VB: for the fifth straight season the Badgers are in the Elite 8
An unprecedented run of success for the Wisconsin volleyball program continues after a five-set win over Penn State on Thursday night.
The defending national champion Wisconsin Badgers volleyball team is back in the Elite 8 after a harrowing five-set victory over the Penn State Nittany Lions on Thursday night at the UW Field House. The top-seeded Badgers won 25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 20-25, 15-8 and punched their ticket to the regional finals for the fifth straight year.
The 2-seed Pitt Panthers beat the 3-seed Florida Gators, 3-1, in the other Sweet 16 matchup, setting up a showdown at the Field House on Saturday night between the Badgers and Panthers for the soul of Paul Chryst.
"We worked all year for home court and the people that were in the building tonight, they rewarded us back with their energy and how they stayed with us… It's so cool to have a fan base that'll do that when you need them and we needed them tonight. It was a team effort,” Big Ten Coach of the Year Kelly Sheffield said after the match.
The fans probably thought they were in for a relaxing evening after the Badgers blocked their way to a 2-0 lead, despite not attacking very well, and had just held the Nittany Lions to a negative hitting percentage in the second set.
PSU, however, had other ideas and took a back-and-forth third set by two points and slowly started gaining momentum. After winning the fourth set, momentum had fully shifted to the Nittany Lions and the haters and losers (read: me) were getting nervous. Sheffield, and his team, are never nervous though and they proved it once again in the decisive fifth set.
“We got in that huddle and we were ready to go. We knew this fifth set was it and we were going to put everything out there no matter what happens,” Sarah Franklin said.
Wisconsin roared out to a big lead in the fifth set, thanks in no small part to three blocks by Caroline Crawford, and despite a mini-rally from PSU went on to win the final frame handily.
"Nothing was really going my way in any aspect. I told MJ [Hammill] on the bench before the fifth set and said 'I'm going to go out there and work my ass off blocking' and that's what I tried to do,” Crawford noted after her career-best performance in stuffs.
The Badgers out-blocked Penn State, 23-9, their most blocks in a match this season and the most since recording 24 blocks vs. Nebraska in the 2021 NCAA Championship match. UW has double-figure blocks in six straight matches now and, with the win, are winners in their last 21 straight.
While the win was excellent, if nerve-wracking, there are still a couple of things the Badgers need to work on. Freshman libero Gulce Guctekin had a disastrous match from the service line (three errors) and returning serves (six errors) where it was clear that PSU was targeting her. To her credit, she didn’t let the tough outing affect the rest of her game and she was still diving all over the court for digs.
As a whole the team will need to hit better against Pitt, who are only allowing opponents to hit .153 on the season, or else hope that their block is as indomitable as it was against Penn State. The Panthers hit .272 on the season (the Badgers hit .270) so the block will be busy regardless.
The Badgers haven’t played Pitt in volleyball since they swept the Panthers back in ::squints:: August of 2008 and hadn’t played them before that since 1997. Needless to say, these are two teams who are not that familiar with one another. Should create some interesting strategies and dynamics on the court! Winner gets the winner of Oregon/Louisville in Omaha, Neb. for the national semifinal on Dec. 15.
If Wisconsin wins, they’ll be going to their fourth straight Final Four and will get a chance to defend their national title. If Pitt wins, I just might jump into a lake. A lot riding on this, Sheffield!
Next match: vs. Pitt Panthers; Saturday, Dec. 10; 7 p.m. CT; ESPNU; UW Field House
Notable Stats
Caroline Crawford: 12 blocks
Anna Smrek: 8 blocks; 13 kills/2 errors/19 attacks, .579 hitting %
Danielle Hart: 8 blocks; 6/1/12, .417
Sarah Franklin: 6 blocks; 6 digs; 13/3/43, .233
Devyn Robinson: 6 blocks; 11/6/26, .192
Julia Orzol: 2 blocks; 3/4/31, -.032; 1 ace; 16 digs
Gulce Guctekin: 3 assists; 18 digs
MJ Hammill: 22 assists; 7 digs; 1 ace
Izzy Ashburn: 20 assists; 6 digs; 1 ace
No jumping in the lake, son! Isn’t Mendota frozen over by now anyway?