Although losing streaks have been few and far between the last couple seasons, the Wisconsin volleyball team knows they still have the talent to be a challenger in the tough Big Ten.
After starting last week’s Big Ten slate with a loss to No. 1 Penn State and a hotly contested, 5-set defeat to No. 13 Ohio State, the Badgers will look to regroup and notch their first Big Ten win of the season against another ranked opponent.
No. 19 Wisconsin (8-4, 0-2) enters Wednesday’s matchup against No. 7 Illinois (11-2, 2-0) looking to get on the right side of the scoreboard after coming up empty in their last three matches. Despite their intensity the last few outings, the Badgers know that in this conference, there is no reward for second place.
Volleyball: Sheffield previews week ahead at news conference Monday
Head coach Kelly Sheffield is no rookie to early season adversity and knows that a turnaround is possible, especially with some of the talent he has recruited in the middle.
“I think our middles are really starting to play well,” Sheffield said. “We’ve lost three matches but our middles have been great for those three matches. I would like to be able to give them the ball a little bit more.”
Despite the early struggles, Sheffield knows nothing is impossible and that conference play is just getting underway.
The Badgers will need to play top-notch volleyball over the next few weeks and will need some help from rivals across the conference in order to achieve their goals.
“You’ve got to have a little bit of help when you’re going 0-2,” Sheffield said. “Truthfully we didn’t talk about it last year. Two years ago we didn’t talk about making it to the Final Four. Last year we discussed, ‘Hey, let’s go out there and compete for a Big Ten title.’”
The Badgers ride a 2-game winning streak against the Fighting Illini, but Sheffield knows that this Illinois team is not the same as ones in the past.
Sheffield said how they possess an arsenal of weapons, lead by a great outside hitter in redshirt senior Jocelynn Birks and is preparing for a dogfight when the teams meet on the court.
“There are just not a lot of weaknesses from them,” Sheffield said. “They’re going to be one of those teams that are going to be right into it till the very end.”
Wednesday’s top-25 matchup will be must-watch action as the Badgers look to get back in the win column in the Big Ten home opener.
