Wisconsin hands No. 1 Nebraska volleyball its first loss of the 2023 season

Although the Huskers have already won the Big Ten championship, these conference rivals have a lot to duke out today. Both season-long top-5 powerhouses, the Badgers and Huskers fought tooth and nail to settle the AVCA No. 1 debate in October, during which Nebraska emerged victorious in five sets. Nebraska’s now 27-0 and the unanimous AVCA No. 1 heading into the postseason. Wisconsin lost two matches since facing Nebraska, sitting at 24-3 on the year.

In five-setters

It’s easy to see that these foes challenge each other at the highest level. The Badgers have been pushed to five sets on five occasions this season, and against Nebraska on Oct. 21, they tallied the most number of blocks (18) in a five-setter, but the least amount of kills (52) in a five-setter this season. As for Nebraska, it’s been pushed to five sets thrice this season by Purdue, Penn State and Wisconsin. The Huskers played the worst statistically against Wisconsin, killing 69 (71 K vs. Penn State and 74 K vs. Purdue) and blocking seven (9 vs. Penn State and 15.5 vs. Purdue).

Offense versus defense

The top-ranked Wisconsin block will, again, be a problem for Nebraska. The Badgers lead the nation with 3.01 blocks per set (compared to Nebraska’s 2.5, tying for No. 38), which is primarily at the hands of Carter Booth (149 B) and Caroline Crawford (121 B). During their Oct. 21 bout, Booth and Crawford tallied nine blocks each, which helped extinguish Nebraska’s momentum in the second and third sets for the Wisconsin advantage.

The Nebraska attack has proven to be absolutely lethal this year. In their last meeting, the Huskers out-killed the Badgers in every set except the third (they tied with 13) and put up nine more points than Wisconsin. The difference will be clean hits — Nebraska erred 44 times to Wisconsin’s 18 to bring its hitting percentage down to .130 compared to UW’s .217. These teams are also ralliers; playing to 15 in the fifth set, Nebraska hit a game-high .545 with 13 K and one error on 22 swings as Wisconsin also hit a game-high .500 with 9 K and no errors.

Now, in the last two weeks, Wisconsin dropped consecutive Big Ten matches to Penn State and Purdue after losing right-side Anna Smrek to injury. With Smrek back in last Sunday, the Badgers returned to their former selves in a 3-0 win over Indiana. Smrek contributed 10 kills on a .667 clip and five blocks in this matchup. So although Wisconsin dropped to No. 5 in the final AVCA poll of 2023, the Badgers…