Wisconsin volleyball may be 'little bit closer' to consistent starting lineup
· Yahoo Sports
MADISON – Wisconsin volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield has been happily employed at UW for 13-plus years, but his playing time analogy might be more fitting for someone who is not quite as fortunate.
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“When you’ve had a job interview and you don’t hear from somebody for a while, you get to the point of, ‘Just tell me no,’” Sheffield said. “‘No’ is actually better than not knowing. Or maybe it’s the same thing if you’ve asked somebody out on a date that you haven't heard back from. … Playing time might be a little bit like that.”
The Badgers have been living in that uncertainty for the first several weeks of the season, as Sheffield has gone with 10 different starting lineups in UW’s first 10 matches.
“It’s not that I don’t have urgency and that we’re not trying to win,” Sheffield said. “But when you got 11 new people, I wasn’t interested in making decisions on just about two weeks of information.”
Twelve UW players have appeared in at least 15 of the team’s 38 sets played in the nonconference schedule, and that does not count 2025 third-team All-American Jaela Auguste or highly touted freshman Decelise Champion.
“That’s really unusual for me or probably about anybody at this point, especially when you’re in a sport that you have a limited number of subs,” Sheffield said.
Wisconsin’s fluidity in the lineup – while helpful for Sheffield to learn more in August and September before more consequential matches in November and December – has its drawbacks as well.
“For others, that can be stressful,” Sheffield said. “And knowing what the tendency of the person is next to you – are they a little bit stronger in this seam? Or they pull back a little bit?"
Sheffield now thinks the Badgers are a “little bit closer to getting locked in” with a consistent starting lineup.
While UW is not entirely at full strength – Grace Egan’s timeline to return remains murky as she recovers from a back injury – the Badgers are closer than they have been all season.
Auguste returned in the Badgers’ loss to then-No. 9 Texas and started in the next two matches after missing five matches. Champion, meanwhile, has acclimated to UW, appeared in the last four matches and started in the last two matches.
Along with Auguste and Champion’s availability, past starting lineups have offered some hints about what the starting lineup might look like on a consistent basis.
Setter Charlie Fuerbringer and outside hitter Audrey Flanagan have started in all 10 matches. Anna Bardaro has been the starting libero in eight matches and a starting defensive specialist in one of the other matches. Middle blocker Lynney Tarnow has started the last nine matches.
As Big Ten play begins with a Sept. 24 home match against No. 20 Oregon and a Sept. 27 trip to No. 10 Purdue, a consistent lineup is just one of the things on Sheffield’s to-do list with a team that has more newcomers than returners.
“I would say it’s a long list,” Sheffield said. “It’s not just one or two. But honestly, show me a coach that doesn’t have a laundry list of things that they want or a conveyor belt of things that they want to get better at. It’s part of the joy.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin volleyball may be 'little bit closer' to consistent starting lineup