Riding high on the wave of a 12-game winning streak and a 13-match home winning streak, the Badger volleyball team takes on NCAA runner-up, No. 5 Minnesota (10-1) and a much-improved Iowa (9-3) team this weekend. Proving that they could beat elite teams last year, especially with the sweep against No. 13 UCLA, Wisconsin welcomes the challenge of the opening of their Big Ten schedule.
\Minnesota is tough, obviously. That match should be a battle,"" head coach Pete Waite said. ""Iowa is better than they have been in years.""
As if facing an elite national team were not motivation enough, the Badgers also have a lesser-known record in danger of being broken this weekend??-Waite is merely two wins away from being the winningest head coach in Wisconsin volleyball history. He also owns a ridiculous .773 winning percentage over his 6-plus years as the Badger head coach.
""It's not really something I ever thought about,"" Waite said. ""Now that I'm close, it's nice to know we've done some good things.""
It seems that every Badger player has been on a roll lately, but two that have been on fire are sophomore Jocelyn Wack and junior Maria Carlini. Wack is on a 40 match streak with 10 or more digs, and her 22 against Valparaiso were second highest all-time for UW in a three-game match.
Carlini had two double-doubles this weekend, with 11 kills and 13 digs against Villanova and 10 kills and 10 digs against UCLA.
Wisconsin will certainly have its hands full with their first opponent, Minnesota, Friday night. The Golden Gophers have won seven straight matches and their lone loss came to the best team in the nation, No. 1 Nebraska.
There is no one player the Badgers have to watch out for, as the Gophers have a very balanced attack, with eight players averaging more than two kills per game. The closest thing to a star on the team defending against the UW attack is senior Paula Gentil, who gets 5.57 digs per game and is probably the best server as well. Wisconsin will be hard-pressed to continue their season-long streak of playing no more than three games.
""Minnesota is too good for that,"" Waite said. ""We expect it will be a long battle.""
After sweeping the Coastal Carolina Invitational, the Iowa Hawkeyes bring some momentum into town this weekend. The main threats are freshman Catherine Smale and sophomore Stacy Vitali, who average 3.53 and 3.24 kills per game, respectively. UW will have to make sure to respect Iowa, no matter what the outcome of Friday's match.
The clash with Minnesota is at 7 p.m. at the Field House on Friday and the Iowa match will start at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Students get in free with stub from the Michigan football game.
