Head coach Kelly Sheffield talks to his team during a time out
Photo by: Greg Anderson
Youth not slowing down pursuit of goals
October 22, 2015 | Volleyball
This season's Badgers bring comparisons to 2013
MADISON, Wis. -- The last time the Wisconsin volleyball team had only one senior on its squad was in 2013. Remember that year? After finishing fourth in the Big Ten at 12-8, Wisconsin made an improbable run in the NCAA tournament, advancing all the way to the national championship match before losing to conference foe Penn State.
There are similarities between that team and this year's squad, which also features only one senior.
Heading into Kelly Sheffield's first season as head coach in 2013, the Badgers hadn't been to the NCAA tournament in five years and had averaged only 15 wins per year during that stretch. UW had learn how to win and did just that by the end of the season, claiming six of its last seven matches ? including five straight in the NCAA tournament.
That 2013 team didn't talk about the past, instead focusing on the future. In the same way, this year's team doesn't talk about how young it is, just what it needs to do to win.
"We don't sit there too much and talk about our age," Sheffield said. "What we talk about is 'What do we need to do to become the team that we are capable of becoming?' To be as good as what we are capable of being, we are going to have to clean some of this stuff up a little bit, and it's not major stuff, we've just got get better.
"We've got to get better in a lot of different areas, and we are."
The Badgers' lack of experience may have shown last week when they dropped two matches to then-No. 11 Minnesota. Wisconsin dropped a pair of sets by only two points apiece, sets that could have gone either way.
"You don't even need to look at the stats, anybody that just watches our team is saying, 'Man this team's better than what they were a month ago,'" Sheffield said. "But if you're going into somebody else's place, like the team that we just saw, and you're wanting to go in there and you want to win, when it's winning time, you're going to have to play a little bit cleaner than what we did to beat that caliber of a team. And we're getting there; we're just not there yet."
Wisconsin is 12-6 overall and tied for eighth in the Big Ten at 4-4.
"We've got four losses in conference, which is more than any of us are wanting, but at the end of the day, those are four losses against teams that are all ranked in the top 10," explained Sheffield.
The Badgers lost matches at No. 1 Penn State and at No. 12 Ohio State as well as the two matches to the Golden Gophers. The schedule doesn't get any easier as Wisconsin travels to Iowa and No. 3 Nebraska this weekend.
"The players have got to get better at playing cleaner when it's on the line and the coaches have to do a better job of trying to devise in practices and communicating and helping our players through that, as well," Sheffield said. "I think it's on all of us."
There are similarities between that team and this year's squad, which also features only one senior.
| ||||||||||||||||
| 
| ||||||||||||||||
Heading into Kelly Sheffield's first season as head coach in 2013, the Badgers hadn't been to the NCAA tournament in five years and had averaged only 15 wins per year during that stretch. UW had learn how to win and did just that by the end of the season, claiming six of its last seven matches ? including five straight in the NCAA tournament.
That 2013 team didn't talk about the past, instead focusing on the future. In the same way, this year's team doesn't talk about how young it is, just what it needs to do to win.
"We don't sit there too much and talk about our age," Sheffield said. "What we talk about is 'What do we need to do to become the team that we are capable of becoming?' To be as good as what we are capable of being, we are going to have to clean some of this stuff up a little bit, and it's not major stuff, we've just got get better.
"We've got to get better in a lot of different areas, and we are."
The Badgers' lack of experience may have shown last week when they dropped two matches to then-No. 11 Minnesota. Wisconsin dropped a pair of sets by only two points apiece, sets that could have gone either way.
"You don't even need to look at the stats, anybody that just watches our team is saying, 'Man this team's better than what they were a month ago,'" Sheffield said. "But if you're going into somebody else's place, like the team that we just saw, and you're wanting to go in there and you want to win, when it's winning time, you're going to have to play a little bit cleaner than what we did to beat that caliber of a team. And we're getting there; we're just not there yet."
Wisconsin is 12-6 overall and tied for eighth in the Big Ten at 4-4.
"We've got four losses in conference, which is more than any of us are wanting, but at the end of the day, those are four losses against teams that are all ranked in the top 10," explained Sheffield.
The Badgers lost matches at No. 1 Penn State and at No. 12 Ohio State as well as the two matches to the Golden Gophers. The schedule doesn't get any easier as Wisconsin travels to Iowa and No. 3 Nebraska this weekend.
"The players have got to get better at playing cleaner when it's on the line and the coaches have to do a better job of trying to devise in practices and communicating and helping our players through that, as well," Sheffield said. "I think it's on all of us."
Post-Match Media Conference || Stanford
Friday, December 12
Kelly Sheffield Weekly Media Conference || Wisconsin Volleyball || Dec 08, 2025
Monday, December 08
Post-Game Media Conference || Wisconsin Volleyball vs UNC || Dec. 05, 2025
Friday, December 05
Post-Game Media Conference || Wisconsin Volleyball vs EIU || Dec. 04, 2025
Thursday, December 04
