After a mediocre start to its spring season last week, the Wisconsin volleyball team is looking to put on a more impressive performance Saturday when they host a spring invitational tournament against Northern Iowa, Iowa State and Marquette at the UW Field House. The Badgers will play six rounds beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, two rounds with each of their opponents.
Wisconsin came up with strong victories against Division II squads BYU-Hawaii and Chaminade Saturday in an exhibition tournament in Hawaii. But the Badgers lost two out of three games to the University of Hawaii in the same tournament and were swept in the first three games of an exhibition match against the Rainbow Warriors three days earlier. The matches against Hawaii were expected to be difficult as Hawaii and Wisconsin finished 9th and 10th respectively in the AVCA Coaches Top 25 poll at the end of the 2005 season, but they still left the Badgers with a losing record against Division I teams for the season.
Saturday, Wisconsin will face teams not of the same caliber as Hawaii, but will nonetheless provide the Badgers with a challenging day of play. Northern Iowa ended last season with a 20-12 record and made it into the semifinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in 2005 before losing to Wichita State. Iowa State finished 16-15 last season and chalked up impressive wins against Big XII rivals Texas Tech and Texas. Marquette ended last season 17-13 and gained a considerable amount of experience in games against some of the best teams in the country, including Stanford, Notre Dame and Louisville.
One factor that will likely affect Wisconsin's play this weekend will be their starting lineup. Sophomore setter Jackie Simpson sustained an injury that prevented her from playing all of last week. No word has been released as to the nature or extent of her injury, but it is likely that junior Katie Lorenzen will see considerable time as the team's setter Saturday. Lorenzen ran the offense for all the games played in Hawaii last week.
Aside from the probable adjustment at setter, the Badgers' opponents will need to prepare to take on two offensive standouts expected to start for UW, junior middle blocker Maria Carlini and freshman middle blocker Audra Jeffers. Carlini had a team-high 18 kills and two service aces while Jeffers racked up a .275 hitting percentage with 15 kills on 40 attempts in the exhibition match against Hawaii last Wednesday.
