IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The No. 1 Wisconsin volleyball team took care of business and earned a sweep against Iowa (25-19, 25-18, 25-16) on Wednesday night.
A balanced offensive attack from Wisconsin (14-0, 5-0) was led by Temi Thomas-Ailara with 10 kills. Devyn Robinson and Sarah Franklin both tallied nine kills apiece, while Anna Smrek finished with eight. UW hit .318 (44 kills - 10 errors - 107 attempts) on the night.
Iowa (8-9, 0-5) hit .231 (38 - 13 -108), and the Hawkeyes were led by outside hitter Caitlan Buettner, as she tallied a match-high 12 kills.
Wisconsin outblocked Iowa 9.0-2.0, as CC Crawford set the pace with five blocks. Julia Orzol finished with double figures digs, tallying 11. Izzy Ashburn finished with 24 assists, as MJ Hammill added 14.
The Badgers comeback campaign continued in the first set after falling behind 17-13. From there, CC Crawford and Wisconsin went on a 7-0 run to take the lead. UW outscored Iowa 12-2 after being behind. After gaining the lead, the Badgers denied Iowa any kind of comeback of their own and completed the comeback, 25-19.
After being tied at 6-6 in the second set, Wisconsin took the lead on a kill from Thomas-Ailara. The Badgers continued to extend their lead and forced a Hawkeye timeout at 13-8. Iowa got it within three points (18-15), but back-to-back kills by Thomas-Ailara put it out of reach and the Badgers took care of business, as they took the second set 25-18.
UW got out to a hot start in the third set, establishing an early 7-2 lead. However, the lead dwindled quickly and Iowa tied it up at 13-all and again at 17. From there, the Badgers took full control fo the set and ended the match on a 10-0 run, including an ace from Orzol to finish it all, 25-16.
Straight off the court
Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
On resilience: "We kind of kicked it into another gear. Our errors tonight were really low. I think we had about nine percent hitting errors for the night. We were over 98% serving in…Overall, I thought we played pretty clean. Most of the points they got, they absolutely earned."
On the start of the match: "Their speed to their left, we weren't able to get our hands over quick enough in the first part of the match. That's why I called that early timeout. And then we started getting a little bit jumpy in the back court. And then they started scoring on off-speed stuff…we started figuring it out…I liked how we stayed with it as players and as defenders. We got stronger as we went along."
Outside hitter Ella Wrobel
On the match overall: "I just really liked how we got super competitive as the match went on and something we've been focusing on in practice is communication and making sure that we are just going for balls and letting loose."
On serving strength: "This team has such a great mentality, not only with serving but with everything. I think that once we go back on that service line, we are just focused on that serve. There is nothing else that's distracting us. And I think just having the confidence within ourselves and within our teammates is something that has helped us stay consistent with that."
Notes to know
- Temi Thomas-Ailara tallies her third straight match with 10 kills
- Julia Orzol recorded her eighth straight match with 10-plus digs; also tied her career high with 3 service aces
- The Badgers' 18-set winning streak ties for the second-longest in the nation this season.
- Iowa is only the fourth opponent this season to hit better than .200
Up next
The Badgers will remain on the road as they travel to play Illinois on Saturday night at 6 p.m. The game will broadcasted in B1G+ ($).
