Football
Coming off a 34-16 win against Purdue, No. 22 Wisconsin (4-1 overall, 7-2 Big Ten) look forward to facing No. 11 Nebraska (4-1, 8-1) this Saturday in a game with Big Ten championship implications.
“It’s going to be fun,” said head coach Gary Andersen. “It’s going to be a great environment for us, and with three games left in the schedule, this is a very important game for us.”
Even though this will be a key matchup for the Badgers, they will prepare for Nebraska just like they have for any other team this year.
“We’re going to prepare the same. As a coach I think it’s important to allow the kids to prepare exactly the same way to put them in a position to win because if the buildup for the game is too big or not big enough, that’s not good for the players or the coaches.”
Women’s volleyball
This past weekend, No. 4 Wisconsin beat Michigan 3-2 and Michigan State 3-0 to extend their winning streak to 13 games.
“We had two good wins that we were fortunate enough to get,” said head coach Kelly Sheffield. “Sophomore Haleigh Nelson bounced back and had a great week, and Kelli Bates played spectacular at times.”
However, the Badgers’ two victories were not as easy as they seemed and they hope to improve with each game they play.
“Michigan seemed like an uphill battle for us and we had a tough time dealing with them. We played pretty well against Michigan State especially offensively but we had a tough time slowing them down,” said Sheffield. Despite the difficulties UW faced against Michigan, Sheffield was happy with the way his team stuck together and battled to win.
“It was important for us to be tested like that. To win at the highest level you’re going to have nights where things aren’t going your way and you will have to battle and stay together to win,” he said. “I was really proud of the way they did that against Michigan.”
Women’s basketball
The Badgers opened up exhibition play with a 94-55 win over UW-River Falls.
“We are pleased to have won our game last night. We showed a lot of growth in our scoring, and our defense will catch up, but offense is harder to get, believe it or not, than defense”, said head coach Bobbie Kelsey. “We’ve been focusing a lot more on that, but we will ratchet up our defensive intensity here in practice for the next few days and going forward in our games.”
Kelsey expects junior guard Dakota Whyte to play at a high level this year.
“I hope she continues to do that. Dakota has come a long way. She got to play with the Canadian junior national team this summer, and I think that gave her a lot of confidence coming back to our team,” Kelsey said. “We look to her, she plays hard and she does everything we ask her to do.”
Women’s hockey
After having the weekend off, UW will get ready to play a two game series against Minnesota State this Thursday night and Friday afternoon, an atypical scheduling quirk.
“Well, for us, you know, it becomes a school issue. It’s going to be their ability to come in and take their school hat off and put on their hockey helmet and go out and perform Thursday night,” said head coach Mark Johnson. “Friday becomes a little bit more challenging because you play in the afternoon, so some of the kids are coming right from class into the locker room, warming up, putting their gear on and practicing.”
Wisconsin also will have three key players returning from the Four Nations Cup, but Johnson was happy to have had the chance for other players to gain more experience in their absence.
“The nice thing about the depth that we have is when we missed the players, other kids were given an opportunity with more ice time and did very well, so that’s encouraging,” Johnson said.
Men’s and women’s cross country
After finishing first and second, respectively, in the Big Ten championship meets a week ago, the men’s and women’s cross country teams are looking ahead to the NCAA Great Lakes Regional this Friday at home at Zimmer Course.
“The women getting ranked sixth for the first time since 2008, that’s awesome,” said UW Cross Country Director Mick Byrne. “They’re very excited about the upcoming meet, the regional meet here at home and obviously the NCAA championships, and the men winning back our Big Ten trophy. That was awesome … hopefully we get a big crowd out there if the weather cooperates.”
In the race Friday, the women are expected to be in a tough battle against conference champion Michigan State. The men’s team is very young, but is ready to show they can compete with some of the nation’s elite teams this Friday.
“On the women’s side, hopefully you get out of this meet without beating yourself up too much and move onto next weekend,” Byrne said. “Right now, in terms of both squads, it looks like we have plenty of at-large points, so if we don’t get in the top two, we still have a real good shot of moving forward to the NCAA championships.”
