MADISON, Wis. – The No. 7 Wisconsin volleyball team struggled to find an answer against the Huskers as they swept UW 25-21, 25-22, 25-19 on Friday night at the UW Field House.

The Badgers (15-5, 9-2 B1G) hit just .094 (35 kills – 24 errors – 117 attempts) with Sara Franklin leading the way with a match-high 16 kills.

Nebraska (21-1, 11-0 B1G) hit .202 (40 – 19 – 104), while outside hitter Taylor Landfair posted a team-high 13 kills.

It was a grudge match out of the gate, with the teams battling back and forth. Neither team led by more than two points until a Nebraska service ace gave them an 18-15 lead. The Badgers called a timeout to stop the Husker run. From the break, UW put one side away, but Nebraska scored three more points, forcing another Wisconsin timeout when they trailed 17-21. From that point on, Nebraska closed the game 25-21.

After another tight start to the second set, the Huskers created distance with a 4-0 run, which then went up to 12-7, causing a UW timeout. Anna Smrek put up a kill out of the timeout, and Nebraska responded right back with a kill from Merritt Beason. The Badgers trailed 9-13 before going on a 10-2 run to take a 17-14 lead. The run was highlighted by back-to-back blocks of CC Crawford on two separate occasions, totaling four blocks. The Huskers came back to tie the score at 19. A 4-0 run to give Nebraska set point deflated the Badgers, while the Huskers took set two 25-22 to go up 2-0 in the match.

Nebraska picked up where they left off in set two with a 4-1 run that included two aces, leading to an early UW timeout. The Badgers got back up to nine and scored on another point on a kill from Franklin as Nebraska called a timeout trailing 9-10. A fourth set was within reach for the Badgers until Nebraska shut them down with a 5-0 run to end it, taking the set and the match, 25-19.

Charlie Fuerbringer good for 28 assists. Gulce Guctekin led the team with nine digs. The Huskers defeated UW 10-5-9.0 with CC Crawford Putting down six of her own children.

Straight from the court

Head coach Kelly Sheffield
About the Nebraska play: “I thought they did a good job of closing the sets a lot better than we did. Their serve put quite a bit of pressure on us and they did a very effective job of varying planes and I think our passers-by felt a bit Because of the stress I thought they were excellent defensively and I thought we were fighting, but during the rallies I often felt like we were on the defensive.”

By Big Ten intensity: “That’s one of the things that makes the Big Ten so good. Big Ten championships reward consistency. Match-in, match-out, being ready to play every game, being hungry, humbly just going to work.”

Outside hitter Sara Franklin
About learning from the competition: “I think as long as we learn from this and take that to heart and not keep hearing the same things over and over again. We are an experienced team, but that is also because we can behave like that and are able to develop and stay hungry throughout a season. To grow in other aspects, maybe outside of volleyball, maybe on the court, maybe different things we can do to get that edge. So, looking for things outside of that and outside of ourselves would, I think, be a great thing.”

Middle blocker Devyn Robinson
About moving forward: ‘To stay hungry. I mean, that match hurt. You know, we have some things that we can figure out and it just gets us closer as a team to figuring out how we can get better, how we can connect more and how we can improve ourselves. from such holes. It just opens up new ways to interact better with each other.”

Notes to know

• This is the first time all season that Wisconsin has been held below a .100 hitting percentage. The Badgers hit just .094 (35 kills – 24 errors – 117 total attacks).
• The loss to Nebraska at the UW Field House is the first loss the Badgers have suffered in 25 games. The last loss came in the 2022 regional final against Pittsburgh.
• Fifth-year senior CC Crawford led the Badgers in blocks for the sixth time this season.
• Outside hitter Sara Franklin scored 16 kills for a match-high. She has now reached the double-digit kill mark seventeen times this season, and 11 times^e-even match.
• Nebraska moves to 21-13-1 all-time against the Badgers, and the Huskers’ first win at the UW Field House since 2013.

Next

The Badgers hit the road to play Illinois on Sunday afternoon. The first serve is scheduled for 1:00 PM and will be broadcast on B1G+.