The No. 2 Badgers (24-2, 14-1) will put their 15-game win streak on the line Wednesday when No. 10 Illinois (21-6, 13-3) comes to the UW Field House.
Wisconsin moved up from No. 4 in the coaches rank to No. 2 this week, the highest the Badgers have ever been ranked during regular season play. Wisconsin leapfrogged now-No. 5 Washington, following their two losses last week, and now-No. 8 Florida State, following their first loss of the season.
The rest of the Big Ten isn’t far behind the Badgers, as there are five other teams in the Top 25.
Despite the 15 straight wins in conference, head coach Kelly Sheffield doesn’t let his team get caught up in their past success.
“We haven't really looked at how many wins in a row we've done, but I think we've done a really good job of continuing to try to find ways to get better,” Sheffield said.
The Badgers’ sweep total during their win streak was brought up to 13 games last week following sweeps of Michigan and Iowa. Sheffield remains steadfast that their recent success has not been as easy as it looks.
“It doesn't feel that way,” Sheffield said. “You're at Michigan and they've got a swing or two away from winning the match, or you've got Illinois and they're jumping all over you at the very beginning.”
Illinois joined the Badgers in the Top 10 of the coach's poll this week when they moved up from No. 12 to No. 10. The Fighting Illini defeated No. 20 Ohio State and Rutgers last week.
Illinois’ matchup with Ohio State came down to the last set before the Illini pulled it out winning the fifth and decisive set 15-12.
Unfortunately for Rutgers, their winless introductory season in the Big Ten continued against Illinois, as the Illini swept the Scarlet Knights on the road.
Both teams have great footage of their opponent following their matchup earlier this season at Huff Hall in Champaign, Illinois.
At the time, Wisconsin was coming off of its second Big Ten win of the season and was looking for a big win against a highly ranked opponent following their recent losses to Washington and Penn State.
The Badgers started off the game slowly but eventually pulled out the 3-1 victory, with sophomore setter Lauren Carlini leading the way with a .583 hitting percentage. This was the highest ranked opponent Wisconsin had beaten on the road since 2009, until the Badgers broke that record again later in the year.
This was a memorable game for a lot of players because of the crowd at Huff Hall. The game was sold out and the energy before the game was electric.
Players like Carlini and senior outside hitter Courtney Thomas fondly remember silencing the Illinois crowd as one of their favorite moments of the season.
Despite their earlier victory, Sheffield is not over confident in his team’s ability to duplicate their past success.
“Going back and looking at how we played them earlier this year, we've got to do a lot better job defensively than what we did previously,“ said Sheffield. “They've moved from a 6-2 to a 5-1 (offense) which has allowed them to do some different things offensively than what they were doing previously.”
Hopefully for the Badgers, fans will fill up the Field House and be just as active for their game as Illinois’ fans were when Wisconsin came to town.
Following their game against Illinois, Wisconsin will travel to No. 20 Ohio State for another Top 25 matchup.
