MADISON -- The No. 1 Wisconsin volleyball team came out of the Big Ten home opener with yet another sweep to add to their perfect resume, as they downed Indiana, 25-13, 25-23, 25-18, on Sunday afternoon.
Wisconsin set the pace in the first frame, getting out to a quick 5-1 lead. Back-to-back blocks from the Badgers helped extend the lead to 12-4, and Wisconsin continued to roll from there. Indiana strung together a late surge to make it 12-23, but the deficit was too large as UW took the first set 25-13.
The second set brought a tougher test, with nine ties and two lead changes. It was all tied up at 17-apiece, but a three-point run from UW forced an Indiana timeout. Indiana sided out after the timeout but delivered a serving error on their end, to make the score 21-18 in favor of the Badgers. The Hoosiers held off three set points, but a kill from Anna Smrek out of the Wisconsin timeout put it away, 25-23.
The third set began with a back-and-forth battle. Indiana got it within two points, 11-9, but the Badgers distanced themselves and forced an Indiana timeout at 19-12. Wisconsin closed it out, highlighted by two kills from Devyn Robinson, 25-18.
Anna Smrek continued to shine as she recorded a team-high 10 kills in the match. Robinson and Franklin each added nine. Wisconsin hit .299 (36 kills - 10 errors - 87 attempts).
The Badgers held Indiana below triple digits, hitting just .098 (35 - 25 - 102). Outside hitter Morgan Geddes has the match-high with 10 kills.
MJ Hammill and Izzy Ashburn recorded 14 and 13 assists, respectively. Julia Orzol was the only Badger to record double figure digs, with 10.
UW out-blocked Indiana 10.0-6.0. As CC Crawford and Carter Booth both recorded 4, while Temi Thomas-Ailara and Franklin added 3 apiece. The Badgers tallied six service aces, with Crawford and Orzol both recording two apiece.
Straight off the court
Head coach Kelly Sheffield
On the team's performance: "Indiana does a really good job of their game of aggressive serving and defensively, they're really, really good. They get in long rallies and have a setter that flings it all over the place. A real key is coming out and being able to match that. You have to be able to stay with that and it sounds pretty simple that you ought to be doing that every match, but even more so when you're playing them. I thought we did a really good job with their big servers and passing. I thought our mentality going in was fantastic and our passers did a great job of getting out of their spin servers."
On attacking the net: "One of the things is when you're defending us, you have to pick how you're going to defend us. There's some blocking schemes and when you're passing well and you got all your attackers, it kind of forces the blockers to choose where they're going to go. Our setters did a really good job of exploiting that area of the court but also going away from it at times to keep them guessing. We had a lot of success behind the setter."
Right side Devyn Robinson
On hitting: "Staying high and swinging with all the power because we know Indiana like I said, they're a scrappy team, like tips and rolls weren't just going to go down on them."
Libero Julia Orzol
On last year's struggles against Indiana serve: "The key was preparation for this game and the way each of us knew what the server is gonna bring as soon as they stepped behind the service line. The mentality just going forward and not getting stuck in the past, even if they managed to ace us, we recovered and the next ball was in the game and nothing happened."
Notes to know
- Wisconsin is off to its all-time second best start at 11-0. The Badgers started the 2020-21 season 16-0.
- The Badgers held their opponents under a .100 hitting percentage for the fourth time this season.
Up next
The Badgers will hit the road again to take on No. 21 Ohio State on Wednesday night, at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcasted on the Big Ten Network.
