A tough test awaits the No. 24 Wisconsin Badgers (2-1) volleyball team this weekend as they travel south to take part in the Texas State Premier tournament. Awaiting them will be the Texas State Bobcats (1-2), the undefeated Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters (3-0), and No. 5 Pepperdine Waves (2-1).
Wisconsin will play their first game of the tournament when they face Texas State (formerly Southwest Texas State) on Friday afternoon. The Bobcats are averaging 15.1 kills per game this season with sophomore outside hitter Lizzy Nwoke leading the way with four kills per game. They also have a very seasoned head coach in Karen Chisum who has a 60 percent win percentage in 24 years as head coach at Texas State, though Wisconsin's Head Coach Pete Waite said he is not too familiar with the Bobcats' team.
\The state of Texas has a lot of great players,"" Waite said. ""It's something we'll have to find out about right away when we get there.""
They will continue Saturday morning when they take on Louisiana Tech. The Lady Techsters swept the Louisiana-Lafayette tournament last weekend and are undefeated for the year. The Techsters have held their opponents to only nine kills per game so far this year, also sporting four service aces per game.
""I think Louisiana Tech's gonna have a lot of great athletes,"" Waite said. ""I think our ball control's going to be the important thing in those ... specifically I think it's going to be us in both of those games.""
The Badgers face their true trial of the weekend on Saturday night when they take on No. 5 Pepperdine. The Waves sport a very tall and athletic team with 6'4' senior outside hitter Katie Wilkins leading the way with 4.82 kills per game. Sophomore Katy Daly, sophomore Breegan Mulligan, and senior Lyndsey Hache round out Pepperdine's front four at 6'1', 6'0' and 6'2' respectively.
""Pepperdine has a great team,"" Waite said. ""They're a top-10 team right now and they're very, very big ... they're so much bigger than us that we're going to really have to do some great serving and great defense to beat them.""
""I see it as a chance to keep improving,"" senior setter Morgan Shields said. ""We took a loss this weekend. Pepperdine's going to be a really good opportunity to see how we're going to react and how we're going to improve.""
Leading the way for the Badgers' offense this weekend will be junior outside hitter Jill Odenthal who has 5.67 kills per game this year and set a new career high in kills last weekend with 22 in a loss against Washington. Well-rounded senior outside hitter Lisa Zukowski adds 3.11 kills per game to the offense as well as 2.78 digs per game to the defense. She is second on the team in both categories.
With UW being a young team, the underclassmen have been expected to step up and so far they have. Sophomore outside hitter Aubrey Meierotto, who set the new UW three-game match record with seven service aces, leads the team in that category with 1.14 per game, while freshman blocker Maria Carlini leads the team in blocks with one block per game.
""Maria Carlini and Amy Bladow are pretty neck-and-neck in the middle spot, so they're going to be sharing a lot of time,"" Coach Waite said. ""Lindsey Boler's getting better also ... if we get her consistent in matches she's really gonna help us out. Kirin Swanson came in and did a great job defensively for us. If she gets solid with her passing she'll see the court even more.""
Overall, the team is mostly looking to improve before they start Big Ten play at the end of the month. An emphasis on blocking and freshman development will be key this weekend.
""I think our keys this weekend will be blocking and serving, we've been working on those things all week,"" Zukowski said. ""To see those things pay of this weekend, it'll be exciting.\
