Anna Smrek has heard the hecklers on the road. At 6-9, the University of Wisconsin volleyball player knows that she can be an inviting target for a rabid opposing fan base.
“There have been times when I’m warming up and I’m at the very end of the line that’s usually right next to the student section and they’ll say things to me,’’ said Smrek, a Welland, Ontario junior.
“I kind of keep looking straight ahead— doing what I’m doing. I hear it. But I can block it out. Sometimes what they’re saying isn’t always correct either.
“So in my head, I’m kind of using it as a bit of fuel: ‘We’ll show you what this team can do.’ It kind of fuels a lot of us. We’re a team that is very together.
“If we hear something, it’s like, ‘Ok, we’re on now. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us.’ That’s kind of the way it goes. We call it a common enemy.’’
Enter the Nebraska Cornhuskers. On Saturday night, the No. 1-ranked Badgers (18-0, 9-0 Big Ten) will take on the No. 2 Huskers (18-0, 9-0) at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln, Nebraska.
At the start of the week, standing-room-only was going for $255 on Stubhub, with upper deck seats for $500 and premium seating for as much as $1,200. That was before both teams won on Wednesday.
Over the summer, the Devaney Center capacity was increased by a few hundred seats to 8,309. A late September sweep of Ohio State drew 8,711, a season high.
Nebraska has led the nation in attendance every year since moving into the Devaney Center in 2013. The Cornhuskers have sold out 313 consecutive regular season matches, an NCAA record.
On Aug. 30, the Huskers attracted 92,003 for their Omaha match at Memorial Stadium, the NU football venue. It was billed as the largest crowd to ever watch a women’s sporting event in the world.
The previous largest gathering for an NCAA volleyball match was 18,755 when the Badgers won the 2021 national championship by outlasting Nebraska at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
On Sept. 13, Wisconsin and Marquette drew 17,037 to Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum. Previously, the largest NCAA regular season mark was 16,833 for a 2022 Florida-Wisconsin match at the Kohl Center.
Over the last five years, the Badgers have ranked second nationally in attendance. This season, they have averaged 7,208 at the UW Field House where they’ve played to seven sell-outs.
“This was one of the first college environments I had seen,’’ Smrek said. “I went on only one visit before I walked in here, and I just remember looking up and thinking, ‘Wow.’
“It’s not like many other gyms because of the structure of the building and the way the bleachers are set up with the upper deck. You don’t see many places like this. It can get very loud in here.’’
How does a noisy atmosphere at other arenas, in road matches, affect the team?
“The biggest thing for us is knowing how to block the noise when we go to a gym that’s equally as big if not will seat more, a gym like Nebraska,’’ she said. “It can get very, very loud.
“At the same time, I feel like we can also make it very quiet. It’s learning how to stay focused.’’
The Badgers have a great teacher in head coach Kelly Sheffield, who has been known to simulate the type of reception that his players can likely anticipate in opposing buildings.
“Kelly in practice sometimes will circle around the person who’s serving and basically yell at them, make noise, try and heckle them to let them know what to expect,’’ Smrek said.
“It’s really about sticking together in those situations.’’
Smrek is accustomed to getting heckled about her height. They’ll drop the basketball card. In no uncertain terms, they will suggest that she’s out of place and in the wrong sport.
“Obviously growing up on the taller side, people can pick on that if they want,’’ she said. “But I’m out here doing what I’m doing and I’m a part of a successful team.
“I’m where I am (today) because of what I’ve been able to do (in volleyball).’’
Dad played with Michael Jordan, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Height runs in the family. Her dad, Mike Smrek, played in nearly 200 games over seven seasons in the National Basketball Association as a 7-foot, 250-pound backup center.
Coming out of Canisuis College, where he was the second-leading shot blocker in school history, Smrek was an NBA rookie with the Chicago Bulls during the 1985-86 season.
Michael Jordan was sidelined 64 games with a foot injury that year.
“Sometimes he will talk about his experiences with Jordan and how he would take control of the gym and stuff like that,’’ Anna said. “I did see him in the background (of 'The Last Dance' documentary).
“Honestly, my dad is probably the most humble person that I know. When it comes to his career and everything that happened, he will never be the first one to bring it up.’’
Mike Smrek went from Chicago to Los Angeles, where he was a reserve on back-to-back NBA championship teams with the Lakers (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, et al).
“It’s not so much through sports, but what he has taught me outside of it that I can reflect on,’’ Anna said. Her mom, Sanja, is a former ballerina. Her brother, Luke, is a former Marquette tennis player.
Anna Smrek confirmed that she has always been comfortable in her own skin.
“Growing up with the comfort of my dad, I never felt out of place,’’ she said. “I also grew very gradually. I didn’t hit any drastic growth spurt where I grew like 4 inches over one summer.
“It was never like that. Growing up, I was the tallest kid in my class. But I never felt out of place even in school. That was very comforting, I suppose.
“I was also a dancer. ... I knew that I looked different. But I was doing exactly what any other kid was doing right then. So I was not actually all that different.’’
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Smrek, a junior majoring in health promotion and equity, has been received well on campus.
“I would say that goes for any athlete here,’’ she said. “We go to a school that is very supportive of sports and have a fan base that really enjoys coming to our games and seeing what we can do.
“It’s very welcoming. Sometimes being recognized is odd because I don’t think of myself as someone to be recognized. I’m just a normal person going to class.’’
As normal as anyone who was the Most Outstanding Player of the 2021 Final Four. In the finals, she had a personal-best seven blocks against Nebraska.
Besides the title rings, Smrek has saved some confetti from that victory celebration.
But what meant more to her than anything else was, “The memories I got to build during that entire experience with the group of seniors who came back from the COVID year to make that happen.
“It was all the different things that we went through as a team to get to that space.’’
Success at the Huskers gym
Smrek is familiar with the Bob Devaney Center. During a 2021 regular season sweep of the Huskers on their home floor, she had a career high 12 kills and hit a team best .647.
Sheffield said afterward, “She wants to be really good and she’s easy to coach. She comes in wanting to learn, she’s such a sponge. This was a great match for her.’’
Last November, the Badgers clinched their fourth straight Big Ten championship at the Devaney Center with a 3-1 win over the Huskers. Smrek led the UW with five blocks.
Here’s the staggering reality: Wisconsin has won 10 straight matches over Nebraska, a brand program that has won five NCAA titles, four under John Cook, the former UW coach (1992-98).
Earlier this week, Cook foreshadowed Saturday’s showdown with the Badgers.
“It’s great for volleyball, but we’re used to playing these matches,’’ Cook said. “This is where you want to be. You want to be playing these types of matches. For us, it’s business as usual.’’
As it is for Wisconsin. As you would expect out of No. 1 and No. 2.
Note: The game is 7 p.m. Saturday and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network and on the radio at Fox Sports 1070.
