With two star players now out indefinitely, the Wisconsin volleyball team fell to Penn State and defeated Maryland last weekend in two away matches.
Wisconsin’s season has the potential to change drastically with these results as the Badgers work through the final 14 Big Ten games in the regular season.
Outside hitter Grace Egan has now not played, since the Badgers faced Florida in the Kohl Center Egan was a major contributor to the high amount of kills Wisconsin earned in early season games. She is top five on the team in total kills for the season, slotted behind other outside hitters Mimi Colyer and Una Vajagic, and middle blocker Carter Booth.
Fuerbringer was out of the first set against Michigan last week after an attempted block left her with an upper body injury. Fuerbringer had previously recorded her career-high assists with 50 tallied against Florida.
Penn State
The now No. 12 Badgers lost their first match in 10 games to then No. 19 Penn State on Friday night. They fell in three straight sets with the not-close scores of 25-20, 25-21, 25-16.
Wisconsin fell behind early into the first set. After trailing Penn State 14-7, the Badgers made a small push in the second half of set one, bringing the score a bit closer until the Nittany Lions sealed the result.
The second set started out again with a favor to Penn State’s side of the court, but Booth managed to gather some momentum for Wisconsin. Three kills from Booth and one a piece from Coyler and Vajagic put the Badgers ahead for a moment, 13-12.
Set two remained Wisconsin’s best plays of the night, and the Badgers stuck close to Penn State until the Nittany Lions inched ahead with a 3-0 run and steady back-and-forth to take the second set as well.
Wisconsin scored eight of the first 12 points in set three, a strong change from the first two sets. Libero Kristen Simon was able to serve six in a row, gaining the Badgers five points.
The rest of set three went to Penn State, though. The Nittany Lions were able to put down a number of kills and force the Badgers to make mistakes. Of the final 29 points scored in the third set, 21 of them went to Penn State.
Critical outside hitter Colyer only recorded eight kills against Penn State, a tally that helped Wisconsin to total 32, a far lesser number than Penn State’s 44. This game ended Colyer’s 12-game streak of putting up double digits in the kill score, and Wisconsin as a team was held to their second-lowest hitting percentage of the year, .151%.
Right side hitter Madison Quest and replacement setter Addy Horner both made career-bests in this game. Quest had 10 kills and Horner recorded 26 assists and eight digs.
Maryland
For the Badgers, their second game of the weekend was more smooth. Wisconsin defeated Maryland in three-straight sets, the opposite of their visit with Penn State (25-20, 25-19 and 25-12).
Neither team pulled far ahead in the first set. Wisconsin first led the match at the 15-14 score, and the Badgers didn’t fall behind Maryland after that. Wisconsin made a four point run late into the set to secure the first win of the game.
Maryland performed better early on in the second set as well. With four good serves from Horner, two being service aces, the Badgers pulled ahead late into set two.
Wisconsin turned the narrative around for the third set and opened with a 9-2 lead against Maryland. The Badgers made a couple more scoring runs in set three, led by kills around the court from Colyer, Booth and middle blocker Alicia Andrew.
Booth recorded a hitting percentage of .857%, the highest of the game and a career best for her. Andrew also had a great offensive game, and she tallied five kills herself.
Horner managed to best her previous game’s record of 26 assists with 36 total assists against Maryland. She also recorded three service aces and three kills.
With Fuerbringer out for an indefinite amount of time, Horner’s ability to step up at the Badger’s main setter has been crucial.
“She’s just getting more comfortable, finding the back row a little bit more today than what we did the other night,” said head coach Kelly Sheffield. “I thought it balanced out our offense really well.”
