In what has become the norm, the Wisconsin volleyball team enters the upcoming season with lofty expectations. The team boasts a No. 17 ranking in the USA Today/AVCA preseason poll and is coming off its seventh consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.
“We’ve set a pretty high standard. The last four years, we have either been first or second in the Big Ten, and that’s a lot to live up to,” head coach Pete Waite said. “But I really like the chemistry of this team and the things they are doing right now.”
The 2003 edition of the Badgers is not without its holes, though. Gone are starters Erin Byrd, Amy Hultgren and Lori Rittenhouse, in addition to four other players leaving the team.
“We have a lot of new players, but everyone that’s come in has been ready to play, and they want to play — it’s really exciting,” senior setter Morgan Shields said. “We did lose a lot, and in the spring it was tough, but coming back this fall, everybody’s just really hungry to play.”
Leading the way for UW in 2003 will be a solid veteran core. Nine letterwinners, including four seniors, return, most notably co-captains Lisa Zukowski and Shields. Zukowski spent a portion of 2002 at libero while recovering from ACL surgery; now completely healthy, she is back at outside hitter. A third-team All-American in 2002, Shields led the Big Ten with 13.91 assists per game, leading to her inclusion on this season’s pre-season All-Big Ten team.
The other two returning seniors are defensive specialists/liberos Angie Sanger and Jill Maier. Maier will likely see the bulk of the playing time at libero after averaging 1.69 digs per game a year ago.
Adding some new blood to the cardinal and white is a talented freshman class: outside hitters/middle blockers Lindsey Boler and Maria Carlini, outside hitter/defensive specialist Kirin Swanson and middle blocker Amy Bladow.
“All of them have the potential to step on the court and play really well,” said Shields.
Sheila Shaw did just that last season, earning a spot on the Big Ten All-Freshman team with averages of 0.83 blocks and 2.04 kills per game. This season, the 6-foot-1 sophomore returns as UW’s top middle blocker.
Opposite Zukowski at outside hitter is junior Jill Odenthal, whose 3.16 kills per game were second on the team in 2002, giving the team a variety of weapons.
“I think we are going to have a lot of balance this year. We’ve got some people who will be the heroes on different days,” Waite said. “I think we’ve got a number of players that will even be coming off the bench that will be strong and be great additions.
“I think that in the past we’ve sometimes had maybe one person like an Erin Byrd or a Sherisa Livingston that we’ve gone to that person a lot, and sometimes teams can key on that. I think we’re going to be coming from a lot of different areas against teams. It will be tougher for them to defend us.”
The 2003 Badgers will be aided by their hardworking approach to the season.
“[The team’s] biggest strength is our work ethic,” Waite said. “This team is very energetic and very eager to learn, and that really helps us as coaches to give them a lot of information, and we cover a lot in practices.
“You don’t know until you test it against an opponent, but some of the things they are doing I think are at a higher level than when we finished last year. They’ve all worked very hard over the summer and in our preseason practices to raise their game.”
A preseason poll of Big Ten coaches has the Badgers slated fourth in the conference, behind Minnesota, Penn State and Michigan State. An Oct. 12 showdown with defending conference champion Minnesota will give Wisconsin a chance to prove those predictions wrong.
“I compare it sometimes to our 2000 year, where we just had a good group of people, and we were ranked third or fourth in the Big Ten in preseason polls, and we were ranked around 15 to 20 in the top 25, and we had an awesome season, finishing second in the country,” Waite said. “The potential is there; I think they are just going to get better and better all the time, because they are eager to learn.”
With two television appearances this season, Oct. 24 against Penn State on ESPN2 and the following night against Ohio State on Fox Sports Net, the spotlight will once again be on the Badgers.
“There are always very high expectations for Wisconsin volleyball,” Shields said. “There’s always that outside pressure, but I think that the athletes we have this year differ in a way that I’ve never seen in any year that I’ve been here. We’re very competitive, very eager to work hard, and I haven’t seen that. I’m really excited to see where that’s going to take us this year.”
