UW Athletics
Setter Sydney Hilley, center, is back as a fifth-year “super senior” to lead a team of talented veterans and promising newcomers.
It used to be that casual Madison sports fans could walk up to the UW Field House box office and buy a seat for a Badgers volleyball game minutes before the opening serve.
Those days are over.
According to the UW Athletic Department, more than 6,000 of the Field House’s 7,540 seats have already been sold as season tickets and single-game tickets are moving briskly. Tickets to matches against nationally ranked Nebraska, Minnesota and Penn State are long gone.
What factors contributed to the rise of Badgers volleyball to hot ticket status?
• Wisconsin made it to the national title match, before losing to Stanford, two seasons ago.
• Thanks to COVID-19, the 2020-21 season was moved to the spring and the Badgers advanced to the Final Four again, where they lost to Texas in the semi-finals.
• An NCAA policy allows athletes to return for a “super senior” year, which means several star players from those teams are back.
• The Badgers are ranked second in the country and five other Big Ten teams are in the top 12.
• The U.S. women’s team won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in thrilling fashion with eight Big Ten alums on the roster.
• The Big Ten Network increased its volleyball offerings and will televise 47 regular-season games — 11 featuring Wisconsin — this season, the most in its history. ESPN will broadcast six more conference matches on its various outlets.
• The UW has made improvements to the Field House, cementing its place as one of the best volleyball venues in the country.
• Fans know more about the playersand strategy than ever before. And they’re rowdy.
Just as attention on the sport intensifies, Wisconsin is poised to make another run at a national championship, an unspoken priority among the coaches and players.
“We don’t talk about it super often because I feel like everybody knows that’s our mindset,” setter Sydney Hilley, one of those super seniors, says after a recent practice. “Every time we’re in the gym, we come into practice and we’re here to get 1 percent better, to win or to accomplish our goal to win a national championship.”
Hilley is joined by three teammates playing in their fifth seasons: defensive specialists Lauren Barnes and Giorgia Civita and middle blocker Dana Rettke, a four-time All American. Seniors Danielle Hart and Grace Loberg were also big contributors on those Final Four teams, as was junior Izzy Ashburn. And then there’s sophomore Devyn Robinson, who led the way with 10 kills at the team’s Aug. 21 Red-White scrimmage, and freshman Anna Smrek, a 6-foot-9-inch middle blocker.
The experience is a big help to coach Kelly Sheffield, who has led the Badgers to at least the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in each of his eight seasons in Madison. Like his players, Sheffield is getting comfortable with increased attention and has started to use his platform to speak up about issues like NCAA regulations and the treatment of college athletes.
At a recent practice, when a reporter asks Sheffield about how he thinks the super seniors might affect team chemistry, especially among those who hoped to step into leadership roles this season, he addresses eligibility.
“I think every player ought to be getting five years to play five [seasons]. I mean, let’s give them grad school, paid for,” he says. “So the fact that some of them are choosing to get here for a fifth year, I’d like to see a point where that’s happening for every single student athlete.”
In opening weekend action, the Badgers rolled over their guests from Texas, shutting out TCU on Friday (3-0) and putting away 10th-ranked Baylor on Saturday (3-1). Freshman Julia Orzol, who arrived from Poland last month, emerged as yet another player to watch. With 23 kills on the weekend, Orzol adds even more firepower to a stacked lineup.