The 17th ranked Wisconsin volleyball team gave Badger fans a sneak peek of the 2003 team with an inter-squad scrimmage Saturday night at the UW Field House. The Cardinal team, which featured the probable Badger starters, defeated the White team 30-18, 32-30, 30-18.
We did alright, said UW head coach Pete Waite of his teams preseason showing. The players were a little over excited at times, just wanting to do great things for themselves and their families.
Senior co-captain Lisa Zukowski, with 10 kills and 13 digs, and junior Jill Odenthal with 12 kills and five blocks, lead the Cardinal team against the scout team.
Sophomore Aubrey Meierotto, who rotated in for both teams, led the Badgers in kills with 16 for the night.
We were able to make some changes in every game, Coach Waite explained. We changed two players in every game and its easy to say that weve got some depth in some positions and some ability to change depending on the night.
Defensively, freshman Kirin Swanson led the team in digs with 19 and senior Jill Maier laid out for an impressive 18 digs.
Thats one thing that we see now, Coach Waite said of his teams first performance in front crowd. Some players are real gamers and thats when you find out whether they can really step it up in front of a crowd and do even better than they have been in practice.
Overall, theyre doing some good things, Coach Waite said. I think that theyre just going to get better as the season goes on.
Wisconsin opens its regular season with the Badger Invitational Friday and Saturday, Aug. 29-30. The Badgers will face Washington, New Hampshire and UMKC. The round robin play begins Friday night at 7 p.m. when the Badgers take on New Hampshire at the UW Field House.
