MADISON, Wis. - The No. 8 Wisconsin volleyball team fell in three sets (27-29, 20-25, 14-25) to No. 5 Texas to wrap up their weekend of action at the Opening Spike Classic.
The Badgers (1-1) stormed back in set one after falling behind early to the Longhorns, led by eight kills from outside hitter Grace Egan. Texas (2-0) provided a quick 5-0 run midway through the set to give themselves a cushion.
UW answered back by winning five of six rallies toward the latter half of the set, highlighted by an Egan kill with the help of an assist from setter Charlie Fuerbringer. A couple of errors and one final kill, however allowed the Longhorns to pull away and take home set one in extra points.
Texas continued to attack on the offensive end in set two, putting together four separate 4-0 runs—including one final run to cap off set two after Wisconsin took a 21-20 advantage.
From there, the Longhorns' physical front forced the Badgers into a low hitting percentage, which finished at .141 (45 - 26 - 135) in comparison to Texas' .296 (44 - 10 - 115) mark by the game's conclusion. Wisconsin finished with 26 attack errors, in addition to 10.0 blocks turned in by the Longhorns.
Senior Mimi Colyer notched her 1,500th career kill in the third set, as she finished with 14 during Sunday's contest—tallying eight digs in the process.
The aforementioned Egan enjoyed a solid showing for the Badgers by building on a strong performance in set one, finishing with her first double-double at UW with 12 digs and a team-high 16 kills.
Una Vajagic earned her second career double-double in as many games, as the outside hitter tallied 10 kills and 14 digs in three sets of action.
Straight from the Court:
Head Coach Kelly Sheffield (on continuing to improve after each game): "I mean that's the game of volleyball, right? And you think about once you start getting into the NCAA Tournament and things of just how many sets are decided by two points, three points. It's a ton, and it requires you to be fearless. It requires you to play together. It requires you to move on to the next play quickly, and matches like that can really, you know, with the learning process can really help out. We got a room full of competitors. They're all ticked off no matter if it's match two or 22, you know, they're all irritated, which that's why you recruit them."
Senior outside hitter Mimi Colyer (on learning from today): "This is a good chance for us to kind of go through the tough together, go through this first loss and really see how we are going to bounce back in the gym, how we're going to come back to our next practice and implement the changes that, you know. We saw tonight and how we're going to grow through the season and how we're going to do that together as a team, and just really help us in the future."
Notes:
- Redshirt sophomore
Grace Egan recorded her fourth double-double of her career with a 16 kill, 12 dig performance.
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Una Vajagic tallied back-to-back doubles with 10 kills and 14 digs.
- Senior
Mimi Colyer reached 1,500 career kills in the third set. Colyer posted a 14 kill and eight dig performance against Texas.
- The Badgers move to 4-8 all-time against Texas.
- The Kohl Center reached 11,678 in attendance for the match.
Up Next: The Badgers are back in action on Thursday, as they will make their return to the UW Field House to take on UC Davis at 7:00 p.m. CT. The match will be streamed on Big Ten Plus.
