Wisconsin volleyball’s Molly Haggerty to redshirt, per report

Wisconsin sophomore outside hitter Molly Haggerty has decided to redshirt this season while recovering from surgery for a herniated disc in her back, the Wisconsin State Journal’s Dennis Punzel reported on Tuesday.

Back in August, Haggerty believed she would be able to return this season, telling Bucky’s Fifth Quarter, “It’s still kind of ‘to be determined’ but based on what the trainers are saying, I’m kind of responding to the exercises and volleyball-related stuff I’ve been doing. So I would say, I’m still not planning on playing for another three weeks.”

Unfortunately, Haggerty’s recovery has not gone as well as expected. Punzel reports:

Haggerty, the Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year last season, has decided to redshirt this year to fully recover from offseason back surgery, coach Kelly Sheffield said Tuesday. She will have three years of eligibility remaining.

“She came to me (Monday) and she said she’d put a lot of thought into it and she wanted to redshirt,” Sheffield said. “So we decided to go in that direction.

Sheffield attributed Wisconsin’s depth as a contributing factor in Haggerty’s decision to sit out the year.

“If we didn’t have the depth that we have she’d be playing, there’d be no question about it. But her thought is, I’m not back and I don’t want to play half a season not being back, not being herself. She might be a month or two away from where she’s got all of her strength back and her jump is totally back. It looks like we’re on that path, but we’re starting to run out of time.”

Haggerty racked up a slate of honors in 2016, including AVCA Third-Team All-American, Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Honorable Mention All-Big Ten, five-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week, and two-time Big Ten Player of the Week. She will have three years of eligibility remaining.