CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – A balanced offensive attack led the No. 7 Badgers to a 25-16, 26-24, 25-17 victory over Illinois on Sunday afternoon.

A decisive win in the second set propelled the Badgers (16-5, 10-2 B1G) to victory as they hit .364 (49 kills – 13 errors – 99 attempts). Sarah Franklin And Anna Smrek both tallied 13 kills while Carter Booth 10 added.

Illinois (15-7, 7-5 B1G) hit .206 (36-15-102), and outside hitter Raina Terry top-scored with 15 kills.

The Badgers came out swinging, taking a 3-0 lead early in the game. UW extended its lead to 14-8 and forced Illinois to call a timeout to slow the Badger run. The timeout did little to quiet the Badger offense as Wisconsin led by as many as nine points in the set. Sarah Franklin And Anna Smrek Both had five kills in the first frame, and as a team the Badgers hit .440. Wisconsin won the first set 25-16.

Illinois came out with increased intensity in the second set. A kill from Franklin gave UW a 9-5 lead, but the Fighting Illini went on a 6-1 run to take their first lead of the day (11-10). From then on, the teams went back and forth. A block by Booth and Smrek forced an Illinois timeout as UW took a 21-19 lead. But the Illini recovered and scored three straight points to regain the lead at 22-21. Finally, an ace from Raina Terry gave Illinois the set point and led 24:22. However, Wisconsin fended off two set points and scored four straight points for the comeback victory. Wisconsin won the set 26-24.

In the final set, Wisconsin started strong and built a commanding lead. They were leading 17-5 when Illinois called a timeout. The Badgers had a comfortable 19-7 lead, but the Fighting Illini stormed back with a 6-0 run to bring them back within six points (19-13). From then on, the Badgers closed things out and took the set and match 25:17.

Charlie Fuerbringer recorded 43 assists and added nine digs on the day. Julia Orzol recorded a team-high 12 digs. The outside hitter also finished the game with three service aces and as a team, UW totaled eight.

Wisconsin finished with eight blocks and Illinois had three. Middles CC Crawford and Booth recorded three each.

Notes on knowledge

• The freshman setter tallied 43 assists, a new match-high three sets this season.
• The Badgers outrebounded their opponent for the 18th time this season.
• Junior Carter Booth recorded their second-highest hit rate of the season. She had 10 kills with just one hit error in 15 attempts.
• graduate Carly Anderson got the contract for the defensive specialist this evening. Anderson recorded six digs and contributed two service aces.
• Outside attacker for the seventh time this season Julia Orzol recorded double-digit excavation sums. She had 12 against the Fighting Illini.
• The Badgers have now evened the all-time series against the Illini at 49-49-1 and improved to 23-23 in Champaign. Wisconsin has now won 10 straight times against Illinois.

Next

The Badgers return home next weekend to play No. 3 Iowa on Friday night at 6 p.m. and No. 3 Penn State on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. Friday's game will air on B1G+, while Saturday's game will air live on NBC for Wisconsin's second game of the season to air on the network.