Wisconsin overpowers Oregon in four to claim its spot in NCAA semifinals

Wisconsin became the third No. 1 seed in as many regional finals Saturday to win its way into next weeks NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship by beating Oregon 25-22, 25-22, 25-27, 25-18.

Wisconsin (30-3), the No. 3 seed overall in the 64-team field, will play the winner of the last match of the day between second-seeded Stanford and No. 7 Texas.

Big Ten player of the year Sarah Franklin led Wisconsin with 20 kills, an assist, an ace, 11 digs and a block. Temi Thomas-Ailara had 11 kills, five digs and two blocks, and Anna Smrek had 10 kills with two errors in 20 attacks to hit .400. She added a dig and seven blocks.

The middles came up big for Wisconsin. Carter Booth had six kills, a dig and nine blocks. Caroline Crawford had two kills in four errorless trles, three digs and seven blocks. 

Setters MJ Hammill and Izzy Ashburn combined for 49 assists and each had an ace. Their team hit 313. Julia Orzol had 16 digs and four assists and Gulce Guctekin had 17 digs, an assist and an ace.

Sixth-seeded Oregon of the Pac-12 ended its season 29-6. Mimi Colyer led with 20 kills but had 12 errors. She added an assist, an ace and 12 digs. Five other Ducks had eight or more kills, 11 by Morgan Lewis, who had a dig and a block.

Hannah Pukis not only had 49 assists, but nine kills with two errors in 17 tries to hit .412. She had an ace and a block. Her team hit .207.

Wisconsin, which won the program’s only NCAA title in 2021, held a 16-4 advantage in blocks. The Badgers are back in the national semifinals for the fourth time in five years.

This story will be updated.