MINNEAPOLIS - The No. 2 Wisconsin volleyball team kept rolling today in the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge as it swept TCU 25-16, 25-19 and 25-21 on Saturday evening.
With a match-high 15 kills,
Devyn Robinson led the potent Badger offense while
Sarah Franklin wasn't far behind with 11 kills. Julia Orzoł returned to outside hitter for this match and contributed eight kills while
Anna Smrek added six kills.
Wisconsin hit .344 (46 kills - 13 errors - 96 attempts) and limited TCU to .120 (29-18-92). UW prevented any TCU player from hitting double figures in kills as Melanie Parra led the Horned Frogs with eight kills.
Orzol continued to display her versatility as she put up a team-high 11 digs. Gulce Guctekin, who started at libero, added 10 digs. Graduate student
Izzy Ashburn finished with 21 assists and
MJ Hammill put up 16 helpers as well.
Led by
Carter Booth, UW put up 10 blocks this evening, with 7 coming from the sophomore-transfer out of Minnesota.
Devyn Robinson added 4 blocks from the right side.
Additionally the Badgers finished with five aces on the day, with two apiece from Guctekin and Ashburn, as well as one from Caroline Crawford.
The Badgers came out the gates in set one with back-to-back aces from Ashburn. Wisconsin jumped out to a 7-3 lead before five kills and two blocks from Robinson as well as two blocks from Booth gave UW an 18-11 lead. Wisconsin pulled away with a 5-1 rally after TCU brought it back within five (20-15).
Wisconsin continued its momentum into set two with an 8-0 run to take a 9-3 lead. TCU rallied to knot it up at 15-all before Robinson put away three kills and Smrek added two putaways to distance the Badgers and take set two, 25-19.
The third set was the closest yet with seven ties and three lead changes. Wisconsin held TCU to just .031 (10-9-32) while it hit .345 (14-4-29). After a monster block from Booth at 20-16 forced TCU to take a time out. The Horned Frogs pulled within two (21-19) but the Badgers served for match point at 24-19. TCU held off two match points before Franklin sealed the match with a kill.
Straight Off the Court
Head coach Kelly Sheffield
On
Devyn Robinson: "I thought she was really patient and when it wasn't there…she wasn't trying to just hit low and pound through. She was putting those balls into good areas. I think every time she had an error she came back and had a kill right away."
On Melanie Parra's serving: "She goes back in a three-set match and only serves 10 times, I think you would take that every day of the week. They only scored three points off of her serve… that was big. I thought we passed that really well…that was a big factor."
On three matches next week: "You approach it one at a time, like we always try to do. It'll be a little bit interesting. You get Arkansas … you get back into town tonight and have the day off tomorrow. You get Monday before you head out there on Tuesday, there's not a whole lot you can do. We can hopefully get a handle on what they want to do. Another really well-coached team. Both teams will have the ability to make adjustments and then right back at it again… And then we will have the home opener against a really physical Tennessee team that should definitely be ranked by the time they get to us. I'm sure the Badger fans will be revved up and ready to go in the Field House."
Setter Izzy Ashburn
On defense: "I thought we executed the game plan really well. I was really impressed with our team for doing that. Not doing too much, doing our job, knowing that everyone else is going to do their job. Our block was taking away what they needed to, working really well with the back court."
On serving: "I thought we served better today than yesterday, working on keeping that in percentage high is what we are trying to get better at right now. Serving aggressively, using it as a system with our block and our defense as well is super important to us. Taking certain hitters and priorities to the ground and really going the other way with the block and communicating that with each other is super important to our team…from server, to blocker, to back court, it's all a system."
Notes to know
- The Badgers switched up their line up in the second match of the season, moving Julia Orzol to outside hitter and Gulce Guctekin to libero. Orzol finished third on the team with 8 kills and led the team with 11 digs while adding 1 block. Guctekin had 10 kills, 2 service aces and 3 assists.
- Grad student Izzy Ashburn picked up 2 service aces in the match to bring her career total to 161. She needs just five aces to tie the UW career record.
- Wisconsin opens the season 2-0 for the ninth time in head coach Kelly Sheffield's 11 years.
- The Badgers improve to 5-1 in three years of the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge.
- Redshirt junior Sarah Franklin had 7 digs in the match to bring her career total to 502.
Up Next
The Badgers have a busy week ahead, hitting the road again to play two matches at Arkansas on Wednesday and Thursday. Both matches start at 7 p.m. with Wednesday's match airing live on ESPNU. .Wisconsin opens its home season on Sept. 3 when Tennessee comes to the UW Field House. First serve is at 1 p.m. with UW dropping its 2022 Big Ten Championship banner in pre-match ceremonies.
