Wisconsin (2-2 Big Ten, 10-4 overall) looks to build on its last two consecutive wins, which included a 3-0 sweep of Northwestern last Sunday, as it faces Rutgers (0-4, 3-13) and Maryland (0-4,10-8) Friday and Saturday.
“We’re heading out to the East coast this weekend to play Rutgers and Maryland,” head coach Kelly Sheffield said at a Monday press conference. “It’s the first time we’ve played at Maryland, and I heard that’s kind of a nutty place, kind of a party on a volleyball court, so I’m excited to see how that is and how our team responds to that.”
Not only are the No. 16 Badgers excited about the atmosphere they’ll get to play in this weekend, they are also very happy to get in a full week of practice, which their schedule has not permitted for the past few weeks.
“The past couple weeks we’ve had Wednesday matches, and we’ve had TV cameras following us around and stuff, and this week we don’t have a mid-week match,”
Sheffield said. “It’ll be just us in our gym for a few days and we’re excited to have a full week to practice.”
As Wisconsin heads into this weekend, it hopes junior Romana Kriskova, who missed almost all of last season due to injury can continue the success she’s had in the past few games. Kriskova led UW with a .350 hit percentage and added six blocks in a win over Northwestern and had 15 kills and a .400 hit percentage in a victory against No. 7 Illinois.
“It’s been a while since she’s played,” Sheffield said. “I think sometimes you want things to just come back really quickly, but it’s not only her taking a year off, but it’s kind of a step up in class, as well. It’s taken our coaches a little bit of time to figure out what type of ball she’s better contacting it. She’s getting better, but she’s got a ways to go from where I think she’s going to end up being for us.”
Even though the Badgers have a key player coming back from injury, they’ll have togo on the road for five of their next six games, which will be a tough test for UW.
“We were on the road for a while but then we got to go home for a couple matches, which was certainly nice,” Sheffield said. “I’m seeing a team that’s starting to cometogether and embracing challenges. I’m not sure we were great at that at first. Thegreat ones have something a little bit psychotic that says, ‘bring it,’ which makesthem excited. “I see a little bit of that from some of our players, and there’s no better way to fine-tune that than spending a lot of time on the road.”
The road trip begins Friday as UW faces Rutgers at College Avenue Park in New Brunswick, N.J. at 6 p.m. followed by Maryland Saturday at the XFINITY Center in College Park, Md. at 6 p.m.
