DUBUQUE, Iowa — The Wisconsin volleyball team ended their spring season tour with a 3-1 win over Northern Iowa Friday night at Stoltz Sports Center. After dropping the first set, Wisconsin rallied for a reverse sweep to secure the win over the Panthers 21-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-23.
Every Badger saw the court during the spring season finale, all in preparation for a busy summer of practice and training. As a team, Wisconsin hit .211 (42 kills - 18 errors - 114 attempts) while holding the Panthers to .185 (51-27-130).
CC Crawford led the team on offense, hitting .500 (5-1-8) followed by Jade Demps hitting .267 (10-2-20). Demps recorded a team-high 10 kills with Anna Smrek and Lauren Jardine following with nine kills each.
Behind the service line, Sydney Reed led the way with an impressive four aces, her first time ever leading the team in a statistical category. Izzy Ashburn wasn't far behind with three aces of her own. Joslyn Boyer, MJ Hammill, and Crawford each added an ace to help the Badgers get a hefty edge over the Panthers, 10-4.
Hammill and Ashburn shared the majority of the workload at setter. Hammill led the team with 19 assists and Ashburn recorded 16 helpers as they took turns running the Badger offense.
Defensively, the Badgers had more than double the number of blocks that the Panthers recorded, 14-6. Crawford and Devyn Robinson tied for a match-high seven blocks with Jardine right behind, tallying five. Smrek also helped contribute to the dominating Badger force at the net, with four blocks on the night.
As for digs, a multitude of different Badgers helped keep the ball in play throughout the match. Liz Gregorski had a match-high nine digs while Boyer, Hammill and Ashburn each added six saves. Reed, Boyer and Anna MacDonald all played at least one set at libero