The No. 23 Wisconsin women's volleyball team will begin their 2004 campaign when they host the Badger Challenge Friday and Saturday night at the UW Field House. UW will first play host to Missouri before taking on No. 12 Georgia Tech Saturday night to close out the tournament. After more than three full weeks of practice and the annual Cardinal vs. White Intrasquad scrimmage, the Badgers are more than ready to see what they can do once the season begins this weekend.
\For us, it is going to be a real chance to throw our team right in the mix with some of the top competition in the country and it will really gauge where we are right now and what we need to work on,"" said Head Coach Pete Waite of his team's season opener. ""We are playing two really strong teams with great coaches-both teams are just very fundamentally strong.""
""Missouri has some real nice athletes. They have very consistent play on their side and don't make many mistakes, while Georgia Tech has a very fast offense. We played both of them last year-one in the spring and one in the fall, so we have a sense of their style.""
Wisconsin finished ranked 21st last year with a 22-11 record overall and hope to improve on that standing-which they may well do as long as the younger players fill the void left by last year's graduates. Coach Waite says he knows this weekend's opponents were both very competitive last year and neither had an overwhelming turnover from their previous squads.
""Georgia Tech lost their starting setter and one middle but they have a good number of others returning,"" Waite said. ""Missouri has a bunch of players coming back that we saw in the spring so they will absolutely be solid and they have a veteran setter returning so that's always important.""
But while the coaching staff has scouted the competition, the Badgers know they have to worry about playing their own game if they are going to have a successful tournament.
""Our ball control and our setting are going to be the most important,"" Waite said. ""It's the first time we will have had a chance to get this lineup on the court. We will have two or three freshmen on the court sometimes so it will be important for the upperclassmen to lead them and show them how it's done.""
Wisconsin enters this year with seven of its 15 players never having taken part in fall competition for the Badgers. When asked if perhaps this team's inexperience could have any effect on their performance in their first tournament this season, Waite was optimistic.
""There is no doubt that practice has helped them [with that], but still when you get on the court for the first time and put on the uniform you crank it up another notch,"" Waite said. ""We will see how they react to that, but I think they are all players that have come from high level club programs and they are used to playing championship matches and being in that atmosphere.""
