One of the greatest weeks in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball history ended Sunday with dramatic finishes.
Four days after No. 1 Wisconsin and Marquette set the NCAA indoor attendance record on the same night that Louisville set a home attendance record and boffo TV ratings were sprinkled throughout, consider what happened Sunday:
— First, on ESPN2, No. 5 Stanford rallied to win the last three sets for a reverse sweep at previously unbeaten No. 2 Louisville;
— Then, on ESPN, the top-ranked Badgers fell behind at previously unbeaten No. 3 Florida and also pulled off a reverse sweep before a record Florida home crowd;
— And then on the Big Ten Network, No. 4 Nebraska battled to a four-set win over No. 21 Kentucky.
— In the CAA, two of the five teams that are already 2-0 in conference play won in reverse sweeps.
Even ESPN put highlights from Stanford-Louisville and Wisconsin-Florida on SportsCenter.
A big week, indeed. And now, after the CAA and Patriot League have already gotten underway, the other conferences begin league play this week.
Ranked results
Wisconsin improved to 9-0 as it came back at previously unbeaten Florida 15-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-13, pulling off a reverse sweep for the first time since beating Purdue in 2018.
Wisconsin, which hit.199, got 16 kills — four in the fifth set — from Anna Smrek, who hit .343 and had five blocks and two digs. Sarah Franklin had 13 kills, three assists, a block and 10 digs. Devyn Robinson had 10 kills, hit .348, an dhad a block and two digs. Temi Thomas-Ailara had nine kills and three digs. Carter Booth had five kills, an assist and six blocks, one solo. Setters Izzy Ashburn and MJ Hammill combined for 36 assists, two aces and 30 digs. Julia Orzol had 14 digs and five assists.
“We gotta keep getting better. It’s an important win, on the road,” Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield said. ” … Defensively, they are really good. They have an army of DS’s … mentally they can really get to you. Real credit to our players. We battled and we fought. Most of the match was played in the mud.”
It was also played before an O’Connell Center volleyball record crowd of 10,323 as attendance marks continue to be broken around the country.
“To the Gator fans and volleyball fans across the Southeast that joined us today, thank you,” Florida coach Mary Wise said. “This match was worth…
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