The Wisconsin volleyball team (15-12, 4-12) enters its last homestand of the year this weekend when it battles No. 22 Minnesota (20-8, 10-6) and Iowa (7-18, 2-14).
The Badgers are coming off a devastating loss in five sets to Ohio State last weekend and are looking to bounce back on their home court. It won’t be an easy task starting the weekend against a Minnesota squad that won in four sets when the teams played in Minneapolis earlier this season.
“The important part is that we do bounce back, and we look forward and move forward,” head coach Pete Waite said. “We still want to keep improving our game. That’s been our goal the whole time.”
Wisconsin was disappointed last weekend after losing to both Penn State and Ohio State. Like they’ve done all season, though, the Badgers are continuing to keep their heads up and stay positive. UW has been mainly concentrated on improving everyday and focusing on one match at a time.
“We definitely just need to control our side and be aggressive on defense and offense,” junior Janelle Gabrielsen said. “[We] can’t worry so much about what they’re going to bring at us, so that whatever they bring at us, we’ll be ready.”
Wisconsin is preparing for this weekend the same way it prepares for all Big Ten opponents. The Badgers know every game in the conference is going to be a tough challenge, so they don’t take anybody lightly.
“We didn’t play our greatest when we played at Minnesota, and it was still a close match, so it’s [about] improving on the last time we played them and changing some things,” senior outside hitter Allison Wack said. “There are no guarantees in the conference. We went to five [sets] at Iowa, so we want to play a lot better here and get on them quicker.”
The last two weeks of matches have all been on the road for the Badgers. Coming off their longest stretch of road games, the team is glad to be home.
“We haven’t been home in awhile, so hopefully we’ll get a big crowd,” Gabrielsen said. “Playing here in the Field House is awesome, so I think we’ll definitely play well.”
Since it’s the last home stand of the year, senior night will be on Saturday when Wisconsin plays Iowa. Waite spoke very highly of the team’s three seniors who will be playing their last matches at the Field House this weekend.
“Jessa Benson, Allison Wack and Kim Kuzma have done a phenomenal job during their years with the program and as leaders for the whole group,” Waite said. “I know the entire team wants to work extremely hard for them to make it a great weekend in their last one here at home.”
Kuzma is third all time for Wisconsin in digs and digs per set. She’s been a major leader for the team and a reliable libero in the middle for the Badgers.
Wack has also been very valuable to Wisconsin over the past few years. This season she leads the team with 280 kills, and she’s played in an astounding 114 matches over her career as a Badger.
“For the seniors, it’s a bitter sweet weekend,” Wack said. “We have a lot of family coming and a ton of support. None of us can believe this is our last home weekend.”
Although she’s excited for senior night, Wack’s main focus is still on the matches this weekend and showing people how well her team can play.
“We’re excited because this is our last chance to show the fans what we have,” Wack said. “We want to just show these teams that we’re a team to be taken seriously. We want to fight for what we have and improve every match.”
