The Wisconsin Badgers overcame gradual begins, spells of errors, and a crowd filled with rivals rooting to spoil its enjoyable, however the No. 2 seed gritted out a five-set win (25-21, 18-25, 25-19, 23-25, 15-13) over the No. 6 seed Texas A&M Aggies to advance to this system’s seventh straight Elite Eight look because of well timed, gutsy performs from its stars.
Senior outdoors hitter Sarah Franklin led the best way for Wisconsin with 21 kills on 66 swings, with no kill extra essential than the one to clinch the fifth-set win at 15-13.
In the ultimate body, Franklin had 4 kills and an ace that gave Wisconsin a 9-6 lead over the Aggies. Despite trying exhausted, she took the ball to serve at 7-6 and led the Badgers on a 4-0 serving run to increase the Wisconsin result in 11-6 within the fifth set the place it seemed like UW would take management.
On the opposite facet, A&M’s junior Logan Lednicky was the one seeking to cease the Badgers’ march to victory. In an in depth fourth set, Lednicky scored the Aggies’ closing 4 factors as she fed off the Nebraska crowd that all of a sudden turned the twelfth Man North as they settled into their seats. Lednicky had 23 kills, which means she had over 20 in all three NCAA Tournament matches.
She stopped the Badger run within the fifth set to chop the rating to 11-7 earlier than freshman setter Charlie Fuerbringer’s second-touch kill, adopted up by Franklin’s twentieth kill gave UW a seemingly insurmountable 13-7 lead.
But the Badgers had been in that spot earlier than, the place it seemed like that they had all of the momentum and the Aggies discovered their approach again within the match.
In the opening set, UW bought behind early however got here again to take a 13-11 lead because of a block from senior Anna Smrek and junior Carter Booth. The Aggies took the lead 17-16, however Franklin tied the set 17 all then had her sixth kill of the body to make it 20-18 for UW. In the purple zone of that set, Smrek had three kills within the final 5 factors to assist Wisconsin over the sting right into a 25-21 opening set win. The Badgers had no errors and hit .543 within the body.
But issues crumbled for Wisconsin within the second set. UW had eight assault errors and seemed out of kinds as Texas A&M improved their block, serving, and passing. The Aggies have been capable of finding their center blockers throughout this stretch, they usually had lethal effectivity. Morgan Perkins had 13 kills whereas Ifenna Cos-Okpalla had eight on .565 and .389 hitting, respectively. When A&M was capable of get going, it was usually from fast units from Maddie Waak to these middles, and the Aggies cruised to the second set win.
Wisconsin bounced again within the third set. Despite a gradual begin to go down 3-1 and drive a timeout from head coach Kelly Sheffield, UW discovered its footing and went up 10-8. The match was punctuated by lengthy, scrappy rallies that made the back-row protection work. But A&M’s block was additionally calibrating itself, getting an enormous block to present the Aggies a 15-13 lead. Some scrappy play from Wisconsin helped tie the set 17-all because of an unlikely bump kill from the web from Booth and UW was capable of acquire momentum to go up 18-17 and drive a TAMU timeout. The Aggie block responded earlier than Smrek took issues into her personal fingers.
Like the remainder of the Badgers, the 6-foot-9 Canadian had an up-and-down night time, however she got here up within the clutch to make sure Wisconsin received the third set. With the body at 19-all, Smrek had two kills and two blocks as a part of a 6-0 run with Fuerbringer serving to assist UW shut out the set 25-19. Smrek completed with 10 kills, 9 blocks, and 5 digs along with her greatest work coming in crunch time on the finish of the primary and third units.
The Aggies bought out to a 10-6 lead within the fourth set, however Wisconsin’s block helped spark a comeback. Booth, who completed the night time with 14 kills and 9 blocks, was large for Wisconsin, and a block from her and Smrek made it 11-10. Lednicky started to catch hearth within the fourth set, and the Aggies went on a run to make their lead 16-12. UW fought again with two straight kills from senior CC Crawford as a part of a 3-0 run to make it 16-15 and drive a TAMU timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Aggies constructed a 3-0 lead with kills from its middles. Senior Devyn Robinson had a kill to interrupt the run, however Perkins’ tenth kill gave A&M a 20-16 lead. The Twin Towers of Smrek and Booth had a block that tied the set 21-all earlier than Lednicky had the beforehand talked about 4 straight factors for A&M to assist the Aggies drive a fifth set.
It was Lednicky who reduce into the Badgers’ commanding fifth-set lead. With the rating 13-8, the Aggies went on a 4-0 run with Lednicky firing the kills at 13-11 and 13-12. That closing one compelled a timeout from Sheffield and the Lincoln crowd into raptures for the adopted Aggies.
Booth had a kill on a fast set from Fuerbringer to present UW match level 14-12, however Lednicky saved A&M alive along with her twenty third kill. But Franklin had the clinching kill that quieted the group and despatched Wisconsin to its seventh straight Elite Eight.
In a scrappy match that lacked offensive consistency — by set, UW hit .543, .097, .222, .189, and .222, a line that’s plotted like a curler coaster — the Badgers’ again row protection was unimaginable. Freshman libero Lola Schumacher had 24 digs whereas junior Gülce Güçtekin had 13 as she was nonetheless battling the damage that saved her out in direction of the tip of the season — she was proven on the sideline with some form of therapeutic massage/heating pad round her core when she wasn’t in.
The Badgers battled towards the Aggies and highlighted a few of that Wisconsin-level grit that followers are accustomed to. It wasn’t all the time fairly, however the stars got here up huge after they have been wanted to, and it means Wisconsin remains to be dancing within the NCAA Tournament.
Up subsequent, UW will tackle the winner of No. 1 seed Nebraska and No. 2 seed Dayton for a spot within the Final Four. That match will occur Sunday in Lincoln at 2 p.m. It shall be airing on ABC.
