MADISON – The Wisconsin volleyball team may have a tough time catching Nebraska in the Big Ten race, but the Badgers can still set themselves up nicely for the NCAA tournament.
The field will be announced Nov. 26. If the Badgers take care of business during the next two weeks they’ll be in good position to earn a top-four seed that will keep them at home for the first weekend of the postseason as well as the second, should they advance.
UW (23-2, 14-2 Big Ten) entered the week fifth in the NCAA RPI, which ranks teams based on record and strength of schedule. It is one of the tools the selection committee uses to pick and seed teams for the tournament.
Getting a win at Purdue (17-8, 11-5) on Friday (first serve at 6 p.m.) would add another line to the Badgers' resume. The Boilermakers are No. 15 in the RPI, third behind No. 7 Tennessee and No. 10 Arkansas (twice) among the opponents UW has defeated.
Wisconsin beat Purdue in four sets Nov. 1, though the Boilermakers won the second set in dominating fashion.
"Purdue, you’re always going to get an amazing environment in there. It's energized,” UW coach Kelly Sheffield said Monday during his weekly news conference at the McClain Center. “The team plays hard. They came to our place in the second set absolutely crushed us.”
Wisconsin volleyball falls one spot in coaches poll
The Badgers (23-2, 14-2 Big Ten) dropped to No. 3 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll behind No. 1 Nebraska and No. 2 Stanford following their loss to Penn State on Saturday. That is the lowest UW has been ranked this season.
The Nittany Lions shut down the Badgers as no team has this season, holding them to a season-low .176 hitting percentage. The loss came one night after Wisconsin had a .475 hitting percentage in a sweep of Maryland. UW was initally credited with a .500 hitting percentage before the stats were revised.
The shift in success from one night to the next can be attributed to the opponent – Penn State climbed five spots in the poll to No. 14 –as well as the Badgers' ineffective play.
Sheffield, while crediting the Nittany Lions defense, also thought his team didn’t challenge them from the service line and didn’t play with its usual discipline.
Monday the team was scheduled to review the game and return to the court Tuesday.
“I think we got outside of our personality and our training and usually when that happens there is a breakdown in trust,” Sheffield said. “And usually when there is a breakdown in trust you’re probably not ready for the moment and when you’re not ready for the moment a lot of times that falls on the coach.”
Anna Smrek's availibility uncertain due to injury
There were probably also some continuity issues that Sheffield didn’t mention.
Junior right-side hitter Anna Smrek, who ranks third in the Big Ten with a .396 hitting percentage, didn’t make the trip due an to an "upper-body" injury. Julia Orzol, Temi Thomas-Ailara and Gulce Guctekin took on different roles in her absence.
Sheffleld learned in the middle of last week Smrek wouldn’t be able to play.
“You have to pivot, but that is what you do in sports,” he said. “There’s constantly pivoting that is happening. That is why you have a team and depth and why as players you’ve got to train to do more than one thing.
“She’s an important player, but it’s still your job to find a way when adjustments happen because they do.”
And this is an important stretch. Following Purdue, the Badgers will visit Indiana Sunday.
They’ll be at home for the final week of the regular season, vs. No. 1 Nebraska on Nov. 24 and Iowa on Nov. 25.
Maybe they’ll be home for the first two weekends of the NCAA tournament, too. Whether that happens could depend on how the team embraces the challenge of learning from last week’s loss.
“Different teams I’ve had grab on to that differently,” Sheffield said. “One thing I’ll be looking forward to is how we respond because you do have a choice of how you respond to that. Knowing these players, I feel they’ll be energized to get back into the film room and start breaking that down and in the practice gym. I’d be shocked if that’s not the case.”
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