Wisconsin volleyball was in control in Thursday night’s Sweet 16 match. Until it wasn’t.
With a two-set lead in the match, and a 21-18 in the third, the Badgers looked all but locked in to a spot in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals. And then Penn State began to fight back.
The Nittany Lions rallied to win the third set. Then they won the fourth, forcing a fifth and deciding set on the Badgers’ home floor.
But in front of a home crowd of 7,229, the Badgers rebounded in the fifth in what head coach Kelly Sheffield called “as gritty of a performance” as he’d ever seen.
“I was in the huddle with these guys and you can just see it in the eyes, and out there on the court and how they were working with each other,” Sheffield said.
“I learned a lot about our team tonight, I think we all did,” he continued. “It was a rough night passing the ball, no doubt about it. And when you have that against an elite team, most of the time you’re in real trouble and you’re going to get run out of the gym.”
The reigning national champion Badgers, who have had a dominant season on the court, had not dropped a set all tournament until their match against…
