Exceptional season holds huge promise for future
December 30, 2019 | Volleyball, Andy Baggot
Volleyball’s journey to NCAA final shows again why Badgers in elite ranks of college programs
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Thirty or so hours after one long, massive project had ended in sorrow, Wisconsin volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield awoke early Monday morning to the idea of starting another.
It's just how he rolls.
The offseason was entering its second day. Sheffield planned to devote a good chunk of it taking his daughters, Lexi and Reagan, to a matinee showing of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." He also wanted to get caught up after an extended road trip and catch his breath.
But first he laid there, quietly juggling a series of energizing thoughts, each geared toward getting the Badgers one step farther down the road.
"What do we have to do?" he wondered. "How can we expand peoples' games?"
Wisconsin was fresh off a spectacular, if unfulfilling, season in which it won the Big Ten Conference title, knocked off top-seeded Baylor and advanced to the NCAA championship match for the third time overall and second on Sheffield's seven-year watch.
But instead of bringing home the first national title in program history, the Badgers were outdone by defending NCAA titlist Stanford at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The Cardinal have won a record nine national championships — three in the last four years — for good reason and it was evident during a 25-16, 25-17, 25-20 sweep that prompted Sheffield to describe the performance in admiring tones.
"They're right up there with the best of them," he said of Stanford, mentioning Penn State and its "awfully, awfully special" four-year run of dominance from 2007 to '10 as well as recent championship clubs at Nebraska (2015, '17) and Texas (2012). "You can put them on par with any of them."
Which helps explain Sheffield's plea to his players the moment the match was over.
No tears, at least not in public.
"They were playing one of the all-time greats and (the Cardinal) were on top of their game," he said. "(Wisconsin players) had absolutely nothing to hang their head about, nothing to feel like they had failed.
"It's really easy to get small in those moments. My message was that you've earned the right to project strength as well."
The Badgers finished 27-7 overall after opening the season 4-4. All four losses came at the hands of ranked opponents. Three of the setbacks came, uncharacteristically, at the raucous UW Field House.
After consecutive losses to No. 10 Washington in a non-conference home-and-home series, Wisconsin won 10 of the next 11 matches versus ranked opponents and didn't lose again at home.
Sheffield declined to compare growth spurts of his Badgers teams, but it's obvious this one grew exponentially.
"All I know with this group is that they understood this is a long season and we weren't far off from where we wanted to be," he said. "They trusted the process."
No one strayed from the path. No one tapped the emotional brakes. No one gave in to selfish temptations.
"They trusted the process," Sheffield repeated. "It's easy to say when you're winning all the time. It's easy to trust the process when things are going your way. What's a little bit harder is when things aren't going your way.
"Trusting the process means you stay coachable, that you're still trying to find ways to get better, that you're being a great teammate and you're coming in with great enthusiasm every day," Sheffield said. "That's trusting the process. That can get tested when you have some losses that you're not expecting.
"This group never deviated. They stayed with it."
Sheffield noted how the four early losses included a cluster of six failed sets that were decided by three points or less. Those tight situations provided a lot of valuable insights that translated to the rest of the season.
"Dramatically different" is how Sheffield described the evolution.
"That doesn't just happen," he said. "A lot of work goes into being comfortable and confident and trusting and courageous and patient."
It's easy to understand why Sheffield is already drawn toward the bright light of next season. The Badgers return most of their firepower, including first-team All-America middle blocker Dana Rettke, first-team All-America setter Sydney Hilley, second-team All-America outside hitter Molly Haggerty and honorable mention All-America outside hitter Grace Loberg.
"I think we're bringing in some nice pieces to help," Sheffield said of his three-person recruiting class, all of whom rank in the top 30 nationally. "There may be room for a transfer or so as well."
The bottom line: "We'll be right there in the mix again," Sheffield said.
The goal remains unchanged.
"We're certainly trying like the dickens to bring a championship to Madison," Sheffield said.
"I know with some fans it's championship or bust and it's a horrible season (minus a national title). I can't look at it that way. I won't look at it that way. That's so small.
"Year in and year out we want to be one of the best teams in the country. One day we're hoping to break through."
Sheffield has nothing but pride for the way his team went about its business this season.
"The ways that I measure success, these guys aced it as individuals and as a group," he said.
"We've got great people coming back and people with great character coming in. I guarantee it will be a group that's fun to watch and they're giving up a night to cheer for because they do things the right way and they inspire along that way with how they go about it."
