Raven Colvin has manned the center of Purdue's front court like few players in the country this season. But Saturday, the lurking, domineering presence of Wisconsin's 6-foot-9 Anna Smrek proved unmovable.

Colvin, a senior middle blocker, handily leads the Big Ten in blocks per set and excels on offense. But it was Smrek who put up gaudy numbers from the middle blocker spot in a grit-filled, Wisconsin wipeout.

The No. 8 Badgers (15-4, 9-1 Big Ten) disposed of No. 10 Purdue (16-5, 7-3) in three sets, even with nearly 15,000 gold-shirted fans packed into Mackey Arena and the Big Ten's third place spot on the line. Smrek, with a team-leading 14.5 points, and her teammates didn't let Purdue get comfortable, head coach Dave Shondell said.

"We're playing Indiana in here, and we're as comfortable as you could be sitting in your lazy boy chair, watching TV," Shondell said, referring to Purdue's 3-0 win against the Hoosiers a week ago. "Then tonight, we didn't do the opposite of that, but it wasn't exactly what we were looking for."

Smrek is the tallest-standing example of what Shondell said is the "biggest team in the history of volleyball."

The 6-foot-4 Sarah Franklin and 6-foot-7 Carter Booth, both All-Americans, are further proof.

In a grimy, defensive game in which both teams hit under .200, defending the Badgers' size wasn't the issue, Shondell said – it was scoring. Wisconsin served well and kept the pressure on, and Purdue's predictable passing didn't help.

"That's really hard for our outside hitters," said junior outside hitter Eva Hudson. "Because (Wisconsin knows) exactly where they're going to go."

It was the second and final regular season match to be played at Mackey Arena this season. And though Hudson, Shondell and freshman Ryan McAleer wore glum faces in the postgame news conference, with McAleer sporting fresh tears, the impact of the crowd wasn't lost on them.

"It doesn't feel like it right now, but I think that you look at it from such a skewed perspective as a coach or as players," Shondell said. "You're just not happy because there's 15,000 people you had a chance to go out and give them a good performance, and you didn't.

"But at the end of the day, I think when somebody asks anyone on our team, 'What was the greatest part of the regular season this year, they're probably going to say the opportunity to play in front of 15,000 people in Mackey Arena."

McAleer, who a year ago was playing volleyball in a high school gym in Kansas, said it was "one of my biggest dreams."

"Even tonight, when it didn't go our way, our fans are so amazing," she said. "And that was able to get us through the match."

Purdue will have nearly a week off until its next match, at Maryland on Friday.