MADISON — In the penultimate week of the regular season, Wisconsin volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield described confidence as a drug.
“The greatest drug in the world is getting more and more confident through work,” Sheffield said. “The goal by the end of the year is to feel like that you can go toe-to-toe with anybody, and I think these guys are really believing at a different level right now.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThose comments followed a three-set sweep over then-No. 11 Purdue that epitomized how the Badgers have improved and played their best month of volleyball right before the postseason.
Wisconsin won all nine matches in the month of November, which included a top-10 win against Purdue and ranked wins against Indiana once and Minnesota twice. The Badgers lost only two sets in the entire month and hit a whopping .360.
The Badgers’ November surge coincides with the return of setter Charlie Fuerbringer — a 2024 third-team All-American and 2025 first-team all-Big Ten selection. Her first match back was on Nov. 9 after missing about a month with a shoulder injury.
“Right now our offense is really clicking, especially bringing back Charlie,” UW outside hitter Mimi Colyer said. “I think we’re using our middles better than ever. And when we get them involved, it really opens everyone else up. … We’re gelling at the right time. You always want to be playing your best volleyball at the end of the season, and I think that really holds true for our team right now.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSeemingly the only setback was when Northwestern — a team that finished 14th in the Big Ten — forced UW into a fourth set. But then two days later, Wisconsin’s regular-season finale against Minnesota was particularly impressive. The Badgers kept Minnesota — one of the other 16 teams with a high enough seed to be hosting the first two rounds of the tournament — from reaching 20 points in any of the three sets.
“We challenged them after that (Northwestern) match, and this team has responded every time that there has been a challenge,” Sheffield said. “I felt like we were going to get a different level of intensity, and we certainly did. I thought defensively that was as scrappy as what we have been.”
Sheffield’s quickly-improving group is one that is relatively inexperienced.
None of the players from the 2021 national championship team are still on the roster, and Booth is the only player left from the 2023 Final Four team. Booth and Fuerbringer are the only returning starters although Colyer and middle blocker Alicia Andrew arrived with plenty of power-conference experience as well.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSheffield has consistently said that the 2025 group “would be a team that people would really enjoy watching grow together.” Now, that growth is on display.
“The grittiness, the ability to rebound after something bad happens, the ability to communicate — those things have been dramatically different,” Sheffield said.
Wisconsin outside hitter Una Vajagic (1) hits the ball during a volleyball match against No. 1 Nebraska on Oct. 31 at the Wisconsin Field House in Madison. The Badgers lost that match, but then won all nine of their matches in the month of November.Wisconsin’s improvement in on-court communication drew a “my goodness” from Sheffield in his pre-tournament press conference.
“The beginning of the year, we were fine talking to each other off the court in non-volleyball ways,” Sheffield said. “But, man, you get into a team room or the meeting or film room, out on the courts. … They did not demand from each other. They did not clarify for each other. And in our sport where you can’t stop and hold onto the ball and get reorganized, that’s a real problem.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementNow, though, the Badgers have “gotten to be really good with that.”
“We’re not losing hesitation points like what we were earlier,” Sheffield said.
Wisconsin’s in-season improvement will be put to the test in a tournament region that does not lack talent. Top-seeded Texas swept UW in August and flustered the Badgers in ways no other foe has done. Second-seeded Stanford was No. 5 in the most recent AVCA coaches poll.
The Badgers at least have the benefit of what Sheffield describes as the “greatest drug in the world,” though.
“The season built our confidence,” Sheffield said during his Dec. 1 press conference. “The fact that we’re playing our best ball at the end of the season builds your confidence.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin volleyball 'playing our best ball' ahead of NCAA tournament
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