MILWAUKEE – Wisconsin volleyball first saw how frustrating it can be on the wrong end of a sweep.
“Nobody likes getting their tails kicked,” UW coach Kelly Sheffield said after a three-set loss to No. 3 Kentucky.
Now, the sixth-ranked Badgers can enjoy the fun side of a sweep after dismantling No. 7 Louisville in straight sets, 25-18, 25-20, 25-18, on Aug. 22 at the AVCA First Serve at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
“This team is just wanting to be the best versions of themselves, which is really cool to see,” Wisconsin setter Charlie Fuerbringer said after the win. “And I just wanted to play together and feel like we were one, and I think we did that tonight, which was awesome.”
Wisconsin’s serving puts pressure on Louisville
Wisconsin’s night-and-day improvement started and ended in many ways at the service line.
The Badgers finished with eight service aces, including four in the first set and three in the third set.
Outside hitter Grace Egan’s topspin serve helped her record a team-high three aces. Defensive specialist Kristen Simon and outside hitter Audrey Flanagan each had two aces, and Grace Lopez had one ace while subbing in as a serving specialist every time that it would have been libero Anna Bardaro’s turn to serve.
But the aces hardly capture how effective Wisconsin’s serving was at keeping Louisville from running its offense. It was one of the factors that kept Louisville’s hitting percentage below .200 in the second and third sets.
“First contact really hurt us,” Louisville coach Dan Meske said. “We got out-served and passed the entire night, and that’s typically how fast matches are when that happens.”
Wisconsin’s passing stands out in top-10 win
For as much as Wisconsin’s serving kept Louisville out of system, the Cardinals could not do the same against the Badgers’ stellar passing.
“We could not get them out of system,” Meske said. “So they passed really, really well. … We let them get into a groove. They were in system. The first 20 balls felt like their setter didn’t have to move, and we were just kind of chasing them the rest of the way.”
That passing then helped Fuerbringer orchestrate an offense that hit .327 against the seventh-ranked Cardinals – a stark contrast from the .186 hitting percentage against No. 3 Kentucky. Even Fuerbringer herself had enough opportunities to amass six kills.
“Our passing was on fire,” Fuerbringer said. “It was super easy to get our hitters in good situations.”
Wisconsin’s strong passing was with Anna Bardaro getting the work at the libero position (aside from when Lopez was serving for her). Kristen Simon, who was the libero in two of the three Kentucky sets, appeared in all three sets against Louisville as a defensive specialist.
“We feel really confident in our ability to go either way with Anna or Kristen, but they’re two really good players that are playing well together when they’ve only been around each other for a few weeks,” Sheffield said. “So they’re a difference-maker on our team, no doubt about it.”
Audrey Flanagan continues to shine on what might be a ‘team by committee’
Wisconsin freshman Audrey Flanagan opened eyes in the preseason with 17 kills in UW’s alumni match. She may have opened even more eyes with her 13-kill performance at Fiserv Forum against a top-10 foe.
Flanagan had five attack errors, but even then, she hit .286 in her second official match of her college career. Her eight digs trailed only Bardaro’s 11 and Grace Egan’s nine against the Cardinals.
“She’s unflappable and has a competitive instinct,” Sheffield said. “She was making plays, whether she was serving or defensively or passing or attacking – just a variety of ways she can impact the match.”
Flanagan was far from the only major scorer for the Badgers, though, and that could potentially be a metaphor for the 2026 Badgers.
Florida transfer Jaela Auguste and UC-Santa Barbara transfer Eva Travis each had eight kills, and Auguste did so while hitting .615. Outside/right-side hitter Grace Egan, Fuerbringer and freshman middle blocker Lynney Tarnow each had six kills. (Tarnow played well enough in her second collegiate match that it kept sophomore Natalie Wardlow on the bench for all three sets.)
“When you kind of look at the box score, I think this is going to be a team by committee,” Sheffield said. “Charlie established the match early by going to Lynney early and really making her something that they were having to worry about.”
Regardless of the balanced scoring and other confidence-inducing aspects of the Louisville bounceback, though, Sheffield knows the Badgers still have plenty of improvement still to make. Plenty of challenges await, too, with matches against No. 5 Stanford and No. 4 Pittsburgh on Aug. 28 and 30.
“We saw growth from last night to tonight,” Sheffield said. “We’re going to see so much on film, so much on film, that I’m probably more excited about this week at practice than I was both of these matches that we just played.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin volleyball eases past Louisville in top-10 battle | 3 takeaways
Reporting by John Steppe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By John Steppe, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
