SPORTS
UW returns to Chicago for DePaul tourney
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Also by Michael Poppy:
- Stocco awaits Packers' call (May 8, 2007)
- UW has room for progress (May 10, 2007)
- UW not ready for baseball (May 3, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Waite's squad hosts Phoenix in spring finale (April 20, 2005)
- Volleyball team continues spring season (April 7, 2003)
- Volleyball team looks to keep spring streak alive in Windy City (April 1, 2005)
- DePaul treks to Madison (March 3, 2006)
- Volleyball women invite teams to get pounded (September 23, 2002)
by Michael Poppy
Friday, April 8, 2005
The Wisconsin volleyball team will head to Chicago this weekend to compete in the DePaul tournament, the Badgers’ final road event before closing the spring with a home match April 20 against the Fighting Phoenix of Green Bay.
Fresh off a 4-1 finish at the Chicago Spring Challenge last Saturday, head coach Pete Waite and his squad are feeling good about their improvement in spring play.
“It was a good day,” Waite said. “We improved from our first tournament at Marquette and had some pretty balanced scoring.”
Middle blocker Sheila Shaw said she felt the team is executing better on the facets of the game cited by Waite as in need of improvement. The junior remains confident in the team’s potential heading into her senior season this fall.
“I thought we played really strong as a team and really worked well,” Shaw said. “The stuff that we worked on in practice I thought we did really well as a team, like blocking schemes and defense. Overall, I thought it was really good; we just have to stay strong towards the end of matches and finish them off.”
The one loss, which was the Badgers’ first and only defeat of the spring season, came against a strong Notre Dame squad in Chicago last weekend. Junior Aubrey Meierotto attributed that loss to the lack of ball control, but felt that the team bounced back well with a win over conference foe Michigan State.
“I thought the team played really well,” Meierotto said. “We improved in a lot of things that we wanted to, such as blocking, defense, things like that.”
The upcoming tournament at the DePaul Athletic Center will be host to 15 teams, with Wisconsin competing in Pool 1 in the morning against Chicago State, Loyola, Illinois-Chicago and Northern Illinois. In the afternoon, Wisconsin will face Kent State, Northern Illinois, Valparaiso and Big Ten rival Illinois.
Shaw is looking forward to facing Illinois and potentially another conference opponent in Iowa, who will also be competing in the tournament.
“Big Ten teams are always really good no matter what,” Shaw said. “[Overall], it should be really high competition this weekend.”
Meierotto hopes the diverse pool of opponents at the event will give Wisconsin an opportunity to test its game against a variety of different playing styles.
“It should be pretty decent competition, just as last weekend, [with] a lot of different teams,” Meierotto said. “I think we’ll see a good mix of big hitters and really scrappy defenses which will be good.”
With 13 players on the squad returning from the fall tournament run and the spring season quickly coming to an end, several Badgers noted a more cohesive bond starting to develop between the young team.
“It’s been real nice; this is definitely the most fun that I’ve ever had on the team,” Meierotto said. “Everybody gets along really well both on the court and off the court, and I think that’s really important.”
“The thing with our team is that everyone really gets along together awesome, and there’s really good team chemistry, and I feel that it’s just going to get better when we add a couple more freshman next fall,” Shaw added.
In fact, with the recent release of their 2005 schedule, the team has already begun to establish some team goals for next season. Claiming a conference title and improving upon their Elite Eight appearance from a year ago sit atop the list.
“Even though we’ll still be young, I know they want to take a shot at the Big Ten Conference title,” Waite said. “We’re going to have to win more of those conference road games and really protect our home court to do that.”
