Wisconsin volleyball unveils Final Four banner inside UW Field House
The Badgers unveiled the banner from their 2023 Final Four appearance before their exhibition match against Bradley on Aug. 20.
For the second time in three seasons, the Wisconsin volleyball team traveled to Minnesota during the first week of Big Ten play and came home with a loss.
The Gophers, who are ranked No. 16 by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, came back from a 2-1 deficit to score a five-set victory over the seventh-ranked Badgers at Maturi Pavilion in Minneapolis on Wednesday night.
The 19-25, 25-15, 25-27, 25-15, 18-16 loss snapped UW’s six-match winning streak. The Badgers were held to a .188 hitting percentage, their lowest since the first two matches of the season, while recording their second-highest total of hitting errors (24) and posting double-digit service errors (11) for the first time in five matches.
Four of those hitting errors and two of those service errors came during the final set.
And yet, the Badgers almost won. UW rallied from 12-7 deficit in the final set to force six match points before finally falling.
“That’s what we kept talking about in the fifth,” Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield said on the Badger Radio Network postmatch show. “I said ‘guys, they’re out in front of us, but this is a team we can make a run on. Let’s just get the serve back, put the ball in the areas we want to.’ But there were too many service errors on a team that helps you with their passing …
“We let them off the hook a ton with just poorly timed service errors.”
Julia Orzol (13 kills, 16 digs) had her second double-double of the season. The senior outside hitter also tied a career high with four aces − UW’s 11 aces were a season high − and surpassed 1,000 digs for her career.
Senior Sarah Franklin (21 kills, .298 hitting percentage, 14 digs) recorded her fourth double-double of the season. Junior Gulce Guctekin donned the libero jersey and had a season-high 17 digs and freshman setter Charlie Fuerbringer had 43 assists.
Seniors Lydia Grote (17 kills, 15 digs) and Melani Shaffmaster (47 assists, 10 digs) had double-doubles for the Gophers. Brookfield native McKenna Wucherer, a junior outsde hitter, sat out most of the match due to injury.
The match was defined by Wisconsin’s grit to win the first and third sets and the Gophers’ dominance in the second and fourth.
The Badgers battled through nine ties and four lead changes to win the first set and fought back from a 22-19 deficit to take the third set.
Meanwhile, the Gophers’ first two set wins were fueled by .324 hitting percentage.
Sheffield felt his team had the Gophers out of system often but couldn’t take advantage.
“We just didn’t execute,” he said. “The opportunity was there.“
UW trailed, 12-7, in the final set when a 7-2 run allowed it to tie the match. Orzol had a block and ace during the run. Anna Smrek had two kills.
The Badgers, however, never took the lead and toward the end of the match had a service error and a missed connection on a slide attempt that helped seal their fate.
The team will return to action Saturday evening at Northwestern.
“Had we been two points better that would have been a really fun locker room,” Sheffield said. “Once it got tied up right there towards the end, they played better in the last 3 minutes of the match.”
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Publish date : 2024-09-26 05:15:00
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