The UW Field House was a flurry of activity Monday morning as Wisconsin’s volleyball team prepared to open its season this weekend.
Media demands, weight training and a team practice had players and staff scurrying about. If there is a calm before a storm, this wasn’t it. Still, players and coaches seemed optimistic and focused.
The Badgers enter the season ranked eighth in the nation and will tip things off with the Opening Spike Classic at the Kohl Center on Aug. 29 and Aug. 31 against 14th-ranked Kansas and fifth-ranked Texas.
The Badgers hope to fill the Kohl Center, where they previously set an NCAA indoor attendance record for women’s volleyball, drawing nearly 17,000 fans for a 2022 contest against Florida.
“We’re all so ready to go out in the Kohl Center and be able to play in front of all the fans and really get the season started,” freshman Madison Quest told the media after practice. “I think we all love the Field House because this is our home and the fans are right on top of us. But then, the Kohl Center, it’s great to be able to get more fans in and play in front of more people.”
The Badgers certainly have plenty of firepower entering the 2025 season. This year’s team features ten new faces, including five freshmen. High-profile transfers Mimi Colyer, Alicia Andrew, Grace Lopez, Grace Egan and Jada Cerniglia have made seamless transitions, according to the coaching staff.
Colyer, a three-time All-American at Oregon and the 2022 National Freshman of the Year, joined sophomore Charlie Fuerbringer and senior Carter Booth on the preseason AVCA National Player of the Year watchlist.
Booth, an imposing athlete at 6’7” and the daughter of 10-year NBA veteran Calvin Booth, is a mere 28 blocks away from 500 for her college career.
Altogether, the talent level the Badgers boast is threatening, and a 3-1 defeat of Notre Dame last weekend gave the coaching staff an opportunity to see what the team looks like.
“We’ve always got stuff to improve on,” assistant head coach Brittany Dildine told Madison365. “There were some good things, some things we haven’t gotten to work on yet. We’ll get there.”
Right now, Dildine said, the team is in as good a place as it can be to open this year’s campaign.
“We’re all moving in the same direction and that’s a great place to start the season from,” she said. “We’ve got a ton of tough competition. This team has really done a nice job of taking things in and being open to learning.”
All-time NCAA volleyball great Lauren Carlini, who played for the team from 2013-2016, joined the coaching staff in September.
Carlini is a four-time All-American, Olympic silver medalist and the winner of the Sullivan Award, which is given annually by the AAU to the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.
Carlini played professionally in Italy, Russia and Turkey before becoming a founding member of League One Volleyball, the startup pro league that played its first season this spring.
Now, she is imparting her wisdom and experience to the younger players for Wisconsin.
“There’s a lot I can kind of see and get into them (the players) really quickly,” Carlini told Madison365. “It’s been really cool to kind of figure out how, as an athlete, would I go and attack this skill? How do I explain this to a player now as a coach? That’s why I’m here and I love being a resource for all the players.”
Tradition, not pressure
Under head coach Kelly Sheffield, the Badgers have reached five Final Fours and played in three national championship games. Sheffield has coached 20 players who earned All-America honors, and the team has compiled an incredible 72-3 record at the Field House since 2020.
The Badgers won the national championship in 2021 and have competed for it every year for the past decade. Having built a championship culture and featured internationally known star players, immense pressure and expectations could permeate the culture for the Badger players.
Dildine said that culture is not a distraction and is what players sign up for when they put on the cardinal and white.
“I think if you’ve got big dreams, the expectation is that there will be distractions,” she said. “The team is prepared. When you opt into being a Badger, you opt into all those things. None of it should be surprising to the players and none of it is too much for them to handle.”
Carlini agreed.
“As a program, we don’t feel any pressure,” Carlini said. “I don’t think these girls feel any pressure. There’s maybe traditions to be upheld … but I don’t think, especially with as many new faces as we have, that there’s any specific goal.”
The Badgers will face high-profile teams all season long. Wisconsin announced the return of the Kohl Center Classic, in which they will face Florida at noon on Sept. 12. The Badgers will also travel to Penn State on Oct. 10 for a showdown with the defending national champions. With those matchups looming, and a powerhouse like Texas coming in opening weekend, Dildine believes it is the perfect opportunity for the young Badgers to test their initial mettle.
“They’ll tell us the truth,” Dildine said of the opening matchups. “We’re the Badgers. We’re gonna play the best we can every day. The results will take care of themselves.”
