3 takeaways from Wisconsin volleyball's nail-biting win over Florida
· Yahoo Sports
MADISON – In front of a full student section and fans populating every corner of the upper deck of the UW Field House, Wisconsin volleyball showed its crowd of 7,229 seemingly a mix of everything.
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Plenty of highs and plenty of lows. Special performances from some freshmen. A near-incredible comeback in the fourth set. A rare yellow card on Kelly Sheffield after what he appeared to say was a “b------- call.”
The sellout crowd ultimately saw No. 5 Wisconsin pull off a spirited five-set against No. 17 Florida, 25-21, 20-25, 25-19, 24-26, 15-13. The Sept. 2 match at the Field House was UW’s second ranked win of the season and improved its overall record to 2-3.
“The energy, feeling the crowd having our back and the support through a five-setter was such a cool feeling,” Wisconsin middle blocker Lynney Tarnow said. “But then for our team, knowing what we have to work on, taking this week’s practice and using the things that we had been working on finally was really rewarding.”
Here are three takeaways from the Badgers’ narrow win:
Wisconsin shows no panic, benefits from Grace Egan's surge in late stages of five-set battle
Wisconsin had plenty of ups and downs in the fifth set alone. The Badgers jumped to a seemingly comfortable 6-1 lead in the fifth set before the Gators responded with 12 of the next 19 points to tie it at 13-13.
UW then regrouped during a timeout and finished off the five-set nail-biter – one that had 16 ties and seven lead changes – with an Audrey Flanagan kill and Florida attack error.
“No panic kind of happened from anybody or the team or the staff,” Sheffield said. “It was just, ‘Let’s just keep working this and working it.’ And rewarded with a great win.”
Wisconsin showed plenty of resilience in the fourth set before that, coming back from a 19-12 deficit to take a momentary 23-22 lead. It did not last, as Florida eked out a 26-24 set win. But the Badgers impressed in the process.
Grace Egan was at the heart of the turnaround, finding success when not much else was going the Badgers’ way. The outside/right-side hitter’s four kills early in the set kept UW’s 7-4 deficit from potentially being much worse.
Egan had another five kills in the rest of the fourth set and fifth set to help the Badgers secure the win. She finished with 17 kills and a .314 hitting percentage while doing other little things, too, like keeping a rally alive that appeared to be a set-winning block for Florida.
“She was hitting just barely over zero after the second set and ended the match over .300, which kind of tells you that she kind of kicked it into another gear after we had a few encouraging words in between sets two and three,” Sheffield said.
Lynney Tarnow shines at middle blocker as Badgers remain without Jaela Auguste
Tarnow was among the stars for the Badgers in their win against the Gators. The freshman finished with a career-high 16 kills while hitting .429. That included a powerful kill to close out the first set.
Tarnow’s five blocks also were a career-high, keeping Florida’s 16-8 advantage in total blocks from being even more lopsided.
Tarnow’s contributions were especially valuable considering that the Badgers were once again without 2025 third-team All-American Jaela Auguste, who missed out on the chance to play her former team. (It was her third consecutive match missed.)
It was reflective of Tarnow’s overall growth since enrolling early and participating in spring practices.
“I feel like a totally different player all around,” Tarnow said. “I feel like I see the improvement from those six months. … The success that I’m having is because of the things I was taught here. So I’m really, really happy about it.”
Kymora Scott, another early enrollee, made the first start of her career, getting the spot in the lineup instead of sophomore Natalie Wardlow. Scott had seven kills, a .312 hitting percentage and three blocks in what Sheffield described as a “really, really fantastic match” for her.
Wardlow subbed in during the third, fourth and fifth sets and made key contributions from the service line.
“Natalie came in and did what she needed to do,” Sheffield said. “And you want a team that can come in and change the game, change the rhythm, the tempo, to be ready to be a game-changer.”
Wisconsin wins by committee in many ways
Wisconsin’s list of “game-changers” consisted of some obvious and not-so-obvious contributions.
Twelve UW players appeared in at least two of the five sets against Florida, and seven of those players recorded at least three kills. When counting Grace Lopez and Wardlow's work as serving specialists, four UW players from three position groups wore a libero jersey.
Freshman standout Audrey Flanagan unsurprisingly led the team with 18 kills, marking her third time in five matches with 13 or more kills. She did so with 53 total attacks and a .208 hitting percentage.
“Audrey Flanagan came up with some big-time swings, but all the way through was just passing nails against a really elite serving team,” Sheffield said.
Egan and Tarnow were not far behind with their 17 and 16 kills, respectively. But then UW also benefited from smaller contributions. Madison Quest, for example, contributed three kills in the fourth set.
Wardlow’s aforementioned contributions came after appearing in only seven sets in UW’s first four matches of the season. Scott’s contributions follow a recruitment where she was far from the national radar.
“I think her recruiting ranking was 874,” Sheffield said. “Was that about right? Something like that, or was that a little high? I don’t know. I don’t even think she was ranked. But your time can be there for anybody.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 3 takeaways from Wisconsin volleyball's nail-biting win over Florida