Wisconsin volleyball: No. 3 Badgers sweep Rutgers to extend 15-game winning streak

Regardless of lacking some key items, the No. 3 Wisconsin Badgers (16-1 Large Ten, 22-3 total) put away the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (2-15, 8-21) in straight units (25-13, 26-24, 25-10) to notch their fifteenth straight win.

Sophomore Julia Orzoł had a match-leading 13 kills whereas doing a bit little bit of every little thing on the courtroom. The Poland-native had two assists, an ace, eight digs, and 5 blocks to go together with these kills.

It was Orzoł and junior Devyn Robinson who led the way in which offensively for the Badgers as they sprinted out to a 9-1 lead within the first set. Robinson had 10 kills and completed off the primary set with the ultimate kill to make it 25-13.

Wisconsin was a bit shorthanded on the night time, lacking setter MJ Hammill and center blocker Caroline Crawford. That meant Izzy Ashburn was the lone setter in a 5-1 system as an alternative of the 6-2 system head coach Kelly Sheffield had been utilizing this season.

Ashburn seemed comfy because the lone setter, notching a double-double with 24 assists and 10 digs. Freshman libero Gülce Güçtekin led the group with 11 digs, however it was a complete teamwork on that side of the protection as seven Badgers had at the very least one dig.

In the meantime, the block was robust as common, with UW out-blocking Rutgers 9-6 and getting good defensive touches. Orzoł and sophomore center blocker Anna Smrek led the way in which with 5 blocks every as Wisconsin held Rutgers to simply .065 hitting on the night time.

However the Badgers had a scare from the Scarlet Knights within the second set. Rutgers pressured Sheffield to name a timeout early because it took a 8-7 lead, and UW had some attacking errors because the Scarlet Knights pissed off the attackers.

Junior exterior hitter Sarah Franklin struggled once more with errors. The mercurial exterior has been feast or famine at instances for UW, and tonight she had extra errors than kills to hit within the negatives.

A pair errors got here at expensive moments within the second set, and one helped Rutgers take a 22-21 lead. However UW was in a position to get a set level at 24-23 due to an ace from junior Jade Demps. Regardless of Rutgers staving off that set level, Hart and Ashburn completed off the set with a block for 26-24.

The service sport for Wisconsin actually peaked within the closing set, and Rutgers posted some ugly attacking errors after the tight second set appeared to take the vitality out of them. UW had 5 aces whereas Rutgers had six attacking errors within the third, with the Badgers stitching up a sweep with a 25-10 dominant closing set.

Wisconsin’s win retains them within the driver’s seat for the Large Ten title, however their closing three matches can be a gauntlet. The Badgers will tackle three groups ranked within the Prime 15 — No. 14 Penn State, No. 6 Nebraska and No. 5 Ohio State, all on the highway — as they give the impression of being to win their fourth straight Large Ten championship.

First up: the Nittany Lions because the Badgers journey to Comfortable Valley for a Saturday night time showdown at 7:00 p.m. on the Large Ten Community.