MADISON, Wis. -- Halfway through the Big Ten Conference season, the fourth-ranked Badger volleyball team finally has a lineup that it's going to stick with.
Ironically, it's the same lineup that Wisconsin started with nearly two months ago in its season-opening tournament at Hawaii, but since then things have changed.
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"I think prior to these last two matches, we had a different lineup the last eight (matches)," head coach
Kelly Sheffield explained. "It's hard to get really good at this particular sport when people are kind of moving all over the place. It's time for there to be some cohesion in us plowing forward but yeah, I think we've got it figured out."
The Badgers have used the same lineup the last three matches and while they are only 1-2 with these starters, Wisconsin is finding its groove again.
"I think we've kind of got locked in on what's going to be our best lineup," said Sheffield. "It's time to get good at this lineup."
The lineup Sheffield is referring to is senior
Lauren Carlini at setter, senior
Haleigh Nelson and sophomore
Tionna Williams at middle blocker, junior
Lauryn Gillis and freshman
Molly Haggerty at outside hitter, redshirt senior
Romana Kriskova at right-side hitter, and junior
Kelli Bates at libero.
Only Carlini, Nelson and Williams have started all 19 matches this season, all in the same position.
"We were trying to figure out where everybody should be," Sheffield said of the lineup changes. "We were trying to give (Lauryn) Gillis and (Molly) Haggerty — see what it looked like with them on the right (side). There were some exciting things that they brought on the right that we wanted to take a look at.
"I think it's trying to figure out where the pieces fit best. We weren't able to do that in preseason or preconference season. It's kind of in that odd area where you're trying to figure it out the first half of the Big Ten season."
The Badgers couldn't resolve their lineup issues during preseason camp due to an injury to freshman
M.E. Dodge. Dodge, a 5-foot-10 defensive specialist, was expected to challenge for the starting libero spot, but a knee injury sidelined her for much of preseason camp as well as the first three matches of the year.
The injury to Dodge moved Bates, who has started the last two seasons at outside hitter, to libero. With the junior keying the back-row defense, Wisconsin opened the season 5-0, winning the Rainbow Wahine Invitational with a 3-0 mark and its own HotelRED Invitational with a 2-0 record.
Dodge returned to court just in time, as Gillis missed the next six matches with an ankle injury. The injury moved Bates back to the front row while Dodge started at libero. That lineup went 5-1 but when Gillis returned in late September, that's when the starters changed again.
Both Haggerty and Gillis saw playing time on the right side and Kriskova on the left. Senior
Tori Blake, a middle blocker, was also moved to the right side to provide more blocking while a trio of defensive specialists — Dodge,
Sarah Dodd and
Amber MacDonald — provided added depth in the back row.
After getting swept by No. 3 Minnesota at home on Oct. 12, the coaches knew something needed to change. UW switched back to its season-opening lineup and saw immediate improvement in communication and teamwork.
According to Sheffield, the Badgers still have a lot of work to do and have plenty of room for improvement especially with a big match on Friday against 10th-ranked Penn State. The Nittany Lions have had Wisconsin's number the last few seasons with UW not claiming a victory since the 2011 season.
"It's time for us to show up against those guys," Sheffield said. "We've gotten it handed to us the past couple of years for whatever reason. Those were really good teams (but) it's a new team and a new year. There ought to be a little bit of extra hunger when you're playing against somebody that's kind of owned you like that program has the last couple of years."
Barring any injuries, this lineup can hopefully bring that hunger.
