Top-ranked UW volleyball pushed to five sets before scoring win over No. 24 Tennessee
MADISON – Wisconsin volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield met with reporters following his team’s second five-set victory in a week and offered a statement that was a testament to how good the Badgers are but also how far they have to go.
“We hit over .300 and they hit over .200 and (we) got absolutely dominated in the serve and pass game,” he said. “That’s hard to do. That’s hard to out-hit a great opponent by over 100 and still come out and win.”
That, however, was the story for the nation’s top-ranked team Sunday afternoon.
Wisconsin scored a 25-16, 25-23, 18-25, 20-25, 15-13 victory over No. 24 Tennessee in front of a crowd of 7,229 at the UW Field House. The Badgers’ .306 hitting percentage was one-thousandth of a point off the program record for a five-set match, but they were also aced 13 times and forced out of system countless others.
The result was a 2-hour 48-minute battle in which Wisconsin (5-0) needed to score four of the last five points to remain undefeated.
“At the end I love the mentality we came out with,” Sheffield said. “I thought we took our feet off the gas there for a little bit and when you do that against just about anybody, you’re going to have trouble getting it back.”
Sarah Franklin, Devyn Robinson combine for 38 kills
Junior Sarah Franklin led the Badgers in kills for the third straight match, posting 23 with a .352 hitting percentage. Senior Devyn Robinson added 15 kills with a .270 hitting percentage.
Fifth-year senior setter Izzy Ashburn recorded her fourth double-double (31 assists, 11 digs) of the season. Sophomore Carter Booth (eight kills, .412 hitting, team-high eight blocks) was effecting swinging and blocking.
Wisconsin scored the first four points of the final set and led, 9-5, before the Volunteers (5-1) rallied to take a 12-11 lead. UW closed the set with a 4-1 run that included a kill from Robinson, an ace for junior Julia Orzol, a block by Booth and Robinson and a kill from Franklin.
“These sets are fun,” said Franklin, who had four kills and .333 hitting percentage in the final set. “It’s 15 points, it’s the end of the match. It’s go time. It’s either you go or you go home. It’s one of the two. We came out there in the fifth set and said this is what we live for."
Badgers 4-0 vs. ranked teams this season
All of Wisconsin’s wins have come against teams that are either ranked or receiving votes in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll. Four were in the top 25: No. 15 Baylor, No. 21 Arkansas (twice) and Tennessee.
The slate has been a process of discovery for UW, one that on Sunday almost spoiled the banner reveal of the team’s 2022 Big Ten championship.
“It has been so fun to battle with the group," senior setter MJ Hammill said. "I think we learn a lot about ourselves because we’re playing such good teams. They’re exposing different things we need to work on, but I think the main thing we realize is we just want to keep stacking good on top of each other. We don’t want to be occasionally great. It’s trying to be good consistently.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Top-ranked Wisconsin volleyball survives upset bid by No. 24 Tennessee
