SPORTS
Spring volleyball season returns to Madison
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Also by Michael Poppy:
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by Michael Poppy
Friday, March 24, 2006
The UW volleyball team knows a thing or two about playing in prestigious tournaments — 10 consecutive NCAA tournaments, last year's InnTowner Invitational, and Wisconsin will even host the 2006 AVCA Volleyball Showcase in August.
The Badgers will host the 2006 Wisconsin Spring Classic at the Field House Saturday. It is by no means one of the most prominent tournaments UW has played in — mainly because it's a spring tournament.
The spring season in NCAA volleyball is equivalent to that of the MLB's spring training; a great opportunity for teams to practice and prepare for the upcoming season by playing against real teams.
But while the spring games may be a little laid back as compared to the fall season, the games are still tiring and full of plenty of competition.
Wisconsin will welcome Northern Iowa, Iowa State, and Marquette to Madison on Saturday, and each team will play a total of six games.
Outside hitter Audra Jeffers is little concerned all the action may get a little wearing on her body, but has an interesting way to just forget about it and play.
"I'm going to try to think of it as a club tournament from when I was in high school," Jeffers said. "You'd have the Saturday, Sunday — you play all day, and in college we don't do that. But if I just remind myself that I used to do that all the time, I should be fine.
"Hopefully the body will hold up."
Middle blocker Maria Carlini also believes Saturday's tournament will be a difficult set of games physically.
"It's going to be a tough, tough weekend," she said. "We're playing six matches all in one day, and we're used to a max of playing two matches."
And the teams Wisconsin will be playing against won't be easy, either.
Last year, the Badgers played against Northern Iowa and Marquette and know how tough they can be. Additionally, Iowa State is coming off a strong 2005 season in Christy Johnson's first year as head coach, a former Wisconsin assistant from 1997 to 2004.
"She's turned the program around, so it will be exciting to see her and her team," Carlini said.
UW head coach Pete Waite is excited to see his former assistant as well, especially after seeing how quickly she turned around the Cyclones' program in just one year.
"They had more wins in the Big XII last year than that program had had ever," Waite said. "So we know that they're a very competitive team."
However, Waite will be focusing on the matter of how his own team performs and nothing else.
The Badgers' spring season is still relatively young, as they just recently returned from a spring break trip that included two matchups with perennial powerhouse Hawaii, and all that's on the teams' agenda is making strides for improvement.
"Hawaii just kind of showed us what we need to work on," Jeffers said. "I think it was a really good learning experience. It showed us our weaknesses and we just came back in practice to try and straighten everything out."
One thing the team will certainly need to address is the absence of last year's graduating seniors — outside hitter Aubrey Meierotto and middle blocker Sheila Shaw.
"They left some really big shoes to fill," Carlini said of losing Meierotto and Shaw.
Outside hitter Amy Bladow and middle blocker Morgan Salow have seen time at their respective positions. Incoming freshman Brittney Dolgner — PrepVolleyball.com's National Player of the Year — and redshirt freshman Katherine Dykstra will also have a shot at competing for time at the open positions.
"It's just a whole new lineup out there," Jeffers said. "People are playing positions they [have] never played, but I think once people get used to their positions, we're going to be great and we won't have any problems."
The team is also playing without injured setter Jackie Simpson, so Katie Lorenzen will be playing exclusively at the position until her return.
But regardless of the issues Wisconsin still needs to work out this spring, the team is simply happy to be playing in the historic UW Field House again.
"In Hawaii, we saw how exciting it is for their crowd and stuff like that," Carlini said. "But I still think the Field House is the best place to play."
