Wisconsin had to go up against No. 4 Pitt without two of their best players. Jaela Auguste wasn't a huge surprise, as she missed the match a few days before against No. 5 Stanford. She's also been dealing with issues since the start of the season. However, Grace Egan was a new one, and one that Wisconsin fans didn't see coming. She seemed full-go a couple of days ago, but was completely unavailable against Pitt.
That pushed more freshmen into the fire, and the Badgers were unable to respond. The first set was embarrassing, and while Wisconsin was able to rally in the next two sets, they could never put together enough of an attack to win a set against the Panthers. After the match, Wisconsin head coach Kelly Sheffield was asked about these two injuries, and he basically dodged the question.
If you understand Sheffield's sense of humor, you can read the following words and know what he was doing. But it left more questions than answers. Though there are some answers. He was point-blank asked, "One of your reporters from Wisconsin texted me and asked 'Is asking what's the latest with Jayla and Grace Egan, and what did you see from some of the players that stepped up in those spots?'"
Kelly Sheffield completely dodges the intent of the injury update question after Pitt loss
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Sheffield decided to make jokes instead of describing what sort of injury was happening with either or both: "The latest on those two? [Well,] they watched, and they cheered. I think that was the latest thing that I saw. They were in our locker room when I talked to everybody afterward, and I thought they did a great job of sitting there and listening. And they're two really important players for us."
That was it; there was no follow-up or pushing Sheffield to answer the injury concerns, but he did answer at least something. That they are around, cheering, and still traveling with the team. That basically eliminates any major injury concerns and may just be the lingering stuff that happens in the course of a volleyball season.
He also talked about Grace Lopez's injury, which has also been holding the Badgers back so far this season. Lopez is the only true right-side hitter on the team. She was finally able to play in the front row in this Pitt game but still in a limited way. "This was a little victory, you know, to get to this point and go out there and play and let it rip."
It does feel as if Sheffield is indicating that Lopez will now be full-go going forward, and this was a good test for her. So, on that front, at least some injury news is good. There's also the arrival of Decelise Champion next week, who knows how she will fit in right away, but clearly the Badgers can use some help on the attack, and that's what Champion does best.
For now, we need to wait and see if Sheffield says anything more about Auguste or Egan. Good news about Lopez, but wait and see for the other two.
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