The seventh-ranked UW volleyball team is looking forward to a weekend of home matches for the first time in three weeks.
Wisconsin will host Illinois Friday night and Indiana Saturday night. The 11-1 Badgers still hold onto first place in the Big Ten, despite losing their first conference match last Saturday against Penn State.
However, the conference title is still in jeopardy, as Ohio State is only one game behind UW and Penn State is only two games behind.
Holding steady at fourth place in the Big Ten is Illinois. The Illini are also in the hunt for the conference championship, and will look to knock off the Badgers Friday night at the UW Field House.
The 25th ranked Illini come into Madison with a conference-leading seven-game winning streak, and are enjoying their first appearance on the USA Today Top 25 poll since the 1999 season.
Senior OH Shadia Haddard, the Big Ten Player of the Week for Oct.15, leads the Illinois front line. Haddard is first in the Big Ten in digs, averaging an impressive 3.72 per game. She also ranks in the top 10 in the conference for kills, averaging 3.46 per game.
As a team, Illinois is ranked first in the conference for team blocks, with 3.31 blocks per game.
Despite coming into Madison with confidence and momentum, Illinois head coach Don Hardin is quick to not let his team be satisfied with the unprecedented success they enjoyed during October.
“We are by no means content with where we are at right now, as we still have the Wisconsin-Ohio State-Penn State gauntlet ahead of us,” Hardin said. “There are four very important weeks of volleyball left to play prior to NCAA Tournament selection.”
Indiana heads into the Field House Saturday to avenge the 0-3 loss they suffered Sept. 28 at the hands of the Badgers.
The 3-9 Hoosiers have struggled this season, and are currently ninth in the Big Ten.
This game will have a special family tie for one of the Badgers — sophomore defensive specialist Korie Gardner’s sister Laurie is the setter for the Hoosiers.
The two hail from West Bend, Wisc., and older sister Jamie played volleyball for the Badgers before graduating last season.
The elder Gardner averages 9.61 assists per game and is in the top 10 in the conference in that category. This will be the second time this season the sisters have competed.
For the Badgers, this weekend’s games will be especially important if the team hopes to repeat as Big Ten champs.
Wisconsin was dealt a hard blow last Friday, when they lost sophomore OH Lisa Zukowski to a season-ending knee injury.
However, with only a month of conference play remaining, the team realizes there is little room for error. UW will look to the senior leadership of MB Sherisa Livingston and setter Lizzy Fitzgerald to help the team bounce back from a disappointing last weekend.
The games against Illinois and Indiana will be played at the UW Field House at 7 p.m.