Last weekend, a top 5 Nebraska Cornhuskers team entered the UW Field House and delivered a surprise sweep of the Wisconsin Badgers in front of their home fans.

What a difference a week makes.

The No. 7 Badgers (12-2 Big Ten, 18-5 overall) flipped the script against the No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions (13-1, 23-2), handing PSU its first conference loss in a dominant situation. 3-0 win (25-23, 25-12, 25-13) that keeps the Badgers alive in the Big Ten title race.

Senior Anna Smrek, who struggled in the match against Nebraska, was a force for UW, firing off 13 kills with just one attack error and adding five blocks. Senior Sarah Franklin was even better, scoring 13 kills without errors as UW battled through a tough opening set before defeating the Nittany Lions in the next two. Senior Julia Orzoł also hit double figures in kills on the day with 11.

Franklin was the Badgers’ main weapon in the opening of the first set, with four kills helping UW take an 11-7 lead, forcing PSU’s first timeout. The Nittany Lions fought back thanks to an impressive serve from veteran outside hitter Jess Mruzik. The former Michigan Wolverine had two straight aces to cut the lead to 15-12 and force a Wisconsin timeout.

PSU squandered Wisconsin’s lead, but Smrek and Franklin kept UW’s noses in front with timely kills. Mruzik then had an ace that leveled the first set at 22-all, but Smrek got a kill out of a Wisconsin timeout to go up 23-22 before senior middle blocker CC Crawford had a block to give Wisconsin a set point at 24-22 as UW came over the top with a 25-23 set victory.

Wisconsin’s block was a force against Penn State, as the Nittany Lions couldn’t find their offensive footing. UW blocked PSU 11-0, and Wisconsin’s trees up front gave Mruzik nightmares. Their star outside hitter was held in check all night as she struggled to gain consistency with the Badger block to her face. At the end of the second set, Mruzik hit 5/6/31 to stay in the negatives. Although ultimately able to record nine kills, UW clearly slowed down PSU’s entire offense, as the team combined for 22 attacking errors — nearly half of them unforced errors, or not caused by a block.

In the second set, an excellent serve from freshman libero Lola Schumacher – and UW’s impressive block – helped the Badgers to a 15-2 lead with a 13-0 serving run. Crawford and Smrek provided offense for the Nittany Lions, with Crawford adding four kills and five blocks, with the majority of her offensive damage coming during this run.

Wisconsin hit .577 in that frame with no attacking errors, while PSU was held to -.029 as a team as the Badgers waltzed to a 25-12 second set victory.

Wisconsin jumped out to an early lead again in the third set when junior Gülce Güçtekin scored an ace to give UW a 7-3 lead and force a PSU timeout. Senior Devyn Robinson got a solo block before junior Carter Booth stuffed an Izzy Starck charge that helped UW extend the lead to 16-6.

Despite the tight first set, the Nittany Lions looked unsettled in the final two frames as the Badgers cruised to a statement victory over Penn State. UW handed the Happy Valley team their first conference loss of the season, giving the Badgers a chance to get back into the conference title race. UW is still two games behind Nebraska, but the Huskers (13-0 in the conference) will have to play both the Nittany Lions and Badgers at the end of the season. This win for UW shakes up the conference race.

Next up for Wisconsin is a West Coast swing. The Badgers will take on the No. 20 USC Trojans (8-5, 16-7) Thursday night at 10 p.m. Central before a Saturday night clash with the UCLA Bruins (5-8, 11-11) at 9 p.m. games will take place on the Big Ten Network.