Badgers defeat No. 3 Penn State in statement win at Field House

Last weekend, a top-five Nebraska Cornhuskers team came to the UW Field House and pulled off an upset win over the Wisconsin Badgers in front of their home fans.

What a difference a week makes.

The No. 7 Badgers (12-2 Big Ten, 18-5 overall) flipped the script against the No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions (13-1, 23-2), handing PSU its first loss in the conference a dominant 3-0 victory (25-23, 25-12, 25-13) that keeps the Badgers alive in the Big Ten title race.

Senior Anna Smrek, who struggled in the game against Nebraska, was a force for UW, recording 13 kills with just one attack error and five additional blocks. Senior Sarah Franklin was even better, posting 13 kills without a mistake as UW battled through a tough opening set before defeating the Nittany Lions in the next two. Senior Julia Orzoł also reached double figures in kills with 11 on the day.

Franklin was the Badgers' primary weapon early in the first set, scoring four kills to help UW take an 11-7 lead that forced PSU into its first timeout. The Nittany Lions fought back thanks to an impressive serve from senior outside hitter Jess Mruzik. The former Michigan Wolverine had two straight aces to cut the lead to 15-12 and force a Wisconsin timeout.

PSU chipped away at Wisconsin's lead, but Smrek and Franklin kept UW on top with timely kills. Mruzik then had an ace that made it 22-2 in the first set, but Smrek made a kill after a Wisconsin timeout to go up 23-22 before veteran middle blocker CC Crawford had a block that gave Wisconsin the lead The score was 24:22 and UW prevailed with a 25:23 set win.

Wisconsin's block was a force against Penn State as the Nittany Lions couldn't find a foothold on offense. UW outscored PSU 11-0, and Wisconsin's trees at the top gave Mruzik nightmares. Their standout outside attacker was kept in check all night as she struggled to find consistency with the Badger block in her face. At the end of the second set, Mruzik hit 5/6/31 and remained in the red. Although she ended up with nine kills, UW significantly slowed PSU's overall attack as the team made a total of 22 attack errors – nearly half of which were unforced errors or not caused by a block.

In the second set, some excellent serving from freshman libero Lola Schumacher — and impressive blocking from UW — helped the Badgers take a 15-2 lead with a 13-0 serving run. Crawford and Smrek provided the passing plays for the Nittany Lions, while Crawford added four kills and five blocks and did most of her offensive damage in this run.

Wisconsin hit .577 with no attack errors in the frame, while PSU was held to -.029 as a team as the Badgers cruised to a 25-12 second-set win.

Wisconsin took an early lead again in the third set when junior Gülce Güçtekin hit an ace to give UW a 7-3 lead and force a PSU timeout. Senior Devyn Robinson got a solo block before junior Carter Booth fended off a charge from Izzy Starck, helping UW extend the lead to 16-6.

Despite the close first set, the Nittany Lions looked shaken in the final two frames as the Badgers cruised to a resounding victory over Penn State. UW handed the team from Happy Valley its first conference loss of the season and gave the Badgers a chance to get back into the conference title game. UW is still two games behind Nebraska, but the Huskers (13-0 in conference) must play both the Nittany Lions and Badgers at the end of the season. This win for UW raises eyebrows in the conference race.

Next up for Wisconsin is a West Coast swing. The Badgers will face the No. 20 USC Trojans (8-5, 16-7) on Thursday night at 10 p.m. Central before facing the UCLA Bruins (5-8, 11th) on Saturday night at 9 p.m -11) The games will take place on the Big Ten Network.