mark stewart, milwaukee journal sentinel
·4 min read
MADISON – Sometimes the woman who had plenty of answers for the Wisconsin volleyball team in the national final gets caught in a moment of indecision.
Sophom*ore Anna Smrek will be out and about on campus or around town and someone will recognize her ask to takea picture and sing her praises. Who doesn’t want a moment with a national champion, especially one who showed as much promise as Smrek did last December?
The 6-foot-9 middle blocker/right-side hitter understands the reason for the fuss. She just isn’t comfortable with it and sometimes struggleswith how to respond.
“I’m like, 'thank you,” she said, “but there are six people on the court and so many more on the bench that contributed to every single thing that happened there.'”
The Badgers' national championship last season was indeed a team effort, but Smrek’s role in the final match was epic: 14 kills, a .428 hitting percentage and seven blocks. She was named player of the match.
It was a huge moment for a player the team named itsmost improved player last season.Friday we’ll begin to see where Smrek takes her game next.
UW opens the 2022 campaign against TCU at 7 p.m. Friday in Fort Worth, Texas,Then at 4 p.m.Saturday, the Badgers, who are ranked third in the nation by the American Volleyball Coaches Association, face No. 16 Baylor in Fort Worth.
The team will take the floor with three preseason all-Big Ten picks– Smrek, junior Devyn Robinson and sophom*ore Sarah Franklin – plus last year’s Big Ten freshman of the year (Julia Orzol) andsix newcomers, four of whom are transfers.The group is worthy of its lofty standing as the Big Ten’s preseason favorite.
A key to the team reaching that expectationand morewill be Smrek’s continued development. She’s only a sophom*ore.
“When you look at her even beyond the height, the potential oozes out of her,” Badgers coach Kelly Sheffield said. “She knows how to generate power and she moves really well. She takes up a lot of space.”
Smrek finished last season with a .366 hitting percentage, fifth-best in the Big Ten, with 1.84 kills and 0.77 blocks per set. Most of her career highs – kills (20), attack percentage (.704), blocks (seven) and points (21.5) – came during the national semifinal or final.
Her improvement was tied for growingmore comfortable on the floor rather than any major adjustments to her play. Looking back, Sheffield said he thinks Smrek’s 12-kill, four-block effort in a 3-0 win at Nebraska in late October signaled the start of her late-season surge.
“It wasn’t a light switch, it was she needs to play,” Sheffield said.“The more she was doing that the slower the game was becoming for her.”
After an offseason ofworkouts and matches during the spring, the game has continued to slowdown even more for the native of Welland, Ontario.
The mindset she brought into camp this year was much different froma year ago.
"Now I have that (confidence) for myself and my teammates and I can show that to people who have just come in or are new to the team,” Smrek said. “I just feel like I have those connections with people now where I can let it go and just play volleyball and not overthink things.”
Smrek already possessed the competitive drive and confidence to be a high-level player when she arrived at UW. What Sheffield has seen her be this season is more physical and better at finding the flow of her teammate in broken-play situations.
And her size continues to be impossible to ignore, especially when she takes a swing.
“She’s over 11 feet,” Sheffield said, referring to Smrek’s vertical jump. “There aren’t a lot of female athletes touching over 11. Not only is she tall, she can jump.”
We’ll see more of that this season. She ranked sixth on the team in kills (138) and attacks (265). It's safe to say she'll be more involved in the offense this year.
In preparation Smrek has been working to refine her swing and become more fundamentally sound with her block.
The fruits of that labor will begin to show Friday.She is ready to start a new season, a new chapter.
“A lot of us are aware of what happened last season, but we do understand that everyone is even (now). No one has won or loss anything,” Smrek said. “We’re just ready to go.”
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin volleyball's Anna Smrek set to build on freshman season
