The dance continues
December 10, 2014 | Volleyball
Dec. 10, 2014
Day One NCAA Photo Gallery  | Interactive NCAA Bracket
MADISON, Wis. -- Only 16 teams are still playing volleyball and the fourth-seeded Badgers are one of those teams.
"We are very fired up and fortunate to still be playing as of one of 16 teams," head coach Kelly Sheffield said at Monday's news conference. "We don't take that for granted. There's a lot of really good programs around the country whose seasons have already ended."
Wisconsin heads to Louisville, Kentucky, this weekend to compete in NCAA Regional play. The Badgers (30-2) face Big Ten Conference opponent Ohio State (23-11) in the semifinals at 4 p.m. on Friday. Fifth-seeded Penn State (32-3) takes on UCLA (22-11) in the second semifinal at 6 p.m. Semifinal winners advance to the regional championship on Saturday at 3 p.m. for the right to advance to next weekend's NCAA Championship in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
| Â Regional Semifinals | #4 Wisconsin vs. Ohio State | |
| Â Date | Â Friday, Dec. 12Â | 4 p.m. CT |
|  Location |  KFC Yum! Center | Louisville Ky. |
| Â Watch Live | Â ESPN3 |
| Â Live Stats | Â Gametracker |
|  Radio |  The Mic 92.1 or iHeartRadio app |
| Â Blog | Â Gameday Live |
| Â Social Media | Â @BadgerVB  |Â Facebook  |
| Â Mobile App | Â Badger Gameday |
|  Match Notes |  Wisconsin | Ohio State |
UW faced Ohio State twice this season, sweeping them both times with the most recent win coming in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 21. Penn State handed the Badgers their only Big Ten loss of the season back in late September while Wisconsin hasn't face UCLA since 2005.
"Three Big Ten teams here going to Louisville and that's kind of interesting," Sheffield explained. "Ohio State, we get an opportunity to play them for a third time. And a really, really talented team that looked awfully good against a seeded Kentucky team the other day. I thought they served and passed better than they have all year long. Offensively when they pass, they're a handful."
Many fans are expecting a regional final matchup between Wisconsin and Penn State, the same two teams that met in the 2013 NCAA Championship match, but the Badgers continue to approach the season one match at a time.
"At this point of the year, we're going to study our opponents and get going with a game plan, but I think so much of it is that you are at this point of the year, anybody will be able to beat you," Sheffield said. "You have to be prepared to play your best match of the year. And you've got to be willing to look yourself in the mirror throughout this week and say all right, it's go time and I better be ready. Because you better believe your opponents are going to be ready."
One thing is certain and that is all four teams competing will have changed during the season. Wisconsin is not the same team that got swept by Penn State on Sept. 24 and Ohio State is not the same team that the Badgers defeated twice this year. Even the Nittany Lions have changed their lineup as the season has gone on.
"I hope we're different. I hope we're better," said Sheffield of his team. "We've got bad coaching if we're not better. We've fixed some things on our end and hopefully we approach a match, the game a lot better.
"I think we understand our identity a little bit better than what we did at that point. Even though we only graduated one player, I think we were still trying to figure out who we were this first couple of months of the year.
"I think we have a little bit better understanding of what we are and what we're not. If we get another opportunity to play in the Elite Eight, whoever we're against, we're going to be pretty darned excited about it."
