Third-ranked Wisconsin volleyball survives scare from No. 14 Penn State

The University of Wisconsin volleyball team moved into rare air Saturday night with a thrilling five-set victory over Penn State to move a step closer to its fourth consecutive Big Ten Conference championship.

The No. 3 Badgers outlasted the No. 14 Nittany Lions 25-19, 22-25, 25-23, 18-25, 15-12 for just their third victory in 27 matches at Rec Hall in State College. Each of those victories have come in five sets.

The Badgers can clinch at least a tie for the conference title with one win in their final two matches next weekend at Nebraska and Ohio State.

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“It was a great college volleyball match,” UW coach Kelly Sheffield said. “I thought both teams were really scrapping, both teams were making really big time plays. Penn State has really developed as the season has gone on.

“I thought our first two contacts were really good. We passed the ball well. Our setting was fantastic, when you’re seeing that many hitters against this type of defensive team put up the offensive numbers that they have, that was really impressive.

Junior Devyn Robinson had 17 kills and nine blocks and grad student Danielle Hart had 13 kills and eight blocks to lead the Badgers (23-3, 17-1 Big Ten). Hart was errorless in 20 swings, her fourth consecutive match without a hitting error. She is hitting .705 over that span.

The Badgers, the second-ranked blocking team in the nation, recorded 15 team blocks.

Kashauna Williams had 18 kills to lead the Nittany Lions (22-7, 11-7), but she also had 14 hitting errors and hit just .087.

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“We did a fantastic job on Kash,” Sheffield said. “Probably some of the hardest hits of the match were by her, but to hold her under .100 is a really great defensive team effort on her.”

After alternating victories in the first four sets, the Badgers got off to a strong start in the fifth, twice blocking shots by Williams, who also had an attempt go long. Sophomore Julia Orzol also added an ace as the Badgers took a 7-3 lead.

But as they had all night, the Nittany Lions fought back with a 5-0 run to take an 8-7 lead. Penn State was up 11-9, before a service error sparked a 5-0 UW run that featured two kills by Robinson and one each by Hart and Orzol to get to match point at 14-11.

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Penn State held that off on a kill by Allie Holland before Hart and Orzol combined on a block of Williams to close out the victory.

Ashburn served the first two points of the fifth set and had a four-point service run at the end.

“We got a lot of points off of Izzy’s serves, which was really key,” Sheffield said. “We chose to serve in the fifth set and there’s not too many times you choose to serve going into the fifth set. That’s a credit to her.”

The Badgers dominated the first set, jumping out to a 19-7 lead behind a 9-0 run with senior Joslyn Boyer serving eight points. Penn State chipped away at that deficit and pulled to within five at 24-19 before giving up the decisive point on a service error.

The Badgers hit .385 in the set, while holding the Nittany Lions to a .139 mark.

Penn State answered in the second set by opening up an 18-12 lead and then holding off a UW comeback attempt. The Badgers crept to within two points on five occasions before Zoe Weatherington closed it out with a kill for Penn State.

The Badgers hit a sizzling .407 in the losing cause with 13 kills and just two errors, while the Nittany Lions hit .308 with 19 kills and seven errors.

As in the first set, the Badgers got off to a blistering start in set 3, blowing open a 17-6 lead, sparked by three big blocks early and service aces by Gulce Guctekin, MJ Hammill and Izzy Ashburn.

But just like the first set, the Nittany Lions didn’t give up. The Badgers got to set point at 24-20, but Penn State ran off three consecutive points before Hart finished things off with a kill on a slide attack.

The momentum flipped again as Penn State was in command through most of the fourth set. The Badgers trailed just 11-12, before the Nittany Lions went on a 4-0 run to go up 16-11. The Badgers never got closer than three points the rest of the way, setting up the dramatic fifth set.

WISCONSIN (kills-digs-blocks): Boyer 0-2-0, Gregorski 0-0-0, Robinson 17-1-9, Ashburn 0-9-0, Franklin 8-10-1, Smrek 7-0-6, Demps 6-1-1, Hammill 0-3-0, Hart 13-2-8, Guctekin 0-11-0, Orzol 7-7-2. Totals 58-46-15.

PENN STATE (kills-digs-blocks): Williams 18-4-2, Holland 15-1-4, Clark 10-4-1, Weatherington 14-2-2, Markley 11-1-1, Bilinovic 0-12-0, Grimes 0-6-0, Elisaia 1-10-0, Starck 0-4-0, Kuerschen 0-11-0. Totals 69-55-6.

Hitting percentage — W .307, PS .258. Aces — W 6 (Boyer 2), PS 5 (Williams 2). Assists — W 53 (Ashburn 29), PS 66 (Elisaia 59). Att. – 4,301.