COLUMBUS, Ohio — Down 1-0 and with the second set not looking good, it appeared this would be another heartbreak NCAA tournament for Wisconsin.
But led by national player of the year Dana Rettke, who came back for a fifth season in hopes of the Badgers at last celebrating the final point of a year, Wisconsin rallied. The Badgers are no longer the best women’s volleyball program never to win the national championship.
They joyously shed that unwanted tag Saturday in a 3-2 victory over Big Ten rival Nebraska, which was going for its sixth national championship. Wisconsin celebrated the winning point twice.
First, it appeared Nebraska hit long in the fifth set to make it a 15-11 Wisconsin victory. The Badgers dog-piled joyously, but had to get up and compose themselves to keep playing after Nebraska successfully challenged that there was a Wisconsin touch on the ball. Instead, the match ended poetically with a Rettke kill at 15-12.
The first Badger player to ever be national player of the year, Rettke finished the match with 11 kills and career-record-tying 13 blocks. Her last kill at Wisconsin brought the long-awaited NCAA title. This was Wisconsin’s fifth trip to the final four and fourth championship match. The Badgers previously had lost in the final to Nebraska in 2000, to Penn State in 2013 and to Stanford in 2019.
Last season, with the NCAA tournament played in the spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Badgers were the No. 1 seed and unbeaten heading into the final four, but were swept by Texas in the semifinals.
Rettke, a 6-foot-8 middle blocker, and fellow…
Source : espn
