Something weird happened last weekend.
The women’s volleyball team had to win three games in a row in order to beat the Michigan Wolverines last Friday. Even though beating a team three times is nothing new for the volleyball team, as it has grown accustomed to sweeping opponents, this is the first time this season that it had to do it after being down two games to none.
The last time the Badgers overcame a 2-0 deficit was back in September 1996, when they defeated Texas A&M. As for this season, the Michigan match was only the fourth time that UW was taken to five games, and only the second time that it came out a winner in that situation. In that victory Wisconsin defeated then-No. 2 USC in early September.
While some may think that a team needing five games in order to claim victory is a sign of a team’s vulnerability, that could not be further from the truth.
The Badgers can take many positives out of last weekend’s match.
First, it proved depth. Junior outside hitter Lori Rittenhouse was not playing as well as she has been, so UW’s head coach Pete Waite replaced her with freshman Marian Wiedner.
Weidner, along with Jill Odenthal, accounted for two freshman on the court at the same time for UW last weekend. Odenthal, who is replacing an injured Lisa Zukowski, has been a present in the starting lineup for the past two weeks, and has been averaging 2.22 kills per game while hitting .331.
Weidner has seen action in 46 of Wisconsin’s games and has chipped in 12 kills and 45 digs.
Second, last week’s match showed Wisconsin’s flexibility. After the second-game loss, Waite stayed on the court with his assistant coaches to devise a new rotation.
Michigan’s middle blocker Katrina Lehman was continually getting balls past the UW blockers, so in game three Waite moved junior outside hitter Erin Byrd so she would match up better with Lehman.
The Badgers hit .484 for the third game after jumping out to a 12-6 advantage.
Lastly, it brought out the best of senior leadership. While Waite discussed rotation issues on the court, in the locker room senior setter Lizzy Fitzgerald took control.
She quickly let her teammates know that losing was not a part of her agenda. Her teammates obviously listened.
“Pretty much when we went in the locker room, Lizzy laid down the line,” said senior Sherisa Livingston. “She said this was the test of the season. We have one loss in the Big Ten, so it was how tough are we, how much do we want [the Big Ten title], and how much are we going to go after it. For us to come back in three games proved how much we wanted it.”
With only four games left in the conference season, the Badgers can already begin to smell a second-straight Big Ten championship. The players and coaches are still taking the season one match at a time, but are excited knowing that one of their main goals is now within reach.
“We want to get more and more hungry as we get closer to that because we know that we’ve already played the top teams in the conference and now we have to take care of everyone else to get the title,” said Waite.
Atop the Mideast region: The Badgers are the top-ranked team in the mideast region according to the third biweekly rankings. The Badgers will more than likely retain the top spot when the final rankings are released this Wednesday.
Seven Big Ten teams are ranked in the region along with UW.
Aside from the regional rankings, the Badgers have moved up one spot to sixth in the latest AVCA/USAToday poll. Long Beach State is still No.1, while defending national champs Nebraska is in second place.
A home like no other: Once again Wisconsin ranks among the top three in the nation attendance-wise this season. With an average of 3,489 fans per game packing into the Field House, UW is third behind Hawaii (6,514) and Nebraska (4,528). Penn State and Minnesota are the only other Big Ten teams in the top ten.
