In battle of 1v2, Nebraska beat Wisconsin volleyball by a finger, but plenty of positives emerged from the match
Well, Saturday night didn’t exactly go how the Badgers volleyball team wanted. The (formerly) No. 1 Wisconsin Badgers fell to the (formerly) No. 2 Nebraska Cornhuskers in Lincoln three exciting sets to two.
This story written by By Nathan Denzin and provided by BadgerStripes.com. Badger Stripes is an online sports news organization that provides in-depth coverage of UW athletics. Follow on Facebook..
The game couldn’t have ended in a more crushing way – Wisconsin roared out to a 2-1 set lead, and was ahead in the fourth, but Nebraska got on a roll and took the set 26-24.
The Badgers went up in the fifth set but Nebraska clawed its way back to a 14-13 match point. UW looked like it had extended the game, after a Nebraska hit out of bounds. A review, however, found a net violation and gave the match to Nebraska.
“I think it’s one of those games where both teams and both coaches learn a lot, and we certainly did,” Badgers head coach Kelly Sheffield said in a press conference after the game. “The level of play was really exceptional on both sides.”
When the dust on the match had settled, the Badgers and Cornhuskers swapped spots in the AVCA top 25. While both teams have plenty of sets in between, everyone’s eyes are set for the Nov. 24 rematch in Madison.
But some real positives materialized from Saturday’s loss.
Wisconsin far outpaced Nebraska in blocks 18-7. The Badger’s hitting percentage was also much higher, hitting .217 to Nebraska’s .130.
The real gem of the night was Sarah Franklin, who put up some unbelievable numbers. She attempted 47 attacks on the night, 16 of which ended in a kill and only 3 of which were errors. Of those errors, two were blocked.
That puts Franklin’s attack efficiency at .277, almost unbelievable considering Nebraska’s strength. Remember, as a team Nebraska’s efficiency was just .130, so Franklin was twice as efficient as the Cornhuskers entire team on Saturday.
She also received 52 serves on Saturday, and racked up an astonishing 85% positive pass rate.
“The skill and the toughness and the execution on her was really impressive” Sheffield said after the game. “
Some other positives from the game, more than 600,000 people watched the game on Big Ten Network, according to their Twitter account, which marks the largest audience for a regular season volleyball match this season. Volleyball audiences are also up 13% on BTN, according to the network, which is amazing news for those of us who can’t get enough.
“I think that we’re seeing in this sport that we’re just scratching the surface,” Sheffield said. “It’s about time.”
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— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 24, 2023
????The No. 1 volleyball audience in Big Ten Network history
????BTN is averaging 142,000 viewers per @B1GVolleyball match this season, up +13% from 2022 pic.twitter.com/dgpos6Fe7V
The Badgers’ next match is against a struggling Michigan State team on Friday night, before taking on Minnesota in Madison on Sunday.
Luckily for fans on both sides of the Mississippi River, the Minnesota-UW game is set to start at 3:45 p.m. right after the Packers and Vikings play.
TOP PHOTO: FILE – The Badgers huddle during their match with Nebraska (PHOTO: Julia Kostopoulos, UWBadgers.com)