Wisconsin skips the horned frogs

Result

WACO, Texas — With a courageous comeback, the No. 6 Wisconsin volleyball team earned its first win of the season, defeating TCU 25-15, 27-29, 21-25, 25-16 and 15-11 in the first game of the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge on Friday night.

Offensively leading for the Badgers (1-3) with 18 kills was Sarah Franklin. Not far behind was her co-captain, Devyn Robinson 17 kills. As a team, UW achieved a hitting average of .266 (69 kills – 24 errors – 169 attempts).

TCU outside hitter Melanie Parra had 21 kills, the most of the game, and added 16 digs for the double-double. The Horned Frogs (1-2) finished the night with a batting average of .216 (55 – 18 – 171).

With a kill of Julia Orzolfollowed by a block of C.C. CrawfordThe Badgers built an 8-4 lead in the first set. TCU scored a point on a kill by outside hitter Melanie Parra, but Wisconsin responded with three straight points, including an ace by Orzol, to take an 11-5 lead. The Horned Frogs got within three points and made a quick run to make it 11-8. But a kill by Crawford started a 6-2 run for the Badgers. Wisconsin closed strong from there, including three straight kills to end the set, and won the first set 25-15.

The Horned Frogs came out on top in the second set, taking an early lead with a 7-4 lead. Wisconsin fought back and tied the score at 7-7. The two teams alternated between ties and lead changes. It wasn't until the score was 22-20 that either team was able to gain a lead of up to two points, but Wisconsin took the lead after a kill from Robinson and an attack error from TCU. The Badgers fended off four set points from TCU, but it was the Horned Frogs who scored two points in a row to win the second set 29-27.

TCU was able to carry the momentum from the previous set, while the Badgers struggled to find their footing. To change the tempo, Sheffield turned to an experienced setter Carly Anderson to step in when they switched to a 6-2 with Anderson and Anna Smrek together with Charlie Fuerbringer and Robinson. When TCU led 18-13, UW went back to 5-1 with Fuerbringer leading the offense. From there, the Badgers caught up and cut the deficit to 21-22. But TCU scored three straight points, winning 25-21 and taking a 2-1 lead.

Similar to the first set, the Badgers were also in top form in the fourth set, which they absolutely had to win. Sheffield switched newcomer Lola Schumacher as libero and Gulce Güntekin Switch to DS. The teams battled back and forth until the Badgers went on a 4-0 run to take a 13-8 lead. Back-to-back kills from Crawford and Franklin forced a TCU timeout when UW led 19-12. The Badgers allowed only four more points from TCU and closed out the fourth set in convincing fashion, 25-16.

Charlie Fuerbringer stepped behind the service line and hit four straight serves, including an ace, as the race to 15 points in the fifth set began with an early Horned Frogs timeout. TCU trailed by two points (6-4) when Gucktekin added two more aces and forced a second TCU timeout at 9-4. Despite a small push from TCU, UW closed the fifth set 15-11.

The serving problems continued, with the Badgers committing 11 service errors but scoring seven aces, with Fürbringer and Guctekin each scoring two aces. Schumacher and Orzol each notched 15 digs. Fürbringer added 12 digs to go with her 44 assists for her second double-double of the season.

UW outscored TCU 9.0 blocks to 4.0, while Robinson topped the charts with 5.0 total blocks.

Directly from the court

Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
On the first win of the season: “We didn't give up on ourselves as players. I think it was very frustrating that we couldn't finish the second set, and then there were a lot of hitting errors in the third set and a lot of serving errors in the second set. I think we played really clean, really good volleyball in the first, fourth and fifth sets. We have the ability to do some things differently and figure things out as we go along.”

Middle blocker C.C. Crawford

On the first victory: “I think we are all happy and excited about our fight, but not satisfied.”

On Charlie’s 4-0 run in the fifth set: “She was fearless behind the service line. I'm so proud of her. As a freshman going into the fifth set, her first fifth set, and just getting back there and serving, I'm so happy for her.”

Things to know

• Four badgers, Julia Orzol (15), Charlie Fuerbringer (12), Gulce Güntekin (14) and Lola Schumacher (15) recorded double-digit digs, with Orzol and Schumacher leading the way with 15.
• For the second time in a row a newcomer as setter Charlie Fuerbringer scored a double-double. Fuebringer had a total of 43 assists and 12 digs.
• A total of three Badgers achieved double-digit kills, Devyn Robinson (17), Sarah Franklin (18) and Caroline Crawford (12).
• Crawford set a season high with 12 kills and made only two errors on 25 shots, which equates to a hit rate of .400.

Next

The Badgers are back in action Saturday night to face No. 23 Baylor in the Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge. First serve is set for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN+.