[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald Photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]So far, so good for Wisconsin volleyball, right?

Not quite, says head coach Pete Waite.

The University of Wisconsin volleyball team bounced back from splitting the AVCA Volleyball Showcase — losing to No. 8 Texas and edging out a five-game win over No. 15 Ohio — by winning the InnTowner Invitational this past weekend.

But while Wisconsin swept Oregon State, South Dakota State and Oklahoma at the Madison tournament, Waite believes there is plenty to improve on.

"It's just the little things," Waite said. "You have to take care of the little things, which are ball handling and serving.

"And the breakdowns have come in our passing game; our passing has not been up to par and we need to [have] much stronger passing and much stronger serving."

Usually when the passing game is mentioned, most would assume there is a problem with the setter position. However, that is not the case with Wisconsin as junior Jackie Simpson has been as steady as ever after bouncing back from a broken hand during the spring season.

Instead, the problem with the passing game has come in the back row and with digs off the net, part of which is due to working with a bevy of new lineups used in the young season as replacements for both Aubrey Meierotto and Sheila Shaw.

Freshman phenom Brittney Dolgner, for one, appears to have secured a starting spot in the lineup as she earned her first start in the InnTowner following her impressive AVCA debut.

Obviously Dolgner still has adjustments to make in just her first season but the whole team does, as well.

"We're still working as a team defensively," Waite said. "Brittney's new in there and she's making some great plays, but with team defense we need to get better and blocking related to our back row defense."

Wisconsin's defense was exposed in the opening match against No. 8 Texas as the Badgers were both out dug and out hit by 60 to 45 and 11 to 8, respectively.

Even though the Longhorns — the eventual AVCA Volleyball Showcase champions — had a noticeable height advantage — Waite claims they are probably the biggest team in all of NCAA — the way in which they played defense was something Wisconsin could learn from.

"They just played solid defense and it's something we need to learn," said senior floor captain Maria Carlini following the Texas match. "It's something that we need to do to win games."

While Waite is seeking improvement from his team early in the season, he isn't overly concerned about it because he knows his team wants to get better, and they know what they need to do.

"This team is great about not looking ahead," he said. "I think they go into practice every day with things they want to get better at, and as they get better, they get more comfortable on court, and they get stronger. They know the Big Ten is tough and they've got to get ready for both that and the NCAA tournament."

It's either that or Waite's just doing his job.

"Everything you do as a coach and as a team is just getting better," he added. "You work on it everyday, go back and look at tapes again, and we'll see other things we haven't done well."

Notes: Wisconsin won the InnTowner Invitational for the fifth straight year and the 12th time in the existence of the 15-year tournament … Carlini was the only Badger to make the AVCA all-tournament team a week before hand … Juniors Joceyln Wack and Taylor Reineke were also named to the InnTowner all-tournament team … Wack continued her NCAA record for consecutive matches with double-digit digs to 69.