LOVB Madison played their first home match at the Wisconsin Field House on Friday, January 17.  In front of a packed crowd, they took down Salt Lake in a five set thriller that featured former Badgers volleyball star Sarah Franklin leading the team in kills.

LOVB Madison defeated Salt Lake in a five set thriller 

Madison and Salt Lake played a back and forth match on Friday, which featured the teams alternating set wins.  The home team, Madison, ultimately emerged victorious with the final scores being 26-24, 19-25, 25-19, 16-25, 15-13.  This victory is Madison’s first win in the league as last week they lost in straight sets to Austin.

Sarah Franklin shined in her first professional start 

Last week, former Badgers volleyball star Sarah Franklin was not in the starting lineup for the team’s first set.  For their second match, coach Matt Fuerbringer inserted her as a starting outside hitter opposite Claire Chaussee.  Franklin ended up leading the team in kills with 19.  She also recorded nine digs and one block.

LOVB Madison used a balanced attack to defeat Salt Lake

Although Franklin was the team leader in kills, Madison was very balanced offensively as Chaussee finished with 18 kills and opposite hitter Annie Schumacher had 12.  Additionally, everyone contributed at the net as the team recorded 10 total blocks.  Overall, this was a team effort to defeat a very good Salt Lake team in which volleyball was being played at an extremely high level.

LOVB Madison’s next game will be Saturday, January 18.  They will take on Omaha at home with first serve at 9:00 PM CT.  The game will be aired on ESPNU.

A re-watch of Madison vs Salt Lake can be found on Youtube, with video of the game embedded below.

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