Wisconsin volleyball newcomer stands out in spring debut (2024)

Until Anderson decided to transfer from Montana to Wisconsin for her final season of volleyball, the Badgers were set to go through spring practice without a setter.

But Anderson’s arrival changed all that, and the 6,622 fans who attended Friday night’s only home spring match at the UW Field House got an eyeful as Anderson helped lead the Badgers, with only seven healthy players, to a 25-18, 25-17, 25-13 sweep of Illinois-Chicago.

The 5-foot-9 senior from Mississauga, Ontario, did a little bit of everything in her Wisconsin debut, as the Badgers hit .410 for the match with 40 kills and just six hitting errors. She was perfect with four kills on four setter dump attempts— something that was absent the past two years as the Badgers ran a 6-2 lineup where the setters were unable to attack.

“What’s cool is how many fans were in there that saw what we’re seeing and what we thought we’d see when we were watching her on film,” coach Kelly Sheffield said. “She’s got a lot of confidence in herself. No fear. She’s not afraid to make mistakes. She leans into learning so she doesn’t ride this emotional roller-coaster ride.

“So when you come in as a setter, especially somebody that’s new, if you’ve got confidence and some stability about yourself it builds everybody else up. I think she’s a player that’s easy to play with and play for, and that’s a special gift as a setter.”

Although she started 101 matches in her four seasons at Montana, Anderson said her experience Friday was unmatched.

“I can barely put it into words,” Anderson said. “It was one of the best experiences of my volleyball career. I’m filled with just a lot of pride for this place and for where I’ve been and for these people and for myself.”

The Badgers’ depth at setter will be a lot better in the fall with the arrival of highly-acclaimed freshman Charlie Fuerbringer along with Morgan Van Wie. But Anderson already has won over the confidence of her new teammates.

“I feel like she’s brought everything she can,” said Devyn Robinson, who had 10 kills to share the team lead with Sarah Franklin. “She came in ready to learn, ready to grow with everybody and everyone was giving her confidence. It was so easy getting in the gym with her because she was so ready to learn, so eager to be ready for everybody out there on the court. I’m really proud of her.”

Robinson shows off all-around game

In her first four seasons, Robinson only got to serve and play the back row when the Badgers ran out of substitutions late in a set. But Friday she got a rare chance to show what she can do as she recorded a team-high 11 digs to go along with a team-high seven blocks— a rare combination. She also added a service ace, with just one error in 12 attempts.

“It was so fun,” Robinson said. “I don’t think I’ve played all the way around since I was in high school so I was maybe 16, 17 years-old. So it was really fun to go out there and stay in the whole game and get to connect with everybody.”

Serving strategy: Let it rip

After watching Texas serve its way to a national championship last year, one of the major points of emphasis this spring is to kick the serving pace up a notch. And at this point, Sheffield isn’t concerned so much about the accuracy as the velocity.

That showed Friday as the Badgers committed 20 service errors. But they also has 10 aces, with each player getting at least one. Anderson led the way with three.

“We’ve been working hard to make our serves tougher,” Sheffield said. “We erred quite a bit. I appreciate the fans not getting on us too much tonight for that because we’re out there just saying let it rip. Get out there and see how aggressive we can be and serve with confidence and serve with freedom.

“Eventually, we’ll start dialing those things in a little bit. We had 10 aces and we got them out of system a ton. How you miss kind of matters. So many of those misses were just a couple inches from the end line or the top of the net.

“Those things I think you can live with. I don’t get too worked up about those kind of errors. Now, if you’re serving them in the bottom of the net or to Waunakee then we’re going to have some conversations about it. But most of our serves were pretty down close.”

Illinois-Chicago 18 17 13

Wisconsin 25 25 25

UIC (kills-digs-blocks) — Lorenzo 3-7-0, Venturini Sarpi 0-3-0, Young 0-3-0, Jones 1-0-0, Hulst 0-1-0, Kisic 4-4-0, Peter 1-0-0, Harizanova 0-3-0, Hoyos 0-10-0, Garrido 1-0-0, Woodard 2-0-0, Santos 4-0-0, Ditsworth 2-0-0. Totals 18-31-0.

WISCONSIN (kills-digs-blocks) — Anderson 4-4-2, Robinson 10-11-7, Franklin 10-5-3, Smrek 6-0-2, Guctekin 1-9-0, Orzol 4-0-0, Booth 5-0-6. Totals 40-29-10.

Hitting percentage — UIC .-.014, W .410. Aces — UIC 4 (Lorenzo, Young, Kisic, Woodard), W 10 (Anderson 3). Assists — UIC 16 (Venturini Sarpi 8), W 34 (Anderson 27). Att. – 6,622.