MADISON, Wis. -- Wrapping up the Big Ten Conference season, the No. 5 Wisconsin volleyball team earned a senior night sweep against Iowa, 25-21, 25-10, 25-16, in the UW Field House on Saturday night.
After nine ties and four lead changes, the first set was all tied up at 21 apiece. Iowa (0-20, 8-24) called a timeout after a kill from Anna Smrek as the Badgers (26-3, 17-3) went up 22-21. Three straight kills from Temi Thomas-Ailara gave the Badgers a 25-21 set one victory.
Wisconsin stepped on the gas in the second set and established a 13-3 lead behind a 9-0 serving run from grad student Joslyn Boyer on senior night. The Badgers continued to roll as senior Sydney Reed stepped back to the service line and dished out a career high two service aces, giving the Badgers a 21-7 lead. Continuing to spread the senior love, Gabby McCaa recorded her first kill of the season on an overpass from the Hawkeyes. UW dominated the second set with a 25-10 win.
In the final set, once again another senior for Wisconsin went on a serving run as Izzy Ashburn pushed the Badgers to a 9-4 lead. After a Thomas-Ailara solo block, Iowa called a timeout at 13-4. The Badgers upped their lead to 11 (19-8) as UW outblocked Iowa 6-0 in the final set. Sarah Franklin had seven on UW's 14 kills in the ultimate period, including three over the final five UW points to complete the sweep.
Franklin continued her dominance on offense, leading the team with 14 kills while Thomas-Ailara added 11 kills. Wisconsin hit .337 (45 kills - 13 errors - 95 attempts) on the night. The Badgers held Iowa to just .119 (27 - 15 - 101), as outside hitter Cailtin Buettner led the Hawkeyes with nine kills.
Four out of the six seniors graduating earned a service ace on the night. Reed, Boyer and Ashburn each tallied two aces as MJ Hammill and Gulce Guctekin added one each with Wisconsin scoring eight times from the service line while giving up only one ace.
The Badgers outblocked Iowa 12-5. CC Crawford earned her 500th career block with her first block of the night, which came in the second set. She racked up five total blocks. Carter Booth earned match-high honors with six total blocks.
Ashburn and Hammill recorded 19 and 17 assists, respectively. Libero Julia Orzol led the team with 16 digs.
Straight from the court
Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
On the overall match: "I thought we got off to probably a little bit of a slower start in the first set. Temi (Thomas Ailara) carried us early on and then (in) the second set it was pretty close the first few points and Jos (Boyer) came in and I thought that turned the entire energy of the Field House around. She's got that ability, coming in and putting in a lot of good serves and stretching out the lead and we were off and running all of a sudden. Some people have a little bit more spring in their step all of a sudden, a little bit better defensive intensity. (It was) a good win and we finished off the Big Ten season the way that we wanted to be able to finish and onto the selection show on Sunday."
Senior Joslyn Boyer
On her serving run: "You never know you come in to serve. It could be one and done or you could go for a while. That was what I was doing and your concentration on it all comfort level that run. Obviously after you get the first couple in you get more confident and are able to put some more pace or drop on it and that's kind of the fun I was having. The more I kept getting in the more I was able to drop some."
Senior Izzy Ashburn
On responding to slow start: "I think we just didn't come out working as hard as we normally do and we just had to go back to that working in (transition), trusting that other people are gonna do their job. The (transition) game was a big part of it but we just stayed calm."
Notes to know
- Wisconsin hit over .300 for the 21st time this season.
- The Badgers outblocked its opponent for the 27th (of 29 matches) time this season.
- Wisconsin reached double-digit blocks for the 16th time.
- Middle blocker CC Crawford had five blocks to hit a career milestone of 500 total stops.
- Senior Sydney Reed recorded a career-high two aces.
- Outside hitter Temi Thomas-Ailara also had a career-best with a .647 hitting percentage. The grad student recorded 11 kills with zero errors on 17 attempts.
- Senior Sarah Franklin had a match-high 14 kills against Iowa, reaching double-digit kills for the 23rd time this season.
- The Badgers held Iowa to a .119 hitting percentage (27-15-101). This marks the 22nd time the Badgers held an opponent under a .200 hitting percentage.
- Wisconsin finishes second in the 2023 Big Ten standings at 17-3, the 10th time under head coach Kelly Sheffield that UW has finished fourth or better.
Up Next
The 64 team bracket for the 2023 NCAA Championships will be announced on Sunday at 5 p.m. on ESPN. If the Badgers are selected to host first and second rounds, they will be held in the UW Field House on Thursday, Nov. 30 at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Friday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m.
