Riding a seven-match winning streak and fresh off an emotional upset of No. 2 Minnesota, the Wisconsin volleyball team (15-5, 9-3) returns to the court Wednesday when it welcomes Northwestern (8-14, 3-9) to the UW Field House.
Saturday night’s victory over the Gophers, the highest-ranked opponent UW has defeated since knocking off No. 2 USC in 2001, served as a much-needed shot in the arm for the Badgers. Weary after midterms, a team-wide bout with the flu and the first half of a grueling conference schedule, Wisconsin has a new-found bounce in its step following its first win over Minnesota in nearly three years.
“Everybody was really upbeat at practice today,” UW head coach Pete Waite said Monday. “After a win like that, they’re energized and definitely not cocky about anything — they know we’ve got things to work on. We got in the gym today and started working on getting better as a team.”
The Badgers are not spending any time savoring the win, as they must immediately prepare to deal with the Wildcats, who occupy the ninth-place slot in the Big Ten. Northwestern recently snapped a four-match skid by sweeping Iowa 3-0 in Evanston Saturday.
“Northwestern’s a very young team, but they’re athletic enough to be dangerous at any time,” Waite said.
The Wildcats’ leading hitters this season have been a pair of underclassmen, 6-foot-1 sophomore middle Julie Purcell (3.35 kills per game) and 6-foot freshman outside hitter Courtnie Paulus (3.11 kills per game). As a whole, the Northwestern offense has struggled in 2004, ranking next to last in the conference with a .170 team hitting percentage. Freshman Brittney Aldridge leads the squad with a .255 percentage.
The Badgers won the early meeting between the two teams 3-0, but are certainly not taking the Wildcats lightly.
“They’re a team that can really catch fire from what I’ve seen,” said senior outside hitter Jill Odenthal, who moved into tenth place on the school’s all-time kill list over the weekend. “I definitely think if you give it to them, they will take the game and run with it. We definitely have to play our game, play our pace and try to keep ahead of them the whole time.”
The midweek match is a result of the Big Ten’s uneven eleven-team alignment. Wisconsin and Northwestern will play Wednesday and then travel to Illinois this weekend. The odd team out in the rotation, the Illini, is the only squad without a travel partner in 2004.
“It is a short week, but I’m glad we’re at home for Wednesday,” Waite said. “It’s not where we have to hit the road right away and leave in the middle of a week of classes.”
Also aiding the Badgers is the confidence gained from the young team’s biggest win of the season.
“It proved to them that they can play with anybody,” Waite said. “It gave them more incentive to continue to improve in practice and they also know they have to seriously look at every team we play and know we have to be on our game and play our best to get the win.”
UW currently resides in fourth place in the Big Ten, one match behind Penn State and Minnesota, who are tied for second. Wisconsin is two matches behind the league-leading Ohio State Buckeyes.
“We’re real excited, but we definitely know we have four more weekends left and there’s no way we can let down,” Odenthal said.
