Wisconsin has been here before.
After dropping last year’s Big Ten opener against Penn State, the Wisconsin volleyball team railed off 19 wins in a row to claim the Big Ten title. That is the task they now have in front of them.
After falling to the Nittany Lions in three sets on Wednesday, the team will look to regroup and get their first Big Ten win of the season against a team they have enjoyed success against over the past few years.
No. 16 Wisconsin (8-3, 0-1 Big Ten) will enter Friday’s match against no. 12 Ohio State (11-2, 0-1 Big Ten) riding a four-game win streak against the Buckeyes, dating back to the 2013 season, and will look to extend their consecutive sets streak against the Buckeyes to 12 after sweeping both of last year’s matches.
Head coach Kelly Sheffield knows that in order for the Badgers to continue their sustained success throughout the Big Ten, they are going to have to improve their hitting percentage after they had 39 kills and 18 errors on 107 total attempts against a stout Nittany Lion front line.
Sheffield also knows that the season is just getting under way and wants to make sure his Badgers are rounding into mid-season form sooner rather than later.
“Our ceiling is getting a little higher with some players,” Sheffield said. “I have been changing things around quite a bit to try and figure out how these pieces are going to fit. Once the coaching staff gets out of the way and lets them go, I think we will probably have a chance of being pretty good.”
The Badgers come into the match facing a Buckeye squad off to a scorching start after railing off 11 consecutive wins before losing a five-set thriller to Minnesota Wednesday.
The Buckeyes know they can count on a strong home court advantage when they take the court Friday, as they have come out on top in 70 percent of their matches played at the St. Johns Arena.
Sheffield knows that every Big Ten battle will be a dog fight and said that as last year’s champions, the Badgers better be ready to bring it every time they step onto the court.
“It’s hard to put your finger on too many teams that aren’t better than what they’ve been last year or the year before,” Sheffield said. “This conference returns a lot of talent and it’s a lot of coaches that have been here as well.”
