The No. 7 Wisconsin Badgers cruised past the No. 24 Illinois Fighting Illini on Thursday evening in a 25-18, 25-19, 25-22 sweep to record their seventh straight win and fifth straight over a ranked opponent.
The Badgers, who were dropped one spot in the Top 25 despite beating the No. 15 Indiana Hoosiers and the No. 20 Minnesota Gophers last week, went on an early 9-3 run in the first set to begin to pull away from Illinois, and things never really got close after that.
After taking a 15-9 lead, the
Badgers led by five or more the rest of the set, ultimately winning 25-18. Illinois started the second set by taking the first three points, thanks to a pair of attack errors from Audrey Flanagan, but Wisconsin responded with four straight points off four errors from the Illini.
This time, things were close for a good part of the set, as Wisconsin had a 16-13 lead around the midway point. Their lead remained at three as the set continued, with the Badgers looking to close things up 22-19. And they did exactly that, as kills from Audrey Flanagan and Decelise Champion, and an attack error from Madi Miles gave Wisconsin a 2-0 lead on the road.
The third set was the closest, but again, it was the Badgers coming out in the early stages. With things tied at 7 apiece early, Wisconsin went on a 9-2 run, and seemed to be cruising to a sweep. But Illinois slowly chipped at the lead and went on a 4-0 run to tie things back up at 20 each. However, after both sides traded two points each, the Badgers, once again, closed things out on a 3-0 run, thanks to a pair of attack errors and a kill from Kristen Simon.
With the win, Wisconsin improved to 11-4, including 5-0 in conference play, while extending their win streak to seven.
Audrey Flanagan led the team with 12 kills, while Eva Travis and Jaela Auguste each had nine. Auguste and Lynney Tarnow each had four blocks as well, while Charlie Fuerbringer had 31 assists. Illinois, on the other hand, had 20 attack errors in the three-set loss.
Now, Wisconsin gets the challenge everyone has been waiting for this weekend: a road contest against the No. 1 Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday. First serve is set for 6:00 p.m. on FOX.
