Wisconsin volleyball sweeps Indiana in Anna Smrek’s return. Rematch with Nebraska next.

Anna Smrek returned to the Wisconsin lineup in impressive fashion Sunday afternoon.

The Badgers junior right-side hitter, who missed the last three matches due to an upper body injury, equaled her season high for hitting percentage in the team’s sweep of Indiana in front of 2,468 at  Wilkinson Hall in Bloomington, Indiana.

Smrek finished with 10 kills and a .667 hitting percentage in the 25-19, 26-24, 25-14 victory. She also had five blocks as third-ranked Wisconsin improved to 24-3 overall and 15-3 in the Big Ten.

“It was really nice having Anna today. She was awfully good today,” UW coach Kelly Sheffield said on the Badger Radio Network’s post-match show.

Sarah Franklin, Izzy Ashburn have double-doubles

Senior Sarah Franklin finished with a team-high 11 kills for the Badgers and with 13 digs registered her second straight double-double. Setter Izzy Ashburn, a graduate student, also recorded a double-double (14 assists, 10 digs).

Graduate student Temi Thomas-Ailara added nine kills and a .400 hitting percentage. Sophomore Carter Booth finished with five kills, a .364 hitting percentage and a team-high eight blocks.

The contest tested Wisconsin’s ability to contain one of the Big Ten’s top setters, senior Camryn Haworth, and one of the league’s top serving teams.

It was challenging afternoon for the Badgers on both fronts. Indiana (19-12 overall, 9-9 Big Ten) finished with four aces and fired countless other serves that UW had a hard time handling.  Haworth finished with 33 assists,

“They just have a different serving team, all six rotations, than other teams in the Big Ten,” Ashburn said. “ Prepping for them, it makes it tough, but I thought our passers did a good job of moving on from each ball.

“They’re going to get their good serves, their aces and they’re going to get us out of system, but we’re just going to keep fighting and moving on together and keeping that mindset.”

Badgers take control after tough second set

Wisconsin had its toughest time in the second set when Indiana aced the Badgers three times and held them to a match-low .261 percentage.

That set was the match’s tightest. It featured 12 ties and seven lead changes and went to extra points. The key moment was a UW challenge that gave it a 24-23 lead. The Badgers later closed that set with kills by Smith and then Smrek.

The final set wasn’t nearly as competitive. The Hoosiers trailed throughout and hit .119 while Wisconsin didn’t have a error and hit a match-high .461.

The match sets up Wisconsin for its rematch with Nebraska at 3 p.m. Friday. The Cornhuskers, who clinched the Big Ten title outright with a sweep of Iowa on Sunday afternoon, are undefeated and expected to be the No. 1 seed of the entire NCAA Tournament field.

“That’s a team that is playing better than anybody in the country,” Sheffield said. “That’s a real test to see if you’re on top of your game and what you need to continue to work on during the few days that remain afterwards.

“We want to play well and we want to get on this. We want to start building some momentum. This is as healthy as we have been in a long time.”