The UW volleyball team couldn’t have asked for a better start to its Big Ten conference season. Following two wins against then No. 20 Purdue, Friday and then against Indiana, Saturday, the Badgers (13-1, 2-0 Big Ten) enter Wednesday’s game at Iowa (9-5, 0-2 Big Ten) with a near blemish-free conference and overall record.
It is the first time since 2007 that UW has started the Big Ten season 2-0. Even more impressive, the Badgers come into the week ranked 23rd in the latest top-25 Coaches poll, helped by a current seven match winning streak.
The Badgers may be undefeated in the Big Ten, but freshman Lauren Carlini knows it’s just part of trying to reach a bigger goal for the season, especially in the challenging Big Ten where eight teams are in the top 25.
“When we have higher goals for ourselves, it’s just kind of something you expect,” Carlini said about the strong conference start. “It’s not like ‘Hoo-rah, yeah we have a 2-0 conference start.’ Every night’s a fight in the Big Ten and anyone can beat anyone on any given day. Yeah it’s a good start, it’s a good boost for us, and we’re not going to stop. Hopefully, we continue to rack up wins.”
Carlini brought her season total of double-doubles up to seven after recording 12 digs and adding 43 assists against Indiana. Fellow freshman Haleigh Nelson was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week after her weekend performance in which she hit .417 and averaged 2.43 kills per set.
Head coach Kelly Sheffield has been impressed with the progress the two freshmen have been making and hopes to see their success continue against Iowa.
“What I like about [Carlini and Nelson] is that it’s not about survival. It’s about playing well,” Sheffield said. “A lot of freshmen are just trying to survive the season and not screw up as much. These guys are getting better every week. We’ve got a lot more of the season to go and hopefully that continues.”
That success will likely continue against an Iowa team that has lost three matches in a row including their last two against Big Ten foes, Illinois and Northwestern. UW has had great success against the Hawkeyes in the past, winning their last six matches against them. Wednesday’s game will mark the first conference away game for the Badgers.
Junior Deme Morales, who has been starting on the front row ever since the match against Kansas, has been a crucial player for UW. Morales always looks forward to competing on the road in the Big Ten.
“There’s definitely home court advantage when you travel,” Morales said. “But, I think it is really fun winning on other people’s home courts. You have to have a mindset that you’re going to go in there and just tear it up.”
Sheffield is aware of what Iowa brings in its front row. Being all upperclassmen, Iowa’s front line has much more experience than the Badgers but run a similar offense to what UW faced this past weekend.
“They run a very similar offense to what [Indiana] and Purdue run,” Sheffield said. “They’re always going to have great attackers. I think they serve the ball really well and they have some attackers that can do a lot of different things. They’re more experienced than what we are. It’s going to be a nice challenge for us.”
Wednesday’s game will be a solid test for the Badgers, and it doesn’t get any easier for UW after it, with a match against 10th-ranked Nebraska coming up on Saturday. The Badgers know what they have to do and that’s continue with what they’ve been doing.
“Follow the game plan like we’ve been doing and don’t stray away from it unless [Iowa] is changing something or doing something different than we thought,” Carlini said. “If they do do that, then unlike what we did the other night, we have to change faster and be able to adapt quickly.”
“And again, we just have to have the mindset that we can compete with anyone in the Big Ten,” Morales said.
