Kelly Sheffield has been clear that he isn't exactly sure how he's going to work his deep, talented, but young team. With less than 48 hours before the starting match, he was still determining the starting lineup against Kentucky. He also mentioned that he was going to most likely start one libero against the Wildcats and another against the Louisville Cardinals. He did exactly this.
However, a deeper dive into who played in each match shows that Sheffield may be doing more than just figuring things out. There clearly is that, but he's also putting together lineups like a Swiss Army Knife. He may end up having different starters for different matches, every time, depending on how the other team typically plays.
In match one, Wisconsin rolled out a starting lineup with Charlie Fuerbringer as the setter. Grace Egan and Grace Lopez were both listed as right side. Audrey Flanagan and Eva Travis were listed as outside hitters, Jaela Auguste was listed as a middle blocker, and Kristen Simon was the libero. Wisconsin ended up playing 12 total players against Kentucky as Sheffield was searching a bit for a combo that could start to gain momentum.
Do the first two lineups reveal anything about the Wisconsin volleball rotation?
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Against Louisville, Wisconsin had a different lineup rolling out there, with even a weird note that Grace Lopez was wearing the libero jersey and would be a serving specialist. So the starting lineup was Fuerbringer again at setter, Flanagan, and Travis as outside hitters. Egan was the only listed right side, and then Sheffield started with two middles on the court in Lynney Tarnow and Jaela Auguste. There was also a change at libero with Anna Bardaro getting the start.
Against Louisville, though, Sheffield reduced his rotation and kept it to 10 players. There was no Madison Quest or Natalie Wardlow like there was in match one against Kentucky. Isabelle Hoppe went from playing one set in match one to all three sets in match two.
The question is this: Is Sheffield still figuring out his lineups and what works and doesn't work? Or is he truly pulling out different lineups based on the defense and the team that the Badgers are playing?
It's probably a little of both. He's been toying with having his two star liberos on the court at the same time. There have been plenty of lineups with both Bardaro and Simon playing defense in the back row. We also saw a lot of Tarnow and Auguste on the court at the same time.
We may not have a full grasp of how Sheffield is working his rotation and lineups until the Badgers are a handful of games into the season, but it certainly is different than what Wisconsin was working with last year. And as Halle Thompson gets fully healthy and Decelise Champion returns from Puerto Rico, does that change anything?
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