The Huskers defense held UW to .149 hitting percent to defeat the Badgers with a sweep.
The third time was not a charm for Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Badgers season comes to a close at the hands of the Nebraska Cornhuskers in a 3-0 (24-26, 17-25, 21-25) loss in Lincoln that ends UW’s run in the NCAA Tournament.
Wisconsin took an early lead in the opening set up 11-7 with back-to-back aces from freshman setter Charlie Fuerbringer. However, the next serve was an error and two UW attack errors helped give Nebraska momentum before a triple block from the Huskers gave them a 15-14 lead in the first set.
Fuerbringer and senior Devyn Robinson combined on a block to tie the set 16-all, but Nebraska’s Taylor Landfair had a huge first set. The former Gopher had six kills in the opening set including two as part of a 4-0 run to push the lead to 20-16. Landfair led the Husker with 11 kills on the day.
Wisconsin fought back in the set and forced a Nebraska timeout at 22-19 after Fuerbringer had her third ace. But on the next play, Fuerbringer had a service error to stall momentum. Nebraska had set point at 24-21, but Wisconsin went on a 3-0 run to keep the set alive 24-24 before freshman Lola Schumacher had a service error to give the Huskers set point 25-24. Landfair closed out the set with a kill 26-24. The Badgers had seven service errors on the day, but all seemed to come at the worst possible times.
Nebraska went off to a fast start in the second set, going up 13-4 and forcing UW to use all its timeouts. The Badgers were unable to terminate points with the Huskers’ back row defense — led by libero Lexi Rodriguez — seemed to get to every ball. Rodriguez finished with 14 digs in the match as the hustle plays by Nebraska helped hold the Badgers to .149 hitting.
At various points, Wisconsin cut into the lead. Franklin had a kill to make the score 15-9 and force a Nebraska timeout. But the Huskers went on a big run to make it 20-12. A block from CC Crawford and Fuerbringer punctuated a 3-0 run to make the score 20-15, but UW had a service error to give Nebraska the momentum back en route to closing out the set 25-17.
In the third set, the Badgers adjusted their rotations and were passing much better. Wisconsin had two blocks in the first four points to go up 4-2, then Crawford and Franklin had a block to go up 15-11 at the first set break. But the Huskers grabbed momentum right after the break with a 4-0 run thanks to tough serving by Merritt Beason that included an ace to tie up the set and force a Wisconsin timeout.
Harper Murray had two straight kills for Nebraska to take their first lead 17-16. Andi Jackson had a kill off a slide play to take a 20-17 lead. Wisconsin got a kill from Franklin to cut the lead to 21-20, but a service error gifted Nebraska a 22-20 lead, who took control of the third set. The Huskers finished the night with two blocks to beat Wisconsin for the third time this season and advance to the Final Four.
A tough end to the season for Wisconsin, who did not win a single set over its rival Nebraska this season.
With the departing senior class of Sarah Franklin, Devyn Robinson, Anna Smrek, Julia Orzoł, CC Crawford, and Carly Anderson the Badgers will look very different next season.