Coming off three 3-0 sweeps to win the William & Mary Tribe Invitational last weekend, the UW women's volleyball team will look to carry that momentum back to Madison as they open up the 2010 home season competing in the 19th annual InnTowner Invitational.
The Badgers went 1-2 in last season's invitational, failing to claim the tournament title for only the fourth time in the event's 18-year history, and the first time since 2001. The Wisconsin players have certainly not forgotten about their play last season, and are eager to reclaim the title and pride in the Field House.
""Not winning the InnTowner last year, I think we all have kind of a sour taste in our mouth,"" said senior outside hitter Allison Wack. ""This is our home floor and nobody beats [us] on it. We've really taken that to heart a lot lately.""
Playing three matches in two days at the Field House, the Badgers will first take on Loyola Chicago Friday at 7pm. The Ramblers come into the weekend with a season record of 1-2 after defeating Depaul and falling to both Northwestern and Illinois State. Wisconsin is 10-1 all time against Loyola, including an 8-0 record in Madison.
On Saturday, the Badgers will face Chicago State at noon, followed by Duquesne at 7pm.
Chicago State, which features a new head coach this season, is 0-4 so far. In fact, the Cougars have failed to win a match the past two seasons. The team is currently hitting a negative .029.
Duquesne (Pittsburgh, Pa.) on the other hand, comes into the Field House undefeated with a 4-0 record. The Dukes are the only team in the InnTowner Invitational who finished above .500 record last season (16-14), including the host, Wisconsin. The team is currently averaging over 17.8 digs per set this season.
For Wisconsin, after finishing a disappointing 11-18 overall including 6-14 in the Big Ten last season, the Badgers feature an incredibly deep freshman squad this year. Freshmen Elise Walch, Dominique Thompson, and Julie Mikaelsen all started for the Badgers in last week's invitational. Additionally, Walch was named the most valuable player of the Tribe Invitational.
""We definitely got some good fresh hitters this year, said junior Janelle Gabrielsen. ""We can get up, we can jump and every practice is competitive. We want to show our fans that this year is going to be different.""
Ranked as the eighth best recruiting class this year by Prepvolleyball.com, newcomers also include freshmen Annemarie Hickey and Lindsey Seil and transfers junior Kristy Bourquin and sophomore Bailey Reshel.
""There are more terminators in the group which means that they can finish the play and they're going to do it at a higher efficiency,"" said head coach Pete Waite.
The team is offering free admission as well as free pizza to all UW students for Saturday evening's match.
