Wisconsin volleyball head coach Kelly Sheffield has yet to really say whether the lineup and rotation we are all seeing in the last two games is the final one until Grace Egan comes back. We have seen basically the same players in each Big Ten match, but with a slight exception. The bench against Purdue got even smaller, and Sheffield said it's because they were "crushing" the Boilermakers.
It's an incredible quote but first, let's look at the lineups we've seen against Oregon and Purdue.
The same starting squad for each Big Ten game
The starting seven listed was the exact same for both matches:
Setter - Charlie Fuerbringer
Outside Hitter - Audrey Flanagan
Outside Hitter - Eva Travis
Right Side - Decelise Champion
Middle Blocker - Jaela Auguste
Middle Blocker - Lynney Tarnow
Libero - Anna Bardaro
Against Oregon, Sheffield played 11 different players throughout the four sets. Yet, there were only eight that were part of the main rotation and appeared in all four sets. The above seven and Kristen Simon, who's settled into a defensive specialist role on this team. Isabelle Hoppe was the only other one to come close to playing in every set, as she saw action in three. With serving being her primary function.
Against Purdue, as mentioned above, it tightens up a lot, yet also expands in one way. Sheffield only plays nine total players, but all nine of them saw action in every single set. This indicates this may be his preferred rotation (until Grace Egan is back). It's the exact same nine listed above. The eighth is Simon, and the ninth is Hoppe.
For Sheffield, he said he did this because this group was settled into a spot where they weren't backing down or letting Purdue fight their way back into it. “We were crushing our opponent." Sheffield said, "There was no reason to go any longer than that. Sometimes we try to overthink things, you know, and we were playing well.”
It has a lot to do with errors and momentum for Sheffield. "We've been playing pretty clean for the past few matches. I mean, very, very few attack errors. There were very few serving errors. We just didn't give them a lot of points yesterday.”
Does this mean that Sheffield has found his starting lineup and rotation? It sure seems like it. While he's not the type to tip his hand, this is the lineup that has started two straight Big Ten games, and these nine players are the only ones consistently finding a place in the rotation.
The only real surprise from this rotation is that Grace Lopez and Natalie Wardlow don't really seem to have a role. Wardlow played a little against Oregon but wasn't seen at all against Purdue. The Badgers haven't had Lopez on the court at all in conference play.
It's a wild place to be for Wisconsin volleyball, as the starting seven include four true freshmen. It's a young squad, but one that is growing together.
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