The No. 7 Wisconsin Badgers continued their winning streak over the weekend with a 3-1 win over the No. 15 Florida Gators, getting their sixth straight victory.
Wisconsin started off slow, going down 25-19 in the opening set, but they came back to win 25-22, 25-20, and an incredible 36-34 over the next three sets to pull off the 3-1 victory over Florida.
The initial set was back-and-forth, but there were several Florida runs, including a 6-0 run at 16-16 that got them past the edge in the first set.
Florida seemed to be rolling in the second set, going for four straight points for an early 6-3 lead. But the Badgers kept things tight, winning four of five points later to tie things up at 13 points apiece. Florida responded with another four-point run to take an 18-14 lead, but Wisconsin dominated from there, winning 11 of the final 15 points to take the second set 25-22.
The third opened similarly to the first two: a four-point Florida run for an early 7-5 lead. The Gators later had another four-point run to go up 12-9 after the Badgers responded. Wisconsin quickly went on a 6-1 run and controlled the set in a back-and-forth exchange. Things were close at the end, with the Badgers up 20-19 at a crucial point of the game, but Wisconsin closed things out with a 5-1 run and took a 2-1 lead.
The fourth set is where things really got entertaining in the feisty back-and-forth battle. As was the case in the first few sets, there were runs by both sides, getting things to 15 a piece. After Florida took a 19-18 lead with a three-point run, neither side scored more than two points in a row, which took this game further than expected.
Neither side could get the coveted two-point lead for the set. Every time one team was a point away from getting the set, the other would respond and keep things going all the way until Florida took a 34-33. On the brink of losing the set, Wisconsin then evened things up with an attack error from Lauren Hardin. From there, Charlie Fuerbringer set up kills for both Una Vajagic and Mimi Colyer to close out the set and the game for the Badgers.
The impressive win got the Badgers to 7-1 on the season, including six straight. However, that didn’t prompt any movement in the AVCA rankings, as Wisconsin remained at No. 7 this week. Each of the six teams above them stayed atop the rankings, but Louisville dropped from No. 3 to No. 6 after a 3-2 loss to Kentucky. Subsequently, the Wildcats moved up, tying with the Stanford Cardinal for third place in the rankings.
Wisconsin kicks off its Big Ten schedule this week, taking on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at the Field House on Friday before hitting the road to face the Iowa Hawkeyes on Sunday.
