You blink and you miss it. In this case, it’s all the things that happened over the summer — and oh boy, there was a lot of it — for the Wisconsin Badgers volleyball team.
Personal note: I was working in Madison as a bartender and am now working at a different job full-time (yay!) in a different state (boo!) and as I’m sure you can imagine, things got a little bit lost in the transition. Like keeping up with the various news of the team.
But you look at the time and feel, maybe, a slight shift in the breeze that brings an autumn wind. And with that, all the goodies of Wisconsin Badgers time.
And goodness, I just checked my watch and Tuesday the No. 3 Badgers have an exhibition against a real team (the Bradley Braves at the UW Field House at 6:30 p.m.) and start their regular season in a huge match against the No. 6 Louisville Cardinals in Louisville.
So let’s catch up on what we’ve missed, shall we?
THE MATRIX RELOADED (2003)
Although reloading a movie franchise maybe has more moving parts than the talent acquisition being done by the Badger volleyball staff, head coach Kelly Sheffield are certainly reloading for the future still.
Not only will there be a slew of new faces as freshmen this year with the program — UW brought in six freshmen this season, the most likely immediate impact signings being Charlie Fuerbringer and Lola Schumacher, who I’ll expand on later — but the cupboard is certainly stocked for 2025 and 2026.
For the 2025 class, the Badgers earned commitments from 6-foot-3 outside hitter Madison Quest from Pewaukee, 6-foot-5 middle blocker Natalie Wardlow from Lincoln, Neb., 6-foot-3 setter/hitter Addy Horner from Wheaton, Illi. and 5-foot-7 libero/defensive specialist Krysten Simon from Louisville, Kentucky last summer.
Additionally, Wisconsin earned the addition of 6-foot outside hitter Una Vajagic from Serbia, who although she is currently with the team, will redshirt as she is rehabbing an injury, so she’ll look to make an impact in 2025.
For the class of 2026, Wisconsin once again cleaned up on the recruiting front, earning commitments from 6-foot-3 outside hitter Audrey Flanagan from Redondo Beach, Cali. — she plays at the same school as Fuerbringer — 6-foot-2 middle blocker Kymora Scott from Richton Park, Illi., 6-foot-5 middle blocker Lynney Tarnow from Downers Grove, Illi. and perhaps the cherry on top, 6-foot-1 outside hitter Halle Thompson from Spring, Texas, the number two ranked 2026 prospect in the country.
The pair of middle blockers from Chicagoland will be great for UW’s tradition of middles to continue — heck, Tarnow plays at the same club team as Dana Rettke (who I’ll also have to get to). Meanwhile, Flanagan and Thompson are both highly touted outsides who will continue the tradition of great outsides for Wisconsin too.
So I guess as they say, the rich get richer with Kelly Sheffield — and assistants Brittany Dildine and Gary Lewis who play very key roles on the recruiting front — leading the program.
O Captain(s), My Captain(s)!
For a Badger team that returns a lot of upperclassmen this season — it’s kind of crazy how many impact players are back for UW — there is likely to be no issue with leadership.
But I have a feeling the choices for the three captains inspire confidence for Wisconsin fans anyways.
Devyn Robinson, Sarah Franklin and Julia Orzoł were named the team’s captains for the season.
Orzoł and Robinson were freshman phenoms when the Badgers won the national title in 2021. Franklin overcame a huge health scare to become the national player of the year in 2023 and was everywhere this summer, including the ESPYs(!) and Big Ten Media Days with Robinson.
Those three certainly play with a lot of fire, and it seems likely that the team will feed off their leadership.
Silver Surfers
Looking at people away from the team who made some news, two Badger Alumnae (Latin people: is this the right plural for these two) Lauren Carlini and Dana Rettke were a part of the Silver Medal-winning USA Volleyball team in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Carlini was most involved in the action, starting a couple matches in group play while coming off the bench in some of the later rounds, including in a five-set thriller win against Brazil one of the semi-finals. Rettke seemed very happy to be there and did not feature at all in the tournament (but I mean, a free trip to Paris????).
Either way, the pair become Wisconsin’s volleyball first Olympic medalists. As they say in French: hell yeah.
Early accolades
With Wisconsin returning as much firepower as it does, it’s probably no shock that three players earned Preseason All-Big Ten First-Team honors.
Franklin and middle blockers Carter Booth and Anna Smrek earned the nods from the conference. Last year, Booth and Smrek — all 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-9 of them — were a terror on the block on defense while both were masters in efficiency, hitting .444 and .396 on the season, respectively.
En route to National Player of the Year honors, Frank the Tank had 4.19 kills per set, 1.94 digs per set, 0.53 blocks per set and 21 aces while hitting .305 from the pin. Surprisingly, she is not a unanimous selection. Those honors go to Nebraska’s outside hitter Merrit Beason and libero Lexi Rodriguez and outside hitter Jess Mruzik of Penn State.
Interesting.
Prognosticating
Ok, I tried to rein in my excitement but oh my goodness it only built when remembering what this team will look like.
If you write a pros and cons list for this Badgers’ squad, as you’d expect for a team that has been to Final Fours 4 out of the past 5 seasons and won four of the last five Big Ten titles, there are a lot of pros and very few cons.
PROS:
- You return Frank the Tank! Devyn Robinson! CC Crawford! Carter Booth! Anna Smrek! All in the attack!
- Julia Orzoł really took her new role of libero super seriously and improved throughout the year in that position. She and Gülce Güçtekin, who also seems to have found her spot in the back row, may not be in the category of the most “elite” back row players in the nation but do not come off as a glaring weakness. Saige Damrow is also back from an injury and could look to get some time back there.
- The six person freshman class added a LOT of depth behind these stars. Two defensive specialists — Lola Schumacher and Maile Chan — come into the mix. Schumacher was highly touted when she signed from Carmel, Ind. Meanwhile, up top, UW has a really raw talent in Trinity Shadd-Ceres, who has real track hops. As in, she has set records in Canada for her jumping abilities. Also, UW added Tosia Serafinowska at middle blocker, so Orzoł can speak Polish with someone. Though she probably won’t see much time with CC, Smrek and Booth up there, there is depth.
Outside of Temi Thomas-Ailara, the main piece UW lost from last season, most of the contributors return. Except two really key pieces.
The setters…
THE SETTER QUESTION
Sheffield gets paid the big bucks for a reason. See the aforementioned titles, Final Fours, recruiting classes, etc. But this is the question that will define the season for Wisconsin:
Who is the setter?
Both Izzy Ashburn and MJ Hammill moved on from the program in the winter, leaving a void at the setter position. As in, there were none on the roster.
Before the spring season, Wisconsin signed graduate transfer Carly Anderson from the Montana Grizzlies. The 5-foot-9 setter was named to the Big Sky’s Second Team twice in her career and had over 1,000 assists each of those seasons. Plus she’s from Canada, so she can speak Canadian with Smrek.
UW’s freshman class for setters also includes in-state product Morgan Van Wie, but it’s Fuerbringer who is the other piece of the conversation here. The Californian was rated as the number 2 prospect in the country and the top setter in the nation, according to some recruiting services.
So…who sets?
The answer could be both. Last year, UW ran the 6-2 rotation instead of the tradition 5-1 that uses just one setter with Ashburn and Hammill serving as setters. Who is to say that Anderson and Fuerbringer can’t replicate similar production before Fuerbringer gets the keys to the Ferrari of Wisconsin’s offense when Anderson graduates?
As far as I can tell, the roster structure screams that it is more likely UW continues with the 6-2 system this year. With the talent the Badgers have in the front row — especially in the middle positions — it adds more firepower than the alternative 5-1, but it can take away back row solidity in certain aspects.
Some of the matches when Wisconsin looked the worst was when it faced a really dangerous serving team. With the 6-2, it makes it harder to put in defensive substitutions that could help with serve receive and get out of bad service runs.
UW’s roster is much more tilted to the front court, so it would make sense to go that route, but if Schumacher and Fuerbringer are as good as they are touted, it’s possible that we’ll see both the 5-1 and 6-2 in the season. Anderson also put up good serving numbers at Montana, so she could have a backup setter role and serving specialist feel, a la Izzy Ashburn when Sydney Hilley was on the team.
So we’ve arrived at the end of this discussion with a nuanced exploration of the potential volleyball strategy. Sorry for those of y’all looking for hot takes.
What am I most looking forward to?
Freshmen involvement
I really want to see how the freshmen are implemented or possibly eased into play. When the team is fully healthy, I would imagine the only frosh who would see significant time would be Fuerbringer, Shadd-Ceres and Schumacher.
Therefore, if there are contests that end up as blowouts, I would really want to see how the lineups and rotations get tinkered with and how the players look there.
The continued evolution of “six-rotation CC”
Hot take/maybe not hot take: CC Crawford is the most overlooked front row player for UW. She is incredibly versatile and does a lot for Wisconsin. She’s a personal favorite of mine and interesting to watch. Her rare iffy games, it seems really puts the rest of the Badgers on tilt. When she is playing exceptional — getting aces every so often for example — the whole team lifts. In her last season with UW, I am hoping she goes out with a bang and gets a little more respect.
Playing Nebraska
This I’m sure is not a shock, but this is one of the marquee games on the calendar. Both teams are especially loaded this year. Both matches will be televised. Both matches are in November, meaning they will really shape the Big Ten title race. UW gets a first crack at the Huskers on Nov. 1 while the rubber match is in Lincoln on Nov. 23 — when the Huskers’ football team might still be not bowl-eligible.
Either way, Wisconsin’s schedule is again a gauntlet, but I am most excited for this spicy rivalry to continue to simmer and boil up in these two matches.
(Btw, congrats to the Wisconsin fans who can now DRINK in the Field House. I can only imagine how electric the games will be then)
Can the Badgers go back to the Final Four?
As much instability that has been around in Wisconsin’s football and men’s basketball program, having the expectations of these Badgers is exciting and puke-inducing at the same time.
Sure, if UW goes 9-3 or 8-4 this year and the men don’t lay eggs in February and March — bare minimum expectations, maybe — that’s a success.
Not so for these Badgers.
This team has raised the bar so high for volleyball that it’s almost “ho hum” they are ranked No. 3 in the country.
Kelly Sheffield and his well-drilled players will tell you they don’t believe in rankings. Hell, they’ll mostly just say at press conferences that it’s only about the journey and all the great cliches. I believe that too, to an extent. But when Devyn Robinson and Sarah Franklin spent a lot of Big Ten Media Days showing off the many, many rings they’ve won, you have to imagine that is a big focus this year.
With the returning talent at Wisconsin and the exciting freshmen class, it has the potential for another special season.
And something tells me I can copy and paste similar vibes for this article for next year’s preview.
But that doesn’t mean I’m not jazzed as hell for this year, even if I’ll be watching from my TV instead of the Field House this season.
