'Sconnie Six-Pack 12/9 - There's more?
Wisconsin volleyball is headed to a fifth-straight Elite Eight, a transfer portal update, and checking-in on Brett Favre's fraud scandal
What’s brewing?
Historic blocking performance powers Wisconsin volleyball to its fifth-straight Elite Eight
The transfer portal was a Fickell thing for Badgers WR Markus Allen
Topping off the six-pack: will Brett Favre be criminally charged?
Historic blocking performance powers Wisconsin volleyball to its fifth-straight Elite Eight
After winning the first two sets of the night, it appeared Wisconsin might cruise to a victory over the Penn State Nittany Lions to advance to a fifth-consecutive regional final. After Penn State won a tightly contested third set that featured 14 ties, however, Penn State cruised to a victory in set four. For the second time in just 19 days, the Badgers needed all five sets to defeat the Nittany Lions.
Wisconsin's block was tremendous in all five sets, out blocking Penn State 23-9. The Badgers held the Nittany Lions to just .056 hitting on the night.
Junior middle blocker Caroline Crawford struggled offensively but had a match and career-high 12 blocks, including three in the fifth set. Hitting -.250 on the night, Crawford said she "told MJ [Hammill] on the bench before the fifth set and said 'I'm going to go out there and work my ass off blocking,' and that's what I tried to do."
Graduate student and sophomore middle blockers Danielle Hart and Anna Smrek added eight blocks a piece and were two of Wisconsin's best hitters on the night. Smrek and Hart hit .579 and .417, respectively. Hart records the fifth-most blocks per set in the country.
The Nittany Lions dominated the Badgers from behind the service line with a 10-4 advantage in aces, but Wisconsin got the biggest ace of the night. Following a kill by Crawford, senior defensive specialist Joslyn Boyer checked into the match with the Field House at a deafening 110 decibels. Boyer delivered a service ace and sent the Badgers to the Elite Eight with a 3-2 (25-21, 25-19, 23-25, 20-25, 15-8) victory.
Wisconsin plays in the regional final tomorrow night against the Pitt Panthers with a trip to the Final Four on the line. Pitt defeated Florida in four sets yesterday. The match will be televised on ESPNU at 7:00 PM CST.
The transfer portal was a Fickell thing for Badgers WR Markus Allen
In the weeks after athletic director Chris McIntosh announced that Paul Chryst would no longer serve as Wisconsin's head football coach, redshirt freshman wide receiver Markus Allen entered his name in the transfer portal. His announcement that he would depart Wisconsin's program came in the form of a tweet with a single emoji.
On November 10th, Allen took to Twitter to share, again with a single emoji, that he was visiting the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Allen, an aficionado of communicating with few words, reacted to head coach Luke Fickell's hiring at Wisconsin with just one word: Woah.
In a since-deleted Tweet, Allen de-committed from Minnesota this week and withdrew his name from the transfer portal on Thursday. He tweeted a photo celebrating a touchdown with his Wisconsin teammates to announce his return to the program.
Allen returning to Wisconsin and the coaching hires made by the Badgers cannot be separated from one another. Judging by his reaction of "Woah," he was impressed with McIntosh's decision to hire Fickell; Allen's announcement he would return to UW came the same day news broke that Phil Longo would become Wisconsin's offensive coordinator. Longo is known for running an Air Raid-style offense that provides more opportunities to wide receivers than previous Wisconsin offenses.
Topping off the six-pack: will Brett Favre be criminally charged?
Unlike fake mascot crime, Brett Favre may have (likely? definitely did?) committed a very serious crime.
Justis Mosqueda, who does excellent work alongside the rest of the team at Acme Packing Company, interviewed Anna Wolfe of Mississippi Today to explain the accusations and where the civil and criminal cases stand in the eyes of the law. I highly recommend listening to this interview, even if you are not usually a podcast person.
On, Wisconsin.