UW Volleyball Coach Pete Waite spoke Monday less than a week before his team's entry into the conference schedule. After posting an 11-0 record in non-conference play, the best start in Waite's 12 years at the helm of the program, the Badgers now head into Big Ten play as one of only 10 teams in the nation and one of two in the Big Ten with an unblemished record.
However, Coach Waite knows that the conference schedule will bring a much higher level of competition and thus present his young team with a much different set of challenges.
""The Big Ten is really strong,"" he said. ""We've got a lot of teams in the top 25 right now, probably more than ever since I've been around"".
The Badgers will come face-to-face with the strength of the conference from the outset, with the first three conference opponents all coming in ranked in the top 25, with two of those (Penn State and Illinois) ranking among the top five in the nation.
Still, Waite knows that although the competition level is about to rise significantly, his team is ready for the challenge. ""The kids have a lot of confidence and they are playing well,"" Waite said. ""We have the tools to compete against these teams and that's encouraging.""
The challenge for this Badger squad is to turn their youth in their favor.
""We're starting a number of young players, sometimes [we have] four freshman and a sophomore out there,"" said the 23-year coaching veteran. ""They don't know any better, they just go out and play.""
While youth is being served in the Field House this season, the key to keeping this in the Badger's favor is the presence and performance of the veterans they do have on the young squad. Senior Kim Kuzma has been a key part of this process, playing the role of defensive stopper this season. Kuzma comes into conference play ranking fourth in per set digs and has been in double-digits all 11 matches. While her defense has gotten the attention, Waite has been impressed by Kuzma's improvement throughout her game. ""All three areas, for a senior to step up like that, it's amazing to make that kind of stride,"" Waite said of the senior libero.
Despite their youth, the Badgers have improved in all aspects of their game from a year ago when they finished a disappointing 11-18. The team has shown improvement statistically across the board, with increased kills, assists, service aces, digs and blocks per set. ""We have so many more terminators in the game right now,"" Waite said. ""Kids who can just finish plays.""
So while the schedule so far has yet to give a true picture of where this Badger squad stands in the highly competitive Big Ten, they can only beat the teams on their schedule and that is exactly what they have done. ""We've done what we need to do in pre-conference play,"" Waite said. ""We think we've got a shot and we're gonna take it.""
