The No. 9 Wisconsin Badgers (6-1 Big Ten, 12-4 overall) notch a statement win 3-1 (25-19, 21-25, 25-19, 25-19) over the No. 11 Oregon Ducks (5-2, 13-2), with scrappy defense coming to the fore for UW’s sixth straight win.
Wisconsin got off to a fast start, going up 5-1 with an ace to close out that run, but Oregon battled back to tie the set up at 8-8. The Ducks took a 15-13 lead and were holding Wisconsin to hitting just .048, forcing a lot of errors and posting a lot of block touches.
Senior Devyn Robinson got a kill from a slide play that knotted the first set 17-all which sparked a 3-0 run for Wisconsin to go up 19-17. Another 4-0 run featuring kills from junior middle blocker Carter Booth and senior Anna Smrek gave UW set point 24-19, which was closed out by an ace from freshman setter Charlier Fuerbringer to give the Badgers the opening frame…