At intermission of this Saturday's Halloween Bash, a break from the contest between Wisconsin's women's volleyball team (7-3 Big Ten, 13-5 overall) and No. 2 Minnesota (9-1, 20-2), a costume contest will be held for fans that dressed up. ESPN2 will broadcast live from the Field House, and all fans covered in a costume receive free admission.
Can you dig it?
The Badgers can. And the team has also been digging plenty of balls recently, a primary reason why it is on a five-match winning streak, according to six-year Head Coach Pete Waite.
Waite has been waiting three weeks to get another shot at the Golden Gophers, who beat Wisconsin Oct. 8, 30-22, 30-26, 31-29. However, his team must first face Iowa (1-9, 9-13) Friday night before the border-rival rematch.
Since Oct. 8, Iowa lost its four matches while Minnesota beat all of their opponents, including No. 23 Illinois. Waite thinks his squad is more prepared to face Minnesota this time.
\We played a good game against Minnesota until about 20 points when we broke down,"" Waite said. ""We have worked really hard since to get better.""
In the past three weeks, the Badgers have not only bettered their record significantly, going from sixth in the conference to fourth, their defense has drastically improved. Since Oct. 8, opponents averaged only 13.8 kills per game while Wisconsin averaged 16 digs per game.
Though the team has improved as a whole, much of the credit is given to freshman libero Jocelyn Wack. She has led the team in the last 13 matches and is currently fourth in the conference, averaging 4.62 digs per game. She hopes to continue the trend.
""The past few weeks have been very positive for us, especially last week,"" Wack said. ""We're a lot better with our defense and hopefully that will carry through to this weekend.""
Last weekend, the Badgers beat Michigan State 3-0 and Michigan 3-1. Against MSU, Wack tallied 17 digs and in the Michigan match, she earned two of the team's four service aces.
Waite said he attributes his team's performance to improved serving. On the season, Wisconsin has struggled, averaging 2.68 unforced errors per game compared to only 1.03 service aces. However, in its last three matches it only committed 1.73 errors per game and upped its ace average to 1.36 per game.
However, a primary principle to a team's success is its cohesiveness, and Waite, along with his players, agree the closeness on the court between the older and younger athletes is important.
""It has been an interesting year,"" said freshman setter Jackie Simpson, who was named the co-Big Ten Player of the Week following her 115-assist weekend. ""There are seven of us freshmen and even though we think we might always be prepared, there are always times we aren't. The upperclassmen have been really helpful and it's looking good for the second half.""
Simpson started the beginning of the season, but was switched for sophomore Katie Lorenzen in early October. However, she has once again stepped up. Also improving is senior outside hitter Marian Weidner, who came off the bench against Michigan and knocked down a career-high 21 kills.
If the Badgers continue on the upward, they have a shot at a Big Ten title, partly because there is no unbeaten team, as No. 7 Ohio State fell 0-3 to Illinois. Wisconsin won its last championship in 2000. But, with Minnesota in town this weekend and on the road at No. 6 Penn State and OSU in two weeks, Waite realizes a tough challenge lies ahead.
""We've got to upset some teams. But first we have to take care of teams like Iowa, and then pull off upsets with higher-ranked teams,"" Waite said.
But, he knows his team cannot look ahead.
""We can't think about winning the Big Ten yet. We have to always focus on the next opponent.""
