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Wisconsin volleyball star Anna Smrek previews Badgers’ bid to repeat as national champs in 2022

Paul Harvey

By Paul Harvey

Published:

Wisconsin volleyball is coming off the first national title in program history, rolling to the championship and a dramatic national final win over Nebraska.

Now entering 2022, the Badgers return a talented and dangerous squad for the season ahead. However, Wisconsin must still replace a trio of veterans that were integral to the championship squad.

In a sit-down interview with Michella Chester, Wisconsin’s Anna Smrek addressed how the program will deal with those departures. The MVP of the national final as a freshman, Smrek believes it is less about replacing that trio of stars and more about following in their footsteps with production.

“It’s not so much replacing them as following in their footsteps, they taught us so much and prepared us (for this),” said Smrek. “… It’s just growing off of them, I think it’s going to be good.”

Wisconsin enters the season as a top-10 program on the AVCA Coaches Poll, but it is Nebraska that opens the year in the No. 1 spot. It will be interesting to see how the Badgers perform coming off a title last season.

Paul Harvey

Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.