How Wisconsin's top-ranked volleyball team rallied for five-set win over No. 3 Florida. (2024)

The Wisconsin volleyball team spoiled the party again.

For the third time this season the Badgers played a road game in front of a record crowd and for the third time they sent the opponent’s faithful home disappointed.

Top-ranked Wisconsin rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat No. 3 Florida in five sets Sunday afternoon in front of a record crowd of 10,323 in Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida. UW also scored wins in front of a record crowds at No. 21 Arkansas Aug. 30 and against Marquette on Wednesday at Fiserv Forum.

The team’s 15-25, 22-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-13 victory took 2 hours 59 minutes and was its first two-set comeback since Nov. 9, 2018 when it beat Purdue at the UW Field House. The win was also its third five-set thriller of the season as it went the distance against Arkansas and No. 24 Tennessee Sept. 3.

Wisconsin junior Anna Smrek finished with 16 kills and tied sophom*ore Carter Booth for the team-high five blocks. Junior Sarah Franklin (13 kills, .170 hitting percentage) and senior Devyn Robinson (10, .348) also reached double-digit kills, while setters MJ Hammill (20 assists, 17 digs) and Izzy Ashburn (16 and 13) recorded double-doubles.

These were the the keys to the comeback.

Grinding through tough times

The sign of a team isn’t always how it plays at its best, but what it does when it’s not clicking. That was the case for UW on Sunday. It struggled to handle Florida’s serves and make passes early, and even when the Badgers started to win sets they always seemed to be playing in an uphill battle.

Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield turned first to freshman Saige Damrow to help settle the team’s serve receive and then settled on sophom*ore Gulce Guctekin for the final three sets.

The match was similar to the one the teams played last year in front of what was then a record regular-season crowd of 16,833 at the Kohl Center.

Florida won that match after trailing, 12-11, in the fifth set. This time UW returned the favor, rallying from 10-8 down with a 5-0 run. The stretch included an ace by Hammill and kills by senior Caroline Crawford and Franklin.

The Badgers final two points came off kills by Smrek.

“We battled and we fought,” Sheffield said. “Most of the match was played in the mud and you’ve got to be OK with that. I’m not sure we’ve always been great at that the past year or two when it’s just ugly and it’s let’s just go and grind and fight. We did a lot better job of that.”

Another season-high for Anna Smrek

Four days after recording a season-high 15 kills against Marquette, Smrek pushed that season-high to 16. Her 35 attempts tied a career-high and with her .343 hitting percentage she has hit over .300 in every match this season.

She ranks third on the team with 2.51 kills per set after averaging 1.66 last season.

“(She’s) hitting quicks, hitting in system, hitting out of system,” Sheffield said. “She’s getting more comfortable being able to hit the right pin out of system … Overall she’s managing her game a lot more.”

Sarah Franklin heats up, sets stage for fifth set

In addition to settling down in the back row and handling serve receive better, Franklin fueled UW’s resurgence in the match with her hitting.

She had 10 kills and a .381 hitting percentage during the third and fourth sets, recording five kills in each segment of the match.

She and her teammates were at their best offensively in the third set when they never trailed and hit a match-high .406.

Florida players with Wisconsin ties almost led team to upset

Freshman Kennedy Martin had 13 kills and 12 digs for the Gators. The 6-foot-6 outside hitter, daughter of former Green Bay Packers receiver Ruvell Martin, played her junior season of high school at Appleton North.

Former Westosha Central standout Kennedy Muff was pressed into duty Sunday after All-American setter Alexis Stucky suffered a right leg injury during the second set. Muff, a graduate transfer who played her undergrad years at Division II Flagler College, finished with 28 assists.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: No. 1 Wisconsin volleyball rallies for five-set win over No. 3 Florida