With four non-conference tournaments under its belt, the No. 18 Wisconsin volleyball team (10-2) heads into this upcoming weekend in pursuit of its first pair of conference victories. For the fourth time in five weeks, the Badgers will take to the road with stops at Iowa (8-4) and No. 12 Minnesota (10-2) and hopes of coming away with two more notches in the win column.
I think the nonconference play went pretty well. It was kind of as we expected it,"" Wisconsin head coach Pete Waite said. ""With a new nucleus on the court, we had to take some time to figure things out. We used that first month of play to get ready [for the Big Ten], and now we've got to go.""
The Hawkeyes enter conference play with a bad reputation of being the worst team in the Big Ten in recent years. In its 2007 campaign, Iowa only managed to come up with one conference win in 20 matches and failed to make the NCAA tournament for a staggering 13th consecutive year.
Fortunately for Iowa, this season has started off on the right foot. Under the tutelage of first year head coach Sharon Dingman, the Hawkeyes have earned victories against teams from the ACC, Big East, and SEC and three complete sweeps at their own Hawkeye/Holiday Inn Challenge last weekend.
""We're still pretty familiar with the personnel [at Iowa],"" Waite said. ""It's just a matter of sometimes a new staff will bring in some different tendencies. It's more of a mentality, I think. The past team at Iowa was kind of down, just not a real tight unit. I think they might be fighting harder now for the new staff.""
Saturday's bout with the Golden Gophers has more riding on it than a win and bragging rights. In particular, Minnesota will be looking to avenge the embarrassing loss it suffered last year on its home court when the Badgers came in and swept the Gophers with an astounding 22-kill performance from outside hitter Brittney Dolgner. It was the first time Wisconsin had won in Minnesota since 2001.
""[This] is a great rivalry, and they're going to want to get the win,"" Waite said. ""They were young last year, when we were a veteran team. They're a year older and we're still a pretty mature team, so I think it's going to be good.""
Despite her current status as the 10th-ranked kill leader in the Big Ten, Dolgner will have to have another brilliant night to overcome the best blocking team in the conference in Minnesota. The Gophers' sophomore middle blocker Lauren Gibbemeyer has been averaging nearly 1.5 blocks per set, good for second overall in the Big Ten. On the offensive side of the ball, Gibbemeyer has also posted 142 kills this year and six service aces.
But Wisconsin goes into the weekend with enough firepower of its own. The Badgers rank third in the conference in blocking and fourth in kills, with Dolgner and junior right-side hitter Katherine Dykstra leading the team in that category. In addition, senior middle blocker Audra Jeffers has been stellar as of late, posting 30 kills and 20 blocks in the last three matches and earning a spot on the All-Tournament team last weekend at Marquette.
""This weekend will be a good test for us,"" Jeffers said. ""We know that Iowa has a new coaching staff, so they're kind of a new team, [and] they've got some good players. Minnesota's going to be tough, too. We're going to have to be focused [and] keep working together on improving.
