Badger volleyball ends the Big Ten season with three out of the remaining four games at home. This weekend Wisconsin (15-1 in conference play, 21-3 overall) hosts Iowa and Minnesota at the UW Field House.
After a tough struggle against Michigan and sweeping Michigan State last weekend, the Badgers are happy to be at home.
\Our fans are fantastic,"" UW Head Coach Pete Waite said. ""We were really excited when we saw that we have three out of our last four games at home on our schedule. Our fans could really help us repeat as Big Ten Champions by being out there. It's an awesome environment.""
""It's a huge plus for us to be at home,"" senior setter Lizzy Fitzgerald said. ""We need every push we can to get wins so we can take the Big Ten title.""
Friday night, Wisconsin faces the Iowa Hawkeyes, ranked 10th in the Big Ten conference. Despite sweeping the Hawkeyes in the last meeting, UW is hesitant to claim victory.
""We are preparing for this week's matches as we do every week,"" Waite said. ""The first day we work on our own skills and get better that way. Then we watch videos of the opponents. We are pushing them hard and challenging them to really have to fight for every point they get.""
""We are trying to work a little bit more with challenging backrow attacks and jump serves because both of these teams have players that do both,"" Waite said.
""We have to play each game like it is our last,"" Fitzgerald said. ""We can't overlook anyone.""
""We aren't looking past any of these opponents. Last week we almost lost [to Michigan],"" senior middle blocker Sherisa Livingston said.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers will play the Badgers Sunday. The Gophers are ranked fifth in the Big Ten. UM has won six of their last seven matches.
The Badgers' last two conference matches are against Northwestern at home and Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind., next week.
The Badgers hope to end their season as Big Ten Conference Champions. Only then will they look ahead to the larger goal.
""Right now our goal is to repeat as Big Ten Champions,"" Waite said. ""That has never been done by Badger volleyball. It would be an unbelievable accomplishment. Then we will look ahead to the second part, which will be the NCAA tournament.""
Livingston agrees that the team's goal is to be NCAA Champions.
""It's great that we are 15-1, but we still need to play game by game and point by point,"" Livingston said. ""There are places that we would like to be, like NCAA National Champions. It's going to be hard since there are so many good teams this year.""
