Wisconsin BadgersSpring 2021 Overall Record: 18-1
Conference Record: 15-0 (1st)
NCAA Tournament Placement: National Semifinals (L, 0-3 vs. Texas)
Final AVCA Ranking: 3Head Coach: Kelly Sheffield (9th season at Wisconsin)
Record at Wisconsin: 205-49
Returning Starters:Lauren Barnes - SR+, 5'6 L
Danielle Hart - R-SR, 6'4 MB
Devyn Robinson - SO, 6'2 RS/MB
Sydney Hilley - SR+, 6'0 S
Giorgia Civita - SR+, 5'6 DS
Grace Loberg - SR+, 6'3 OH
Dana Rettke - SR+, 6’8 MB
Departures (* denotes starter):Courtney Gorum - R-SO, 6'3 MB (Retired)
Molly Haggerty* - 6'1 OH
Nicole Shanahan - 6'2 MB (Grad transfer to Tennessee)
Deahna Kraft - 6'0 OH/DS
Incoming Players (* denotes Spring 2021 enrollee):Joslyn Boyer - JR, 5'6 L (Transfer from Iowa)
Lauren Jardine* - FR, 6'1 OH
Julia Orzol - FR, 6'1 OH/RS
Sydney Reed* - FR, 5'6 DS/L
Anna Smrek* - FR, 6'9 MB
Spring 2021 Recap:Let me break out the thesaurus and find a bunch of different ways to describe wins.
Yes, the Badgers went undefeated in the regular season, but it still wasn't totally full of sunshine and happiness for Wisconsin. Badger fans will understand, and we'll talk a little about that here.
It all started with a pair of sweeps at home against a short-handed Purdue team. A road trip to Illinois was successful despite some lineup variations. Rutgers and Indiana offered four more sweeps. A trip to East Lansing ended with the Badgers at 10-0.
Then, COVID. I've used that phrase quite a bit during this series. For the Badgers, it yielded nearly a month of mandatory rest and canceled matchups with Nebraska and Iowa. At least Northwestern was charitable enough to hand out a couple wins.
Questions would naturally arise regarding Wisconsin's post-COVID level of play. The Badgers returned to the court in Minneapolis and won a hot mess of a match in which neither team had its starting setter. After the Penn State series got axed, Wisconsin finished the year with sweeps over Michigan to win the Big Ten title.
The Badgers received the top seed in the NCAA Tournament. A sweep over Weber State sent them to the regional semifinals, and another three-set decision over BYU put them one step further.
Getting past Florida would be an extraordinary challenge. The Gators pushed the first-overall seed to five sets before the Badgers emerged with a W. Unfortunately, Wisconsin was overmatched by Texas in the national semifinals and finished the year 18-1.
The Lineup:Wisconsin's only real lineup flux during the spring season came at left-side hitter, and it mostly had to do with who was getting a DS. The Badgers showed up at the Illinois series running
Jade Demps and
Deahna Kraft in the front row, so that was fun.
The Badgers mostly settled on
Molly Haggerty and
Grace Loberg playing all the way around at L1 and L2, respectively. Most of you know the rest:
Sydney Hilley at setter,
Devyn Robinson at opposite (
Giorgia Civita DS),
Dana Rettke at M1,
Danielle Hart at M2, and
Lauren Barnes at libero.
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the outside hitter position is going to be a major storyline for Wisconsin again this fall. Haggerty and Kraft depart. Keep Loberg at L2. The other spot in the starting lineup is going to be a battle between Demps and true freshman
Julia Orzol.
Orzol offers some six-rotation skills and can pass. At this point, it's unlikely that Demps would be a major part of the serve receive pattern this fall. Wisconsin certainly has the means to pinch off Demps in serve receive when she's in the front row. It remains to be seen if the sophomore would stay in the backcourt and get hidden, or if she'd get DS'd. In the scrimmage, we saw the former.
Whoever wins that spot, their role in the offense is a big deal. Robinson is not an out-of-system outlet on the right side. If the L1 can't be that outlet, you could see some struggles when Orzol/Demps share the frontcourt with Robinson. Good passing will be needed.
Of course, it's a conglomeration of super seniors at the other spots. Hilley, Rettke, Barnes, and Civita all used the COVID year. Hart is a redshirt senior. For them, it's the same story as the spring.
The Schedule:It's another solid non-conference slate for the Badgers. They get a tuneup opener against TCU before Baylor presents a stiff challenge the following night. A Dayton double-dip is next at the Fieldhouse before the defending champs come to town. Marquette should be a fun matchup.
Conference play is next up:
The Verdict:This is it. The last hurrah for a transformative group of players.
The new COVID eligibility rules have seemingly presented a perfect storm for a Wisconsin team that now has experience of unprecedented magnitude. In other words, these players have been around for a while.
Fans will be expecting another conference championship. There's too much proven All-American talent to not make it happen. Some questions remain, though, about whether the left sides can step and carry the load. Who will be the new face that emerges there?
Wisconsin should be hosting a regional in the NCAA Tournament. However, the goal is to hoist the trophy at the end of the year. If it's going to happen, now is the time. I'm not going to say that Wisconsin is the title favorite, but anything less than winning it all this year would likely be seen as a disappointment.
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