3 things that stood out from Wisconsin's sweep of No. 1 Nebraska (2024)

The only thing missing was a trophy.

The University of Wisconsin volleyball team played a national championship quality match against a national championship quality team Friday and came away with a hard-fought but ultimately convincing sweep of No. 1 and previously undefeated Nebraska in front of a raucous, sellout crowd at the UW Field House.

Junior Anna Smrek, in her second match back after missing three matches because of a concussion, had a season-high 18 kills to lead the No. 5 Badgers to the 25-22, 28-26, 25-16 victory.

It was a performance reminiscent to what she produced in the Final Four of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, including a 14-kill effort against the Cornhuskers in the championship match.

Did this match have a familiar feel to it?

“Honestly, it did in the sense for our side, the way our team stuck together and we looked to each other,” Smrek said. “Everybody was on the same page about what we wanted to do this afternoon. We all wanted it. We were hungry. That’s what I would compare it to that national championship game.”

Of course, it will be three more weeks before that ultimate championship is settled, with the first step coming Sunday evening when the tournament field is set. This match was seen as a pivotal one for Wisconsin’s chances of earning a top-four seed that would allow it to play host to a regional on the second weekend.

Friday’s victory moved the Badgers (25-3, 16-3 Big Ten) up one spot to No. 5 in the RPI rankings, but Nebraska coach John Cook said there’s no question that they are deserving of a top-four spot.

“Hell yeah,” Cook said. “It would be a crime if they’re not. We’ve played everybody. They should be a top four seed, yes. We played Stanford, all the Big Ten teams, Kentucky. Wisconsin is definitely a top four.”

Cook, whose team is now 27-1 and 18-1 in the conference, waffled a bit when asked whether his team had already proven it should be the No. 1 overall seed. But he did add, “Nobody else has done what we’ve done this year.”

Of course, the Badgers were undefeated until they lost a five-set match at Nebraska last month. And with Smrek on the sidelines, they had lost matches at Penn State and Purdue, lowering their status in the polls and computer rankings.

Did this match prove that they’re back at their previous lofty status?

“Are we the best team?” Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield said, repeating the question. “When we’re playing well, we’re a handful, I know that.

“But I also know there are a lot of teams that can stress you in a lot of different ways. Certainly, that team over the course of the season has earned the right to say they’re the best team in the country. They’ve been playing really, really well. Today was our day.”

It was their day because they made the big plays at crunch time in the first two sets.

The Badgers trailed by as many as four points early in the first set before pulling even at 19 on a kill by Sarah Franklin, who had eight of her 16 kills in the first set. That started a 4-0 run that was aided by a video review reversal of a call, an ace by Caroline Crawford and another kill by Franklin that put Wisconsin up 22-19. Kills by Smrek and Franklin got the Badgers to set point, but Nebraska answered with the next two points before Franklin closed out the set with another kill.

The Badgers were battling from behind much of the second set and were down 19-22 before going on a 4-0 run that included two kills by Smrek. The Badgers got to set point at 24-23, but the Huskers rallied to get to set point twice before the Badgers finished it off with a 3-0 run with Carter Booth getting the deciding kill.

The topic of making the big plays in the biggest moments was fresh on the Badgers’ minds going into the match.

“It’s what we talked about today, being courageous in (the) end-game,” Sheffield said. “Being courageous behind the service line. Both of those were a really big emphasis. We closed out both of those first two sets really well.

“We’re capable of being really good, especially with the experience we have, in those situations. And I thought we were tonight. Sometimes you get in those situations and you get a little bit tighter. We weren’t tight today at end-game and we’re a lot better when we’re being aggressive.”

There would be no such drama in the third set as the Badgers took command with a 6-0 run to open up a 21-12 lead. Fittingly, Smrek finished off the match with kill No. 18.

“The first two games were great games,” Cook said. “Our passing broke down in game 3, but in some ways we played better here than we did in Lincoln. We didn’t get blocked 18 times. We made adjustments.”

And with the tournament looming, no one was ruling out the chances of a rubber match between the two rivals.

“That’s a great team and I’m sure there will be a time that we see them again,” setter MJ Hammill said.

Here are three other things that stood out.

Temi Thomas-Ailara gets untracked after rough start

Temi Thomas-Ailara got off to a bumpy start with no kills and four hitting errors on her first seven swings. But she got going in the second set and had eight kills with no errors on her last 16 swings.

“When she was physical she was really good,” said Sheffield, who had a conversation with Thomas-Ailara as she came to the bench at one point in the second set. “When you’re going up there with some off-speed stuff against Nebraska, not only are they going to pick that up, which they did, they’re going to ram it down your throat.

“Apparently, the way I communicated that leading into the match was not effective enough that it became effective as the match went on and we saw the difference as she’s capable of doing. Going to her was an emphasis early and the setters stayed with her and she came up with some really big kills.”

Key reversal aids Wisconsin's first-set win

Sheffield used up one of his two replay challenges early in the first set, only to have to use his second, and potentially last one, later in the set when Franklin and Nebraska setter Bergen Reilly, who was in the back row, went after a ball at the net.

Nebraska would eventually get a kill from Harper Murray to temporarily take a 20-19 lead before Sheffield decided to risk his last challenge, claiming that Reilly had touched the ball simultaneously to Franklin, which would be an illegal back row block.

Sheffield hesitated but ultimately went along with Franklin, who said she felt Reilly push back on the ball as she hit it. The review confirmed that, flipping the score.

“You’ve got to make sure your players aren’t begging,” Sheffield said. “Hope is not a strategy. She felt pretty certain and in that situation you better be going with what the players are saying.”

UW Field House draws a big crowd for a big match

As always, it was a sellout crowd but there were easily more people in the seats than at any other match this season. And they were louder than in any other match, not surprisingly.

Cook and junior libero Lexi Rodriguez conceded that the noisy setting may have unnerved the Cornhuskers’ four freshmen on the court a bit.

But the biggest impact, said Smrek, was the lift the fans gave the Badgers.

“This is a battle in the Field House that everyone loves each season,” Smrek said. “The energy that the crowd brings, that feeds so much to us and puts pressure on the other side.”

Sheffield said the crowd helped his team, just as Nebraska’s even bigger crowds work to its advantage at home.

“It’s the two best fan bases in women’s volleyball,” Sheffield said. “The building was loud. It was crazy. If you’ve never watched a match in the Field House, it’s a special, special place to watch.

“But also if you’ve never been in the Devaney Center, if you can afford a ticket, that’s an amazing place to watch a match there as well.”

NEBRASKA (kills-digs-blocks) — Reilly 1-10-0, ALlick 3-0-2, Choboy 0-5-0, Boesiger 0-1-0, Rodriguez 0-8-0, Orr 0-1-0, Beason 11-7-2, Batenhorst 11-2-0, Jackson 3-0-1, Murray 15-8-1, Mendelssohn 1-0-0. Totals 45-42-3.

WISCONSIN (kills-digs-blocks) — Hammill 0-9-0, Crawford 1-1-4, Robinson 5-2-0, Ashburn 0-1-0, Thomas-Ailara 8-2-1, Franklin 16-12-0, Smrek 18-0-3, Guctekin 0-5-0, Orzol 0-12-0, Booth 4-1-2. Totals 52-45-6.

Hitting percentage — N .243, W .357. Aces — N 3 (Choboy, Boesiger, Murray), W 5 (Hammill 2). Assists — N 41 (Reilly 32), W 50 (Hammill 25). Att. – 7,229.