Badgers move up to No. 3 in latest poll in our midweek look at Wisconsin volleyball

A weekly look at the Wisconsin volleyball team:

IN THE POLLS

Wisconsin climbs two spots after big week

The Badgers (17-3)  moved up to No. 3 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll and grabbed a share of the Big Ten lead after two top-10 wins last week. Wednesday they swept No. 1 Nebraska, which was previously undefeated in conference play. Three days later, they beat No. 9 Minnesota, 3-1, to avenge their only loss in the Big Ten.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Sarah Franklin leads UW to top 10 wins

Sarah Franklin, the Badgers’ leading hitter, delivered as you would hope in matches key to the conference race, posting a .265 hitting percentage against Nebraska and Minnesota.

Considering the defense Nebraska plays, the redshirt sophomore outside hitter’s 21-kill, six-dig effort was arguably her best performance of the season. She hit .381 against the Cornhuskers. Franklin couldn’t match those numbers against Minnesota - she had 18 kills, a .179 hitting percentage and eight digs - but she was vital to the team’s serve receive in UW’s 10th straight win.

The Big Ten named her player of the week for the second straight week.

“I knew it was going to be a battle and that is what I want,” Franklin said after the Nebraska win. “I just loved it from the start.”

NOTABLE

No timetable for Gulce Gutekin’s return

Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield didn’t have a timetable for the return of Guctekin, a freshman libero who didn’t play against Minnesota. She ranks seventh in the Big Ten with 3.91 digs per set and up until Saturday had played every match this season.

“I prefer players be 100% before coming out there and hitting the floor, so we’re not going to rush her back,” Sheffield said.

The injury underscored the value of having depth at the position and on the roster in general. Graduate transfer Shanel Bramschreiber, a former Big 12 libero of the year Baylor, started in place of Guctekin and had a strong match, showing no rust in her serve receive early on.

“They tested her right out of the gate. She passed a couple of dimes and they stayed away from her the rest of the match,” Sheffield said. “Defensively she was awful good.”

Volleyball committee ranks UW

The NCAA Division I Volleyball Committee listed the Badgers seventh in its second ranking of the season. The rankings are used to determine seeds for the NCAA tournament and are based on matches through Saturday.  Two other Big Ten teams are ahead of Wisconsin on that list: No. 3 Nebraska and No. 6 Ohio State.

Based, in part on UW’s 8-3 record against top 25 teams, Sheffield thought the team would fare better in the ranking but wasn't overly concerned about it at this point in the season.

“I think you start to take a little bit of a look at it right now because each committee what they value is a little bit different,” he said. “At the end of the day you’ve got to get better and you’ve got to control what you can control and you've got to keep finding ways to win.”

BY THE NUMBERS

.189 Combined hitting percentage for Nebraska and Minnesota last week against Wisconsin.

3 Consecutive wins for the Badgers over teams ranked No. 1 in the nation.

50 Matches needed for Julia Orzol to reach 500 kills, a milestone she reached vs. Minnesota.

COMING UP

Badgers try to compete sweeps of Indiana, Illinois

At Illinois, 7 p.m. Thursday (BTN): Wisconsin’s five-set win over Illinois on Oct. 2 featured a rally from a 2-1 deficit. The team is 11-11 overall and with a 6-6 mark in the Big Ten is tied for sixth. Illinois scored wins over then-No. 11 Penn State and Rutgers in the last week.

Vs. Indiana, 1 p.m. Sunday (BTN+): The Badgers swept the Hoosiers on Oct. 5. IU entered the week with a 13-11 mark and a 6-6 record in the Big Ten. Three of those wins have come on the road, the most for the program since 2014. The four-match league winning streak that was snapped Sunday vs. Purdue was Indiana’s longest since 2008.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Badgers up to No. 3 in latest poll in our look at Wisconsin volleyball