Badgers ranked no. 5 in preseason AVCA poll

Buoyed by 2020 Olympian Dana Rettke and five more returning starts from a 2018 Elite Eight team, the Wisconsin Badgers were ranked fifth overall in the AVCA Preseason Poll. They’ll have their work cut out for them in the absolute meat grinder of a Big 10 conference, as Nebraska (no. 2), Minnesota (no. 3), Illinois (no. 6), Penn State (no. 8), Michigan (no. 15) and Purdue (no. 17) were also in the initial top-25 poll.

No, that's half the top-10 from one conference, you counted right. In addition, non-conference foes Washington (no. 13), Baylor (no. 20) and Marquette (no. 16) made the list as well.

Last year’s champion Stanford is ranked at the top of the poll, with back-to-back Player of the Year Katheryn Plummer looking for a hat trick.

Wisconsin returns to the Field House to start their season August 24th, where they take on their most difficult opponent: themselves.

The non-existential portion of the season begins at the Big 10 / ACC Challenge in Chapel Hill August 30th against Florida State before playing host to North Carolina on the 31st.

We will have more coverage of the volleyball team as the season draws closer.