The Wisconsin Badgers are back in the Elite 8. The Badgers faced off against the No. 2 Stanford Cardinal on Friday afternoon, winning 3-1 to face the No. 1-seeded Texas Longhorns in the Elite Eight on Sunday.
Mimi Colyer had one of her best games as a Badger, recording 27 kills on 51 attempts with just eight errors. Carter Booth had 14 kills of her own with zero errors, while Una Vagajic had 13 kills as well. The Badgers had 70 kills as a whole, while Charlie Fuerbringer had 61 assists.
Wisconsin started
off the first set well, getting off to an early 7-3 lead as Colyer and Booth each recorded a pair of kills. Things got tight, with Stanford cutting the lead to 10-9, but Wisconsin went on a 5-0 run to separate itself, with Colyer recording two more kills in the stretch.
From there, Wisconsin comfortably led the rest of the way, ultimately taking the first set 25-17. From there, though, things got tight.
The second set was back-and-forth to start, as neither side had more than a two-point lead through the midway point in the set. Stanford began to pull away, though, going on a 4-1 run when leading 15-14 to get a four-point lead late in the set. That proved to be the difference, as the Cardinal extended that lead to 22-16 before ultimately taking the set 25-21.
Tied at 1-1, the Badgers had a great response coming into the third set, starting off with a 5-2 lead. Stanford hit Wisconsin back, though, tying things up at seven apiece, and the back-and-forth action continued from there. Once again, neither side had more than a two-point advantage until Stanford took a 17-14 lead off back-to-back kills from Ella Rubin.
It seemed like the momentum might be turning in Stanford’s favor, but Wisconsin stormed back with a four-point run to take an 18-17 lead as Natalie Wardlow had three consecutive service aces. Both sides traded points over the next few rallies, tying things up back again at 21 apiece.
The two biggest points of the set came next. Kristen Simon had a service ace of her own before Mimi Colyer got a kill to put Wisconsin up 23-21. Jordyn Harvey got a kill for Stanford, which Carter Booth responded to with a kill of her own. 24-22. Grace Egan had an attack error to cut the lead to one, but rebounded with the set-clinching kill and Wisconsin took the third set 25-23 for a 2-1 lead in the match.
Once again, Wisconsin started the fourth set well, getting out to a 7-3 lead thanks to a flurry of Stanford mistakes. The Cardinal had two service errors and three attack errors in the first ten points, and the Badgers capitalized. But, Stanford slowly chipped back at the lead and flipped the script, taking a 13-12 lead midway through the set.
After both sides traded a point, Wisconsin went on a three-point run to take a 16-14 lead. That stretch proved to be the difference-maker as the Badgers never trailed from that point on. Stanford did tie things up at 19 apiece, but the Badgers had another three-point run. Then, after the Cardinal brought it back within one at 23-22, Mimi Colyer and Grace Egan delivered the final blows to send Wisconsin to the Elite Eight.
With the 3-1 win, the Badgers are facing the No. 1-seeded Texas Longhorns, who swept the No. 4 Indiana Hoosiers on Friday. That game will be played in Austin on Sunday.
