MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The No. 2 Wisconsin volleyball team opened up the 2023 season with a 25-20, 25-14, 20-25, 25-17 win over No. 15 Baylor Friday evening in Minneapolis at the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge.

The Badgers were led by the outside hitter duo of Sarah Franklin and Temi Thomas-Ailara. After being sidelined this summer, Franklin made her return and led the team with 13 kills. Additionally, Thomas-Ailara started her time off with the Badgers with a bang, going for 12 kills and hitting .500 with no errors. 

Devyn Robinson and Anna Smrek both added eight kills. Carter Booth and Caroline Crawford rounded the hitters out in the middle with six and four kills, respectively.

As a team, Wisconsin hit .344 (52-10-122) and held Baylor to .117 (47-21-120). Kyndal Stowers led the Bears with 14 kills while Elise McGhee added 11 kills.

Julia Orzol got a look at a new position in this match, starting at libero. She finished the match with 11 digs, and led the team with two service aces.Thomas-Ailara also added two service aces. Baylor had the edge over Wisconsin in digs, 52-44. 

The Badgers outblocked the Bears 8.0 to 5.0 with four blocks apiece from Caroline Crawford and Anna Smrek. Izzy Ashburn led the Badgers in assists with 22 and MJ Hammill added 18 helpers..Ashburn picked up a double-double, adding 10 digs.

The first set was tight as the teams battled back and forth through 10 ties and three lead changes. The game was tied at 14-14 before Wisconsin scored two straight to go up 16-14. A service ace by Thomas-Ailara put UW up 21-17. Wisconsin took care of the set from there, winning 25-20. 

Wisconsin dominated the second set, hitting .417 and holding Baylor to .062. Baylor battled back in the third set, taking a 23-14 lead. The Badgers put together a 5-0 run to bring it back within four points (23-19), but Baylor stopped the run and scored the last two points to make the match 2-1 in favor of UW. 

Wisconsin rallied in the fourth set, jumping out to a 19-11 lead and never looking back. Thoma-Ailara saved her best for last with six kills in the fourth set. 

Straight off the court

On what stood out: "We took some really good swings, in system and out of system. I thought we were smart offensively. Against a team we don't have film on, they have a lot of people we haven't seen. They have definitely sped things up… it's really hard to handle."

On Temi Thomas-Ailara: "I thought one of things she did a really god job with was being smart with her swings. When the shot wasn't there, she was putting the ball in good areas of the court. That was something she wasn't doing in Europe. She would go for the grand slam every time… tonight I think she got a kill on a junk ball and she just put it in the donut and it worked out for her."

On Julia Orzol at libero: "It's psychological warfare trying to have your outside hitter going up there taking some swings that we're going for. Her first match was probably a little bit uneven. We see her everyday in practice…she probably felt like she could've done a little bit better and she could've. I loved how she ran the back court. She communicated."

Setter MJ Hammill
On fire power of the team; "It's just really exciting. It makes our job easier in some ways, but also just demands from us. We're trying to put up the best ball possible for each of our hitters because they have so much talent. You want to give them a huge window, give them the right availability and you just want to be able to let them go and rip."

Notes to know

• Wisconsin opened the 2023 season with a win over a ranked team, improving to 36-14 all-time in season openers. 
• Izzy Ashburn picked up a double with 22 assists and 10 digs. It is her seventh career double-double. The setter also added one service ace to bring her career total to 159, which ranks second on the UW career record list. She needs seven aces to move into a tie for first. 
• Two players made their Badger debut as Carter Booth and Temi Thomas-Ailara started the match. Booth, a middle blocker transfer from Minnesota, recorded 6 kills, 1 assist and 3 blocks while Thomas-Ailara, an outside hitter transfer from Northwestern, finished with 12 kills, 6 digs, 2 service aces and 2 blocks. Thomas-Ailara also tied her career high for hitting percentage at .500 (12 kills - 0 errors - 24 attempts). 
• Junior Julia Orzol started her first career match at libero, leading all players with 11 digs. She also added 2 assists and 2 service aces. 

Up next

The Badgers return to action Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. to face TCU in their final match of the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge. The match will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network and can be heard on Fox Sports 1070.