Volleyball Wraps Up Regular Season on the Road
November 23, 2005 | Volleyball
The 14th-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team heads into the final series of the regular season in search of two road victories to solidify second place in the Big Ten Conference. The Badgers play at Northwestern on Wednesday at 7 p.m. and at Indiana on Saturday at 7 p.m.
'We set a goal to finish as high as possible in the Big Ten, ' said UW head coach Pete Waite. 'Now we have a shot at getting the second seed and that's important for NCAA tournament time in the seedings and the pairings.'
Wisconsin's 21-6 record this season and 13-5 mark in the Big Ten has led to home-court aspirations. The Badgers will learn their tournament fate on Sunday when seedings and pairings for the 64-team NCAA Championship will be announced at 1:30 p.m. on ESPNews.
'Our chances of hosting (the first and second rounds in the Field House) are good,' said Waite. 'With our placement in the conference standings and overall record as well as the number of good wins that we have, my experience tells me that we have a great shot at hosting first and second rounds. Our goal as a team is to finish strong in these last couple of matches to solidify that.
'We finish with two road games, which is always a little tougher than being at home but it's also a good test for us when it gets to tournament time. When we hit the road, we want to be able to play well on the road. '
Northwestern (18-10 overall, 9-9 Big Ten) is now sixth in conference after finishing 10-20 last season. The Wildcats have matured into one of the most improved teams in the league, going 6-0 in November and 8-3 after suffering a sweep to the Badgers in mid-October. Outside hitter Lindsay Anderson, a 6-0 sophomore, is the top Wildcat attacker and server, averaging 3.73 kills and 0.37 service aces per game.
'They've really just steadied out their game, ' said Waite. 'Last year, they were very young. They started five freshmen. They're nice athletes and they just really eliminated the errors on their own side of the net from the first half of the season. They've got some really good wins in conference play. They're higher in the conference, probably, than they have been in several years. Right now, they're playing with a lot of confidence and we have to go down there and play a very hot team.'
Indiana (9-21 overall, 2-16 Big Ten) has lost its last eight matches, six coming in sweeps. The Hoosiers have 10 freshmen on their roster, including 6-2 outside hitter Erica Short. Short leads the team with 3.49 kills per game.
'(Indiana) seems to be struggling this year,' said Waite. 'They're a young group with some nice athletes but they 're having trouble putting the W's on the board. The tough thing is, we 're going down there for the last match of the season.
'It seems like they have their backs up against the wall and they can just play really relaxed and go after a high-ranked team. It would make their season to get a win against us. We really have to be cautious of that.'
