3 things that stood out as No. 3 Wisconsin hits mark not seen since 2015 (2024)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kelly Sheffield was really impressed with one of the teams playing in the nightcap of the AVCA First Serve Showcase at the KFC Yum! Center on Tuesday night.

Unfortunately, it was not his University of Wisconsin volleyball team.

Instead, it was a Louisville squad that bounced back from a rough start and went on to defeat the Badgers 18-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-20 in the season-opening event.It was the first loss in a season opener since the Badgers lost in four sets to Western Kentucky on Aug. 28, 2015. The Badgers finished that season 26-7 and loss to Florida in the Sweet 16.

The No. 6 Cardinals demonstrated the kind of grit and determination that he was hoping to see in his No. 3 Badgers, who instead were sloppy and error prone much of the night after that first set.

“They play the game the right way,” Sheffield said of Louisville. “They’re scrappy and they play hard. When you say scrappy you think underdogs. They’re not underdogs. They’re legitimate title contenders year in and year out. Their staff has been together, they’ve done a great job recruiting and coaching their kids up. There’s a tough-mindedness about them. There’s an awful lot of players, you like how they play the game.”

He was especially impressed when two of their players, outside hitters Charitie Luper and Anna DeBeer went down late in the fourth set with leg cramps, only to come back and help their team close out the match.

“You’ve got two players that are needing medical attention and then miraculously they pop back up and they’re grinding,” he said. “That’s not a crack, that’s deep respect. When you start cramping up and you look at both of them and they’re like, 'We’re fine, let’s keep grinding.' Great program, great coaches, tough-minded kids, great fan base. Did I do enough recruiting for them?”

Sheffield obviously hopes to be able to say those kinds of things about the Badgers someday — the sooner the better. But Tuesday was not that day, or rather, late night.

“Pretty sloppy on our end,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of things to clean up.”

After hearing the Churchill Downs call to the races right before the match, it was Louisville that stumbled coming out of the gate with 10 hitting errors in the first set. The Badgers, meanwhile, played relatively cleanly as they jumped out to an early lead and never let it go as they had just four hitting errors and one service error.

From that point on, however, Wisconsin faltered down the stretch in each set. The Badgers led 14-13 in the second set before the Cardinals went on a 7-0 run to take command. Set 3 was close throughout and was tied at 24-24 before Louisville got the win with a kill from DeBeer and an ace by libero Elena Scott. The Badgers were in position to force a fifth set as set 4 was tied at 18-18 only to see the Cardinals finish on a 7-2 run.

“I thought Louisville did a much better job of closing out sets than we did,” Sheffield said. “We have to be better than that.

“They’ve got a lot of firepower and they were able to get on the ball quick. Their middles beat our middles a lot at the point of attack. That’s a good team. One of the things I like about their team is their fighting spirit. Both outsides, their (libero) have fighting spirits. Their middles are tough and gritty and you’ve got to match that or you’re going to get hammered.”

Sarah Franklin led the Badgers with 17 kills, although she had six attack errors (.183).

She’s eager to get to work to fix the things that went wrong with No. 1 Texas and No. 5 Stanford looming at Fiserv Forum over Labor Day weekend.

“There’s a lot of takeaways,” Franklin said. “I’m excited to get back in the gym. We’ve seen what we can do in that first set and it’s just being able to close that out, being able to trust each other in end-game situations in that red zone. It’s being able to perform under that pressure, under that 'Oh my gosh, it’s five points left.' We’ve just got to be better in that area.”

Senior Julia Orzol thinks the solution rests primarily with a change of mindset.

“I feel like it all comes down to mentality and we just have to go back and ask ourselves questions, 'What did we feel in that moment and how can we go about it better the next time?'” she said. “I feel it’s more about mentality and having that hunting mentality and not being hunted.”

Wisconsin's serving issues prove costly

One of the Badgers’ primary areas of emphasis in the spring and in practice this summer has been to toughen up their serving. The goal is to get opponents on their heels, like Texas did last last season in its run to the national title. And if that leads to some early season hiccups, Sheffield has been willing to live with that.

That approach came at a cost as the Badgers committed 17 service errors with just one service ace. Louisville had nine service errors with two aces.

The worst of it came in the second set with the Badgers had eight service errors to help fuel the Cardinals’ reversal of the match.

Sheffield made no attempt to disguise his disappointment with that phase of the game.

“It’s one thing to want to do something but you’ve got to earn the right to be confident in game situations,” he said. “Clearly, we’re not there. Quite honestly, we’ve got to have more players that are taking that part of the game more seriously in practice. These guys don’t hear me call them out very much in press conferences. I can’t remember the last time we did that. Right now, I’m not sure I’ve got six players that are confident in that area, to go back there and put pressure (on the opponent). Hope is not a strategy.”

The serving issues were across the board as each server had at least one error. Devyn Robinson and Anna Smrek had four each, with Smrek giving way to freshman defensive specialist Lola Schumacher at the service line the last couple sets.

How Wisconsin uses new two libero rule

Damrow played in serve receive situations while Guctekin played when the Badgers were serving. She also took her turn in the serve rotation.

Sheffield was generally pleased with the play of both of the liberos, especially so for Damrow, who missed almost all of last season and a good chunk of her high school senior season with a series of knee issues that required several surgeries.

“I thought she did a really good job in serve receive, out-of-system balls,” Sheffield said. “I thought she did a really nice job for that first match and it’s going to be something good for her to build on. It sort of matches her strength a little bit, her ability to communicate in serve receive, I think adds strength to the people around her.

“GG defensively is awfully good. Usually she’s better behind the service line than she was tonight. Out-of-system setting I think she’s one of the best I’ve seen in that position. I think it matches their skill set real well.”

Also in the back row, Orzol stepped in as a defensive specialist for freshman Trinity Shadd-Ceres, who played the front row at outside hitter. Orzol missed the exhibition match against Bradley last week with a sprained ankle and playing just in the back row doesn’t require the jumping that the front row does.

No. 2 Nebraska beats No. 9 Kentucky to open season

Merritt Beason and Rebekah Allick each recorded 11 kills to help lead No. 2 Nebraska to a four-set victory over No. 9 Kentucky in the first match of the night to get the new season underway.

The Cornhuskers hit .258 for the match with 47 kills and 16 errors, while the Wildcats hit just .139 with 51 kills and 30 errors. Kentucky also committed 16 service errors. Allick also has 12 blocks as the Cornhuskers doubled up the Wildcats 18-9 in blocks.

Minnesota transfer Taylor Landfair played sparingly for Nebraska, as Lindsay Krause and Harper Murray played outside hitter most of the match.

Brooklyn DeLeye had 19 kills to lead Kentucky.