Wisconsin volleyball: Badgers fall to No. 9 in latest AVCA rankings

The No. 4 Wisconsin Badgers (2-2) volleyball team hosted the Hotel Red Invitational this past weekend and were extremely generous hosts in losing back-to-back matches to No. 11 Marquette and No. 17 Baylor. Needless to say, those numbers in front of the team names have changed with the new AVCA Coaches Poll that came out Monday evening.

The Badgers fell to No. 9 and both No. 7 Marquette and No. 5 Baylor moved ahead of them.

**SIGH**

It was a rough week overall for the entire Big Ten conference, as Penn State was the only team to move up in the rankings. Nebraska stayed at No. 2, so there’s not really much bad to say about them either.

The Nittany Lions clocked in at No. 4, Minnesota at No. 8, Illinois at No. 14, Purdue at No. 23 and Michigan at No. 24.

The Badgers had a 2-0 set lead on Marquette last week but fell 3-2, which was the first time the Golden Eagles had EVER beaten Wisconsin in volleyball. Sydney Hilley had 59 assists in the match, two away from her career high.

Against Baylor, the Badgers again started out strong by winning the first set. Once they lost the third set 27-25, they appeared to be deflated and got their doors blown off in the fourth set and final set. Hilley was again a dominant force, recording 40 assists, 15 digs and a career high seven blocks.

Tom Lynn

The Badgers will try and get back on the right track this week when the do battle with two teams from the Palmetto State, Clemson and USC.

Here is coach Kelly Sheffield’s press conference from Monday.