LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The No. 3 Wisconsin volleyball team dropped the first match of the season, as it lost to No. 6 Louisville 25-18, 17-25, 24-26, 20-25 at the KFC Yum! Center on Tuesday night.
The Badgers came out firing in front of a crowd of 9,280 and jumped out to a 6-1 lead, forcing an early timeout from Louisville in the first set. The Cardinals rallied back to bring it within two, at 11-9. But a quick 3-0 run gave UW a comfortable lead, and the Badgers never trailed. Wisconsin took the first set 25-18.
Set two brought back-and-forth battling, as the teams went point for point. After a kill from Carter Booth, the Cards went on a 4-0 run to force a Wisconsin timeout as Louisville took an 18-14 lead. The Badgers could not recover, as Louisville took the second set 25-17.
Coming from behind, Wisconsin rallied behind a 3-0 run fueled by Devyn Robinson with a solo block and back-to-back kills to take a 9-7 lead, but Louisville responded quickly with a 6-2 run to take a 15-12 lead. A solo block by Trinity Shadd-Ceres followed by a kill from Devyn Robinson tied it up at 16 apiece. The teams traded off points, but it was the Cardinals who strung together two points at the end to take the 26-24 victory, and a 2-1 lead in the match.
UW fell behind early, but climbed back to tie it up at 11-11 with a block from Robinson in fourth. The Badger block came alive with a huge block from Anna Smrek and Booth to force a Louisville timeout as UW took a 16-14 lead. The Cards responded with a 4-1 run as the Badgers called a timeout, trailing 20-18. They couldn’t overcome the deficit and fell 20-25 in the final set.
Sarah Franklin led the way for the Badgers offensively, with 17 kills, hitting.183. Wisconsin hit .179 (47 kills – 21 errors – 145 attempts) on the night.
The Cardinals finished the night hitting .166 (53 kills – 29 errors – 145 attempts). Charitie Luper and Sofi Maldanado Diaz tallied a team-high 11 kills.
Freshman Charlie Fuerbringer got her first true start during the first match of the 2024 season, and put up 42 assists. Julia Orzol had the lone ace for the Badgers, but the team racked up 17 service errors.
Libero Gulce Gucktekin tallied 10 digs, and Orzol led the team with 11 digs. Robinson had a team-high 10 blocks, after transitioning from opposite to middle blocker this season.
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