Wisconsin volleyball prepares for Purdue's prolifc tandem. Sarah Franklin honored again.

MADISON – Sunday the Wisconsin volleyball team returned to the Field House and contained reigning Big Ten player of the year Taylor Landfair in the process of protecting its home turf against Minnesota.

Next for the Badgers is the most prolific hitting tandem in the league.

When it comes to kills, no duo in the Big Ten racks up more than Purdue sophomore Eva Hudson and freshman Chloe Chicoine. The tandem average 8.03 kills per set - Hudson ranks fourth in the league with 4.13 per set while Chicoine averages 3.82 - and attack the game with a mindset Badgers coach Kelly Sheffield appreciates.

“They’ve got a freshman and a sophomore that just have absolutely no fear,” he said. “They just play the game the right way. They play hard. They take big swings, they work the court and they just keep coming, coming and coming.”

When the 19^th-ranked Boilermakers (14-7, 8-4 Big Ten) take the floor at the Field House with second-ranked UW at 6 p.m. Wednesday it could make for an ideal matchup. The Badgers have been just relentless defensively.

UW (20-1, 11-1) enters the match ranked first in Big Ten play in opponent hitting percentage (.119) and blocks (3.08) and second in digs (14.66 per set) and opponent kills (10.11).

Sophomore Carter Booth (second, 1.55), senior Caroline Crawford (fourth, 1.47) and junior Anna Smrek (eighth, 1.21) rank in the top ten in average blocks per set. No other team in the conference has more than one player in the top 10.

That said, UW’s success defensively has been about the unit fitting together like a puzzle as well as a the players' willingness to extend and dive for balls. Often the Badgers have turned those defensive gems into big-time finishes.

“Defense in the back row is never in isolation,” said junior Julia Orzol, the team’s libero. “Huge shout out to our blocks the way they set up and the way they are taking meat of the court and the way they’re allowing us to work around them, I feel like that is a huge thing….

“The way we work in (transition), it’s so satisfying when you dig a ball and it’s set in a perfect place and you have people who are terminating it.”

Nebraska, Wisconsin widen gap atop coaches poll

As the calendar turns to November, the Badgers were ranked No. 2 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll for the second straight week.

The gap between top-ranked Nebraska and Wisconsin and the rest of the poll is the largest it’s been this season.

Purdue and No. 16 Penn State are other Big Ten teams in the poll. Both dropped three spots.

Purdue has 11 freshman- or sophomore-eligible players on its roster. That youth shows in the ups and downs they’ve experienced. They, along with Wisconsin, pushed Nebraska to five sets. They also won at Penn State.  But the Boilermakers also fell to Northwestern in five sets and lost to Illinois on Saturday after sweeping it earlier this season.

Sarah Franklin honored by Big Ten again

The Big Ten named Sarah Franklin as its player of the week for the second time in three weeks after the senior led the Badgers to wins over Michigan State and Minnesota. She averaged 6.33 kills per set in those matches. She posted a season-high .500 hitting percentage against Michigan State and hit .455 against Minnesota.

She enters the week with a seven-match streak of double-digit kills. Five times during that run she has hit better than .300 for the match.

“I’d be surprised if there is anybody in the country that is playing as well as Sarah is right now,” Sheffield said. “She’s playing the entire game. She’s bringing it every single night. She’s carrying that really big load for us.”

More: Sarah Franklin shines in return to Michigan State as Wisconsin volleyball sweeps Spartans

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin volleyball prepares for Purdue; Sarah Franklin claims honor`