At the beginning of last season, new head coach Kelly Sheffield took over a national program that seemed to have fallen dormant. After a streak of nine straight NCAA tournament appearances, former head coach Pete Waite’s program missed the tournament six times in a row.
From 2008 to 2012, the team went 77-80 and 31-70 in conference play, ultimately leading Waite to resign. However, the three-time Big Ten Coach of the Year left behind one last gem: the National Letter of Intent for the consensus No. 1 recruit in the country, setter Lauren Carlini.
With Sheffield running the ship and Carlini starting, the Badgers began the season 14-1, garnering a surprise top 25 ranking. Faced with a brutal Big Ten schedule, arguably the top conference in the NCAA, Wisconsin finished fourth with a 12-8 record. Carlini was named an All-Big Ten selection and won the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year award.
This was all a lead-up to the squad’s finest performance: the NCAA tournament. Returning for the first time since 2007 as the No. 12 seed, Wisconsin exceeded all expectations and defeated Milwaukee, California-Berkeley, Florida State and Purdue to make the national semifinals.
At the semifinals in Seattle, Wash., Sheffield and company drew the No. 1 overall ranked and defending champion Texas. By far the lowest seed in the final four, the undersized Badgers went on to register a shocking and emotional four-set victory.
Controlling the match with strong serving and defense, Wisconsin repeatedly flustered the Longhorns into mistakes and did not let up.
Even though they eventually lost to Penn State in the national finals, Wisconsin still established itself as a program to watch and should be expected to do some pretty good things. Carlini will return for her sophomore season after a summer of training with the U.S. national team and should garner some All-American consideration. Other notable contributors return in rising senior outside hitters Ellen Chapman and Deme Morales.
Joining the team will be a pair of top transfer students, Virginia Commonwealth University’s Romana Kriskova and Long Beach State’s Erin Juley. Both juniors were freshmen starters at their old schools and will be allowed to play immediately.
Kriskova in particular is one to watch, considering she won the Atlantic 10’s Player of the Year award last season. Adding two players of this caliber raises the ceiling for Wisconsin’s season and makes a repeat of last year’s tournament performance even more attainable.
All in all, if you want to see one of Wisconsin’s fastest rising teams, a new dynamic coach and one of the top volleyball players in the country, the Wisconsin Field House will be the place to be this year.
