3 things to know before Wisconsin's weekend series with Michigan programs

The University of Wisconsin volleyball team will close out the first half of the Big Ten Conference season with matches against Michigan State and Michigan this weekend.

Here are three things to know as the No. 5 Badgers (13-3, 7-1 Big Ten) get set to play host to Michigan State (10-9, 1-7) on Friday before heading out for a rematch with the No. 25 Wolverines (13-5, 4-4) on Sunday in Ann Arbor.

Blocking bonanza

The Badgers have excelled at blocking all season, consistently ranking second in the nation behind Big Ten rival Maryland. UW is averaging 3.13 blocks per set, while Maryland, which led the nation last season as well, is averaging 3.43. No other team is averaging more than three per set.

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Grad student Danielle Hart is averaging 1.67 blocks per set to rank second behind Maryland’s Rainelle Jones at 1.74. If Hart can maintain that number it would smash the UW program record of 1.46 (25-point rally scoring), set in 2019 by Dana Rettke.

Junior Caroline Crawford (1.40) ranks sixth in the Big Ten and 16th nationally.

Coach Kelly Sheffield is pleased with his team’s blocking, but he’s convinced there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

“You know me, I’m not really satisfied with about anything, probably similar to most coaches,” Sheffield said. “It’s not a judgment of where we are, it’s what we’re capable of being. And I see so much more room for growth in that area.

“We’re definitely getting better. I think that can definitely be a strength of ours. But I also see more room for growth, which is actually exciting. When I’m commenting about how our blocking has to get better, there’s optimism in my voice of where we’re at and where we’re capable of being.”

Sheffield pointed out that the block stat only reflects blocks for points. It doesn’t measure positive touches versus negative touches, which often determine the direction of a point.

“When you’re seeing a box score, it’s really inadequate information,” he said.

Scouting the Spartans

Sarah Franklin will be facing her former team for the first time, but there aren’t a whole lot of familiar faces on the Spartans roster. Of the 18 players only six were on last season’s team.

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That’s all part of a makeover that’s taken place since longtime coach Cathy George retired and was replaced by Leah Johnson, who had built a solid program at Illinois State.

It’s been a rough first season as the Spartans’ only Big Ten victory so far came in five sets at Maryland. That was right after losing in five sets to Rutgers, for the Scarlet Knights only conference win.

Aliyah Moore, a 5-foot-9 sophomore who followed Johnson to East Lansing from Illinois State, leads the attack with 2.85 kills per set (.179). Rebecka Poljan, a graduate student holdover middle blocker, averages 2.48 kps (.373). Junior libero Nalani Iosia, a transfer from Texas, ranks seventh in the Big Ten with 3.93 digs per set.

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One of the Spartans’ assistant coaches is Jake Barreau, a Portage native, who was a volunteer assistant for the Badgers in 2013 and coached three years at Monona Grove High School.

Must-see TV

The UW-Michigan match is a replay from last Sunday, with a different venue at the Crisler Center. The match will be shown on ESPN2 after last Sunday’s contest on ESPN attracted 244,000 viewers.

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That was the network’s second-largest audience for a volleyball broadcast since 2017 and the fourth-most watched Big Ten match of the season across all networks.

The most-watched Big Ten contest this season was the Sept. 3 match between Nebraska and Ole Miss, which attracted 271,000 viewers on the Big Ten Network. Seven matches involving Big Ten teams this season have drawn at least 200,000 viewers.