MADISON, Wis. -- In front of a fired up UW Field House crowd, the No. 3 Wisconsin volleyball team beat Penn State, 25-11, 28-30, 25-12, 25-18, in the NCAA Regional Semifinals on Thursday night.

It was all tied up at 3-3, until a kill from Carter Booth kicked off a 5-0 run from the Badgers (29-3) and forced an early Penn State (23-9) timeout to start the first set. The Nittany Lions sided out after the timeout, and the two teams traded points back and forth to make it 11-7 in favor of the Badgers. A quick UW 3-0 run was halted by a kill from Hannah Camryn. However, Wisconsin responded with a 10-1 run, including back-to-back blocks from Booth and Devyn Robinson to give the Badgers a 21-8 advantage. From there, the Badgers closed it out on a kill from Temi Thomas-Ailara, taking the first set 25-11. 

After the Badgers ran away with set one, Penn State came out in set two with more intensity. Wisconsin grabbed the lead from the jump, but Penn State remained in striking distance until they were able to tie it up at 17-all. A kill by Robinson gave UW set point at 24-23, but Penn State sided out. Wisconsin earned another set point at 25-24 but Penn State put another stop to it. The Badgers then fought off three set points after running out of subs before Penn State took the second set 30-28. 

Wisconsin came out of the break strong and grabbed a quick 4-0 lead in the third set. Penn State battled back to bring it within one (8-7). A few points later, a 10-serve run from MJ Hammill gave Wisconsin a 20-8 lead, which propelled them to a 25-12 third set victory and a 2-1 lead in the match.

It was tight to begin the fourth set, but a 9-0 serving run by Gulce Guctekin put UW up 18-7. The run was keyed by three Badger blocks, including a solo block from CC Crawford. Penn State called a timeout to stop the run, and they slowly started to chip away and got it within seven (21-14). Robinson responded immediately with her 10th kill of the night. Wisconsin allowed the Nittany Lions just three more points, and the Badgers won the set and match, 25-18. 

Wisconsin had a balanced offensive attack with four hitters in double figures. Sarah Franklin led the way with 15 kills while her partner on the outside, Thomas-Ailara, added 11 kills. Robinson and Booth each tallied 10 kills. Wisconsin finished the match with a clip of .268 (56 kills - 16 errors - 149 attempts). 

Penn State was led by outside hitter Jess Mruzik, who shared match-high honors with 15 kills. The Nittany Lions hit .082 (48 - 35 - 159). 

Wisconsin dominated on the block with 17 team blocks, compared to Penn State's four. Crawford put down 10 total blocks as Booth followed with seven. Robinson and Smrek recorded five stuffs apiece. 

Libero Julia Orzol posted a match-high 16 digs, and her partner in the back row Guctekin added 14. 

Izzy Ashburn put up 22 assists, as MJ Hammill paired 20 assists with 14 digs for her ninth double-double of the season.

Straight from the court 

Head Coach Kelly Sheffield 

On tonight's match: "First of all, congratulations on a great season for Penn State. The talent, the competitiveness, the experience on their side of the net. The history of the program, it's a big win for us. I thought our serving set up an awful lot tonight. Our servers went back there and were executing the game plan and I thought defensively we were awful good and we had good ball control from our setters. They were getting the ball to the areas we want them to. They did a really good job of keeping the offense balanced. So we're excited to still be playing and the Field House environment was rocking tonight and we certainly appreciate the support."

On rallying with Penn State: "I thought the mentality of our team throughout the rally was really, really strong. We're accelerating, we're getting on balls, we're getting back to base, we're making strong moves, and you have to do that if you're gonna play that team."

Senior Devyn Robinson
On the team's blocking: "I mean we work on blocking every day. It's one of our strong suits and we just went out there and executed. We stood on business."

Sophomore Carter Booth 
On what changed since Wisconsin last faced Penn State: "I think the last time we saw them, we were giving them a lot of court and we've worked every single day since then to get to the moment that we came to tonight where I feel like we really blocked the sun out for them, and they didn't have a whole lot."

Senior CC Crawford
On the team's attack tonight "I think it all boils down to one thing and that's work. We made it our mission to outwork them in transition to get those trans numbers up and that's where we really took it to them on that front."

Notes to know 

• This marks the 18th time this season where the Badgers had 10-or-more blocks and the fourth time with 15-or-more blocks.
• Senior CC Crawford had a match high and recorded a season-best 10 blocks.
• The Badgers had four players with double-digit kills - Sarah Franklin (15), Temi Thomas-Ailara (11), and Devyn Robinson and Carter Booth with 10. Wisconsin had four players with 10-plus kills two other times - Aug. 30 at Arkansas and on Nov. 17 at Purdue.
• Senior MJ Hammill recorded her ninth double-double of the season and 15th overall with 20 assists and 14 digs.
• Wisconsin held Penn State to a .082 hitting percentage (48-35-159). This marks the 10th time that the Badgers held an opponent under .100 this season.
• The Badgers improve to 68-25 (.731) in the programs 27 NCAA tournament appearances. UW is 38-9 (.804) under head coach Kelly Sheffield in his 11th year in the championship. Wisconsin advances to its 14th regional final.
• With the win, Wisconsin improves to 16-0 at home this season.

Up Next 

The Badgers will face off against the winner of Purdue and Oregon on Saturday at 7 p.m. Doors will open to the public at 6 p.m. and can be watched live on ESPNU.