MADISON, Wis. — The No. 2 seed Wisconsin volleyball team (25-6) will make its 12th-straight appearance in the Round of 16 of the NCAA tournament, taking on No. 6 seed Texas A&M on Thursday night. The match is set to begin at 6 p.m. CST and will be aired on ESPN2.
Before the match begins, here are six things to know:
1. THE DANCE CONTINUES: In the final matches of the season at the UW Field House, the Badgers took care of Fairfield in the first round of the tournament. In straight sets, Wisconsin hit .433 en route to a 25-16, 25-16, 25-14 victory over the Stags on Thursday night. The following night, UW faced off against Georgia Tech, who beat Tennessee in a five-set thriller the previous night. Georgia Tech came out on top in set one in the second round matchup, winning it 27-25. Wisconsin responded in the next three sets, 25-20, 25-23, 25-21. Sarah Franklin, Anna Smrek and Carter Booth all finished with double digit kills.
2. AVCA ALL-REGION AWARDS: The awards continue to stack up for Wisconsin volleyball as Carter Booth, Sarah Franklin, Charlie Fuerbringer, Devyn Robinson, and Anna Smrek earned AVCA All-Region honors, announced today by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA). Franklin was named AVCA North Region Player of the Year, while Fuerbringer was named North Region Freshman of the Year. Outside hitter Sarah Franklin joins Badger great, Dana Rettke, in having earned AVCA Regional Player of the Year multiple times. Rettke earned the respected honor in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Franklin and Rettke are also the only Badgers in program history to be named Regional Player of the Year. This marks the third year in a row where Franklin was named AVCA All-Region, and back-to-back seasons as Player of the Year. Last week, she was also named First Team All-Big Ten and Player of the Year. Freshman setter Charlie Fuerbringer joins a previous party of four to earn AVCA Regional Freshman of the Year. The last to do it was Dana Rettke in 2017, but Fuerbringer joins the cast of Lauren Carlini (2013), Tionna Williams (2015), Molly Haggerty (2016), and Rettke. A week ago, Fuerbringer was named Second Team All-Big Ten and a unanimous All-Big Ten Freshman Team selection.
3. YEAH ‘BRO: With her performance in the last match of th regular season against Michigan State tallying 12 digs, Schumacher…
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