Wisconsin Volleyball Earns High Preseason Ranking
Badger Volleyball is once again high in the NCAA national rankings
The Big Ten Conference is well represented in the “2017 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Top-25 preseason poll.” It’s all Legends and Leaders from spots #4-#7 with Minnesota, Nebraska, Penn State, and Wisconsin all clustered together.
Wisconsin was 7th with 1,149 ranking points, 104 behind 7th place Penn State. The Badgers were a comfortable 64 ranking points ahead of 8th place Kansas.
Four additional Big Ten teams made the ranking with Michigan (16th), Michigan State (17th), The Ohio State (21st), and Purdue (25th) also in the rankings. The rankings foretell a difficult 2017 season in store for Wisconsin Volleyball.
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A UW Athletic Department news release celebrates Wisconsin once again cracking the top ten of the preseason poll.
"It is the ninth time in program history that UW is ranked in the top-10 and the fourth straight year under head coach Kelly Sheffield. Wisconsin was ranked fourth in 2016, tied for fifth in 2015, and sixth in 2014."
Before regular season action, Wisconsin Volleyball starts with a intra-squad “Cardinal and White” scrimmage. That takes place on August 18th at the Field House.
Wisconsin Volleyball opens 2017 play with four straight tournaments. The Badgers are hosting three of those tournaments. UW will have a chance to grow into the season in the friendly confines of the Field House.
- Big Ten/ACC Challenge: August 25-26; Minnesota, North Carolina, Louisville
- KState Invitational: September 1-2; Syracuse, Arkansas, Kansas State
- HotelRed Invitational: September 7-9; Lipscomb, Texas A&M
- Badger Classic: September 14-16; Marquette, Southern Mississippi
That home start will be important because this is a young(ish) Wisconsin Volleyball team. The Badgers have seven freshman, six sophomores, two juniors, and two seniors on the roster. UW has to replace a number of experienced contributors including the 2nd (Haleigh Nelson), 5th (Romana Kriskova), and 6th (Lauren Carlini) points leaders from 2016.
Carlini was the Badger leader for assists with 1,441. For comparative purposes, the next highest tally on the 2016 team recorded 70. She is now an Adidas spokeswoman as she starts her post-Badger professional career.
https://twitter.com/laurencarlini/status/894626625937125381
Carlini, Nelson, and Kriskova combined for 662 kills, a 38 percent share of the Wisconsin season total. That trio was also 2nd, 3rd, and 4th on Wisconsin Volleyball in blocks.
Those early season tournaments before the challenging Big Ten gauntlet begins will be important for Wisconsin Volleyball. They don’t need a four tournament sweep by any stretch. But building chemistry and balance are the near-term goal. Coach Sheffield can use the tournaments to explore roster depth. That will be helpful for assessing the rotation for Big Ten battles.