MADISON, Wis. – It took five match points in the third set before the eighth-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team completed a sweep of No. 12 Penn State on Friday night in the UW Field House. The Badgers (8-3, 2-1 B1G) downed the Nittany Lions 25-20, 25-16, 31-29.
 
Sets one and two were tight early but Wisconsin broke away from PSU (12-2, 1-2) midway through each set to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

In the third set, UW led 18-14 but the Lions made a comeback with a 6-0 run to lead 20-18. The Badgers served for their first match point at 24-21 but Penn State would stop the home team each time. PSU served for set point at 27-26, 28-27 and 29-28 but UW would score three straight, including the match-winning kill by Devyn Robinson after a long rally, to complete the sweep. 

Wisconsin hit .238 (39 kills-15 errors-101 attempts) while holding Penn State to .136 (41-25-118). Robinson and Sarah Franklin led the Badgers with 12 kills apiece with Robinson hitting a match-high .524 (12-1-21). PSU was led by Kashauna Williams with a match-high 17 kills.

Franklin earned her third double-double of the season, adding 12 digs for Wisconsin.  Gulce Guctekin followed with 11 digs as UW edged the Nittany Lions 42-39 in saves.
 
Izzy Ashburn dominated in service aces, posting a season-high five aces, as Wisconsin finished with a 5-4 advantage from the service line. Ashburn also led the Badgers in assists, putting up 23 helpers.  MJ Hammill followed with 12 assists to support the offense.
 
The Panthers finished with an 8-7 advantage in blocks but Robinson and Danielle Hart led all players with six stuffs each. 

Straight  from the court

Coach Kelly Sheffield
""I'm not so sure we win that match a few weeks ago. We are really proud of our team and how they approached this match. I thought there was a lot of maturity going into this.
 
"The first set in our last match we had 17 errors in one set. Tonight, our hitting errors and service errors for the entire match added up to 17. I just think we played a little bit cleaner." 
 
Devyn Robinson
"We were ready. We had a little bit of a tough conversation yesterday, but we got after it. Really moving as a unit." 
 
Sarah Franklin
"I think we were getting some great balls to the outside and there were many shots open. I felt like I could hit anywhere and really score. The team behind that was really good to get a pass, to get those long rallies, to get those plays and set those balls up was really important so we just ran with it."

Notes to know

• Redshirt sophomore Sarah Franklin recorded her third double-double of the season and 16th of her career with 12 kills and 12 digs.  
• Freshman Gulce Guctekin had her ninth straight match with 10-plus digs, recording 11 saves.
• Senior Izzy Ashburn recorded a season-high five service aces, accounting for all five Badger aces in the match. It also marks the fourth-straight match in which a UW player has recorded five-or-more aces in a match.
• Wisconsin held Penn State to its second-lowest hitting percentage of the season at .136 (41-25-118).

Up next

The Badgers remain in Madison to face Illinois in the UW Field House on Sunday at 1 p.m. The match will be streamed on B1G+ and heard on U100.9