Volleyball Concludes Four-Match Homestand
November 06, 2007 | Volleyball
The 11th-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team (20-3 overall, 12-2 Big Ten) concludes its four-match homestand this week against travel partner Illinois (15-9, 7-7) Wednesday and Michigan (19-7, 7-7) on Friday. First serve is at 7 p.m. both nights. The Illinois match will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.
With their win over Northwestern last Saturday, the Badgers recorded their 12th-straight 20-plus win season, which dates back to 1994. The record for most season wins is 33, set in 2000.
'Our goals are to play great every time,' said Coach Pete Waite. 'It's not always the (number of) wins because if we play great, the wins will come. And that's what we have to do is get the passion for the players on the court ' have a great time, play high quality ball and they're going to get the wins.'
UW split its matches last weekend, falling to Michigan State on Friday but winning Northwestern Saturday night. Waite believes that the mid-week match against Illinois is a great way for the team to re-focus.
'We kind of had to look from Friday to Saturday as it being kind of a fluke that things kind of fell into place for (Michigan State), as far as them playing on top of their game and us being a little off and it just not working out,' said Waite. 'You really can't dwell on it ' you have to go to the next game right away and be as positive as possible.
'I think we don't have a lot of time that we have to really be in the gym training, which for our kids, sometimes just a short period of time in between (matches) is good. They're ready to get back it; there's no doubt about that.'
Wisconsin is five matches ahead of Illinois and Michigan, who are currently tied for third place in the conference. But Waite knows that both opponents have talented players on their rosters.
'(We) know Illinois is very good,' said Waite. 'They 've got a freshman, Laura DeBruler, who may be the freshman of the year in the conference. She's putting up 25 to 30 kills a match and really nobody in the Big Ten is stopping her. They're a dangerous team and then they're right behind us (in the Big Ten standings).'
Coming into this week, Illinois had won three of its last four matches, including a 3-1 win over Michigan last Saturday. The only loss in that stretch for the Illini was a 3-2 loss to Northwestern last Friday. While Michigan has lost three of their last five matches, they beat Minnesota 3-1 last Friday and downed Iowa 3-0 on Monday.
Only six Big Ten matches remain for all schools this season with teams battling for spots in the NCAA tournament. The end of the regular season also brings the end of college playing careers that much closer.
'I think sometimes as seniors, they see the end and especially if they 're enjoying themselves over the course of their career, they're going to miss it a lot and so they press a little bit,' commented Waite. 'Where sometimes underclassmen, especially freshmen, just go out and they don't know any better. They just play lights out all the time.
'The seniors are looking at each time, every time they finish a road trip and say, `Hey, this is last one we'll be going on.' I don't think they're getting too sentimental about anything, but I think they know they want to have a great finish here. They're all hungry to do well and they'll get things back on track. It's not a big issue to them. I think they're a real stable group.'
