Wisconsin takes care of Troy

MADISON, Wis. — The No. 7 Wisconsin volleyball team led a balanced attack and defeated Troy 25-18, 25-13 and 25-14 on Friday night at the UW Field House.

The Badgers (5-3) led a balanced attack tonight, Anna Smrek was the only Badger with double-digit scores with 10 kills. Sarah Franklin And Devyn Robinson were not far behind with nine and eight kills respectively. As a team, UW hit .416 (40 kills – 8 errors – 77 attempts) – a season-best in three sets.

Troy (5-4) was held to just .057 (26 kills – 21 errors – 88 attempts), and it was the second time this season that Wisconsin held its opponent under .100 hitting percentage. Troy's outside hitter Tori Hester had the most hits of the game with 13 kills.

Charlie Fuerbringer was back in the starting lineup tonight and had 36 assists. The Badgers came out strong from behind the service line, scoring a total of eight service aces. Gulce Güntekin had the most aces in the game with three. Franklin led the team with 10 digs.

At 3-3, Wisconsin took the lead thanks to kills from Robinson and Franklin, followed by an ace from Guctekin. Julia Orzol added another service ace to double the Trojans' score to 8-4. Troy got Wisconsin going with a 4-0 run to take a one-point lead over UW (12-11). A block by Smrek and Robinson paved the way for Wisconsin to go on an 8-1 run, highlighted by two kills by Orzol, two kills by Robinson and Guctekin's second service ace of the night. The Trojans were eliminated after a timeout, trailing 21-15. The Badgers allowed just three more points as C.C. Crawford sealed the set with a tip along the line and won it 25-18.

After Troy scored the first point of the second set, they failed to score another point until the tenth point of the match, as UW led 8-2. Wisconsin maintained its lead as Troy tried to pull away. The Trojans were able to get within seven points after an attack error by UW, but Wisconsin scored four straight points to take an 11-point lead at 22-11. Troy scored just two more points, and the Badgers won the second set 25-13.

Wisconsin was in the lead at the start of the third set, with Troy trailing 7-1 and taking an early timeout. The Badgers extended their lead to ten points (13-3) after a kill by Franklin. The teams traded points back and forth, but it wasn't enough for Troy to close the big deficit. Trinity Shadd-Ceres And Saige Damrow Both were on the court in the final set, and the Badgers won the set and the game 25-14.

Directly from the court

Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
About Charlie’s performance: “It's nice to say a setter is a little rusty when he has a batting average over .400. Those are, you know, good problems to have.”

For difficult serving: “And when you serve well, you can set up your block. And I think our serve and block worked pretty well for the most part tonight.”

Middle blocker Devyn Robinson
To prepare for tomorrow evening: “I think we did our job. Now it's time for us to recover and get ready for Texas A&M. That's all. Just get ready for the next team because we know we have a pretty good team tomorrow night.”

Defensive specialist Gulce Güntekin
On her serve tonight: “I think it's the attitude of serving really well every time and trying to do that over and over again. I think it's the power of the mind and the power of practice.”

Things to know

• In the three-set match, Wisconsin reached a season-high of .487 (40-8-77).
• For the second time in a row Anna Smrek recorded double-digit kills. Against Marquette, Smrek had 15 kills, tonight she had 10 kills and posted a .412 batting average (10-3-17).
• Tonight's 12.5 blocks mark the fourth time Wisconsin has recorded double-digit block counts.

Next

The Badgers are back in action tomorrow night, hosting Texas A&M at the Field House. First serve is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.