à ¥With a somewhat successful non-conference campaign behind it, the No. 9 UW volleyball team (9-1) starts the Big Ten season tonight with a match against Illinois (8-2) in Champaign. Compared to nearly every other conference in the country, the Big Ten is arguably the most difficult league, with five teams currently sitting in the AVCA Top 25 standings and a slew of players who rank among the best in the country in every statistical category. The Badgers were picked in the preseason as the runner-up in the Big Ten come year's end, but with the senior experience they have on their roster, they stand a good chance of challenging No. 3 Penn State for the conference title.
Led by senior co-captains middle blocker Taylor Reineke and libero Jocelyn Wack, fans can expect the Badgers to see high kill counts from sophomore outside hitter Brittney Dolgner and exceptional performances from sophomore outside hitter Caity DuPont, junior middle blocker Audra Jeffers, sophomore opposite hitter Katherine Dykstra and junior outside hitter Morgan Salow. Senior setter and 2006 Second-Team All-American Jackie Simpson will set up the offense for the squad that will legitimately compete for a conference title.
Every team in the Big Ten - including some of the teams that currently reside in the bottom half of the standings - have considerable strengths that will challenge the Badgers all the way into December.
Michigan
Michigan is currently sitting atop the standings as the only undefeated team in the conference. The maize and blue upset No. 10 Hawaii to start the 2007 campaign and face their first Big Ten tests this weekend against Illinois and Wisconsin. The well-rounded Wolverines are led by senior outside hitter Katie Bruzdzinski who has totaled 190 kills and 28 service aces this season. Senior libero Stesha Selsky is also leading the Big Ten with 6.7 digs per game. The Wolverines will look to their seniors to carry them through the perpetual big guns of Penn State, Minnesota and the Badgers to win its first Big Ten title since 1981.
Northwestern
Northwestern currently sits in third place in the Big Ten behind Michigan and Wisconsin after sweeping its own Wildcat Classic last weekend. Head Coach Keylor Chan intends to improve on Northwestern's seventh place Big Ten finish last year but will face a tough opening weekend at Ohio State and Penn State on the road.
Kate Nobilio, a sophomore libero, was crowned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week on Sept. 17 and is second in the league in digs per game and freshman setter Elyse Glab is leading the league in assists. Senior outside hitter Courtney Paulus from Belgium, Wis., will try to lead the young Wildcats out of their recent Big Ten funk.
Penn State
Penn State has won the past four Big Ten championships, and the Lions will look to keep that streak alive in 2007. PSU's offense, leading the league in hitting percentage this season, is loaded with the likes of juniors Nicole Fawcett and Christa Harmotto and the 2006 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Megan Hodge. The team is leading the league in kills per game and overall hitting percentage, as its stacked front line will be tough to defend against.
Illinois
Don Hardin won his 200th match as head coach of Illinois last weekend in Toledo, Ohio, giving the Illini an 8-2 record on the 2007 season thus far. His losses, both of which went five games, came against two nationally ranked opponents in Dayton and LSU. This year's team is one of his youngest ever, as Hardin starts two freshmen on the front line. Outside hitter Laura DeBruler is currently fourth in the Big Ten at 4.7 kills a game, and middle blocker Johannah Bangert, at .421, ranks fourth in hitting percentage. Illinois will try to improve on last year's dismal ninth place Big Ten finish.
Michigan State
After a rough start of three straight losses, Michigan State won its next nine to salvage its non-conference season. Currently perched in sixth place, the Spartans have a long trek to their first conference championship crown since 1996.
Michigan State leads the conference in total service aces, led by senior Katie Johnson with 22 on the year. They will need all the aces they can get this weekend as they travel to Penn State and Ohio State.
Indiana
At the start of conference play, Indiana finds itself in the middle of the conference but has little chance of moving up. The Hoosiers never seemed to pose any sort of threat in years past and have not given any significant indication that things have improved under the direction of first-year head coach Sherry Dunbar. While they started off with a decent 9-3 record, they were swept by No. 23 St. John's and Tennessee, their most difficult opposition in their non-conference schedule, and gave up games in five other matches.
Junior outside hitter Erica Short leads IU's offensive attack thus far with 4.74 kills per game, but as a team, the Hoosiers are ninth in the conference in both hitting percentage and kills. To add to its concerns, the Indiana offense is being led by freshman setter Mara Hilgenberg, who has yet to have her first taste of Big Ten play.
Iowa
If there is one positive aspect the Hawkeyes can pull from last season, it might be that they cannot possibly do any worse this season. The Hawkeyes finished the 2006 season dead last in the Big Ten and are looking to make some positive changes. Fortunately, Iowa's performance thus far in the season can give fourth-year head coach Cindy Fredrick reason to be hopeful. In their losses to No. 17 BYU and No. 23 LSU, the Hawkeyes pushed each match to five games and finished the non-conference season with a pair of sweeps against Ball State and College of Charleston.
Unfortunately, Iowa enters this season with a lack of offensive weapons, ranking last in the Big Ten in both hitting percentage and kills. There is hope on the defensive side of the ball, though, as junior middle blocker Laura Kremer and redshirt freshman middle blocker Becky Walters rank eighth and tenth in the Big Ten in blocks.
Minnesota
Minnesota might be sitting in the bottom third of the conference at the moment, but it certainly will not be there for long. After all, the Gophers are No. 12 in the nation and have only suffered losses to the likes of No. 23 Ohio, No. 11 Cal and No. 2 Stanford. Head coach Mike Hebert's team was the only team in the Big Ten to defeat Wisconsin twice last year.
Led by senior middle blocker Jessy Jones and senior basketball-star-turned-defensive-specialist Kelly Roysland, the Gophers have a stellar defense that ranks first in the Big Ten in blocking as a team. Jones is currently the best blocker in the conference, averaging 1.59 blocks per game and coming up with 12 solo stuffs in the first 10 matches of the year. Offensively, freshman outside hitter Brook Dieter provides the Gophers with the second best kill average in the conference with 4.77 per game. Since Minnesota is such a well-rounded team, look for it to make a legitimate run for the Big Ten title alongside Penn State and Wisconsin.
Ohio State
Another team that is better than its standing in the conference would indicate is Ohio State. Under head coach Jim Stone's 26-year run at Columbus, Ohio State has accumulated a 381-133 record, establishing itself as a top 25 team in each of the past 18 years - and this year will prove no different. Despite losses to unranked Colorado State and Oregon, the Buckeyes' most notable non-conference highlight was a dogfight against No. 4 USC that ended in a five-game loss.
The Buckeyes do not stand out as a league leader in any statistical category thus far in the season, but they do have a pair of senior standouts leading the team in middle blocker Danielle Meyer, who ranks second in the Big Ten in blocks, and outside hitter Briana McCarthy, who ranks sixth in the conference in service aces. Though Ohio State will likely not have what it takes to win the conference title, it does have the potential to win matches against league leaders like Penn State, Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Purdue
The team that sits all alone in last place in the Big Ten is more or less a shock. Purdue is a perennial powerhouse, not just in the conference but in the country. The Boilermakers started the season ranked No. 13 in the country and have since fallen out of the national standings because of four losses accumulated during non-conference play. But it would be a costly mistake for teams to think any less of Purdue for starting the season with four losses; the only games the Boilermakers dropped were to No. 18 Duke, No. 4 USC, Dayton and Utah, both of whom received votes for a national ranking the week before defeating Purdue.
If it gets running on all cylinders, Purdue has the potential to make waves in the conference and beat anyone on its schedule - at least on its home court. Defensively, senior defensive specialist Anne Mastandrea leads her team in digs with 244, but as a whole, the Boilermakers are the best digging team in the Big Ten. Junior outside hitter Stephanie Lynch leads the team offensively with a .363 hitting percentage so far this year, good for 10th best in the conference. The Boilermakers have the potential to be far more successful than half of the teams in the conference, including Michigan, so do not expect them to be sitting at the bottom for long.
