-1 B1G) posed a bit more of a challenge to Wisconsin, but the Badgers were still able to sweep them aside pretty easily. With the win UW extended their conference winning streak to 20 straight matches (dating back to last season) and their home conference winning streak to 15. UW’s 11-0 start to the season is their best since they roared out to a 16-0 start in the 2020-21 season.

No gettin’ thru here 🙅 @ccpaigee9 & @temi_t_ pic.twitter.com/mVMwdAAm3b

— Wisconsin Volleyball (@BadgerVB) September 24, 2023

The Hoosiers kept things close in the second set, the score was tied at 17 and they fought off three set points, but Wisconsin was relentless and an Anna Smrek kill, one of her team-high 10, clinched set two. The Badger block was outstanding again, outperforming IU 10.0-6.0, with Booth and CC Crawford both stuffing four shots and Thomas-Ailara and Sarah Franklin notching three apiece. UW kept IU below .100 hitting (.098; 35-25-102), which is the fourth time Wisconsin’s defense has done that this season.

Wisconsin Badgers Volleyball is back on the road Wednesday night to take on the No. 21 Ohio State Buckeyes (7 p.m. CT) and then return home to play Michigan on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT (BTN+). The home match will also feature a recognition ceremony (?) for the 2013 Final Four team.

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