CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A balanced offensive attack led the No. 7 Badgers to a 25-16, 26-24, 25-17 sweep of Illinois on Sunday afternoon.
A key second set win propelled the Badgers (16-5, 10-2 B1G) to the sweep, as they hit .364 (49 kills – 13 errors – 99 attempts). Sarah Franklin and Anna Smrek both tallied 13 kills, while Carter Booth added 10.
Illinois (15-7, 7-5 B1G) hit .206 (36 – 15 – 102), and outside hitter Raina Terry had a match-high 15 kills.
The Badgers came out swinging, jumping out to a 3-0 lead to begin the match. UW extended its lead to 14-8, forcing Illinois to call a timeout to slow down the Badger run. The timeout did little to calm down the Badger offense, as Wisconsin led by as many as nine points in the set. Sarah Franklin and Anna Smrek both tallied five kills in the first frame, and as a team the Badgers hit .440. Wisconsin took set one 25-16.
Illinois came out in set two with heightened intensity. A kill from Franklin gave UW a 9-5 lead, but the Fighting Illini put together a 6-1 run to take their first lead of the day (11-10). From there the teams went back and forth. A block from Booth and Smrek forced an Illinois timeout as UW went up 21-19. But the Illini rallied back, scoring three-straight points to take back a 22-21 lead, and eventually an ace from Raina Terry gave Illinois set point, leading 24-22. Wisconsin, however, fought off two set points, and scored four-straight points for the comeback win. Wisconsin took the set 26-24.
In the final set, Wisconsin started strong and established a commanding…
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