Badger Volleyball 2025-26

[Pokerbrat2000]

My experiences are so much less than yours when it comes to Badger sports. I kind of envy the involvement you had with the program. I can see how taxing it had to be physically and with the heat inside that costume. It takes a real athlete to do it. You'd have to stay in top physical condition. It's the one true position involved in the sports where you're always going to be the unknown participant who never has a word to say. It must have been difficult not saying something at one time or another.

I think I'd take your choice of seats over any that I or anyone else might think were best.

If you ever have to lose weight, become Bucky! Although, in college, I never had a weight issue. Best "job" that I have ever had. While we were instructed to never talk, my favorite thing to do was to find someone I knew, but they didn't know I was inside Bucky. After a few high fives, I would lean down and whisper "Good to see you Voyager". The look on their faces was so worth it.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

That does look like great seats. On another note, anxious to see how severe Charlie's injury is. Horner did a great job filling in but Charlie is an All American. In a way that's sad, because as well as Horner is playing she's probably going to hit the portal after this season to play elsewhere since Charlie is only one year ahead of her. They could end up being two of the best in the nation in two years.

Yeah me as well, she is my favorite player and a top notch setter. Any long term loss of her would be devastating. IMO, she is the key player on the court. College injuries are usually kept pretty quiet, especially in the smaller sports, where there aren't a lot of reporters digging for answers.

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

 

[Voyageur]

If you ever have to lose weight, become Bucky! Although, in college, I never had a weight issue. Best "job" that I have ever had. While we were instructed to never talk, my favorite thing to do was to find someone I knew, but they didn't know I was inside Bucky. After a few high fives, I would lean down and whisper "Good to see you Voyager". The look on their faces was so worth it.

A long time ago, a friend asked me to go to Green Bay to watch wrestling. I thought about it and finally relented figuring it was something I'd do for a friend. So, away we go. I think it was at the Brown County Arena? Can't remember. It's been a while.

I was watching the matches, and one of the wrestlers after his bout was over was walking to the dressing room when he saw me, smiled, nodded, and said, "Hi!", calling me by name. The guy I was with was flabbergasted and to this day, I have no idea who he was, how he knew my name, and can't even remember what name he wrestled under. One of the interesting mysteries in my life.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

A long time ago, a friend asked me to go to Green Bay to watch wrestling. I thought about it and finally relented figuring it was something I'd do for a friend. So, away we go. I think it was at the Brown County Arena? Can't remember. It's been a while.

I was watching the matches, and one of the wrestlers after his bout was over was walking to the dressing room when he saw me, smiled, nodded, and said, "Hi!", calling me by name. The guy I was with was flabbergasted and to this day, I have no idea who he was, how he knew my name, and can't even remember what name he wrestled under. One of the interesting mysteries in my life.

Perhaps you looked liked someone he knew, with the same name? But yeah, odd.

When I was in college, freshman year, I was talking with some people I knew and was introduced to a guy quickly, his name was Steve. I happened to run into him again a week later and said "Hi Steve", he said "Hi Jeff", which isn't my name. I didn't bother correcting him, figuring its a big college and what are the odds I would run into him again. Well, he happened to be the same major, so I ended up having quite a few classes with him over the 5 years I was there. I never did correct him and he kept calling me Jeff. Finally, towards the end of my college time I saw him and intentionally called him "Frank" or something other than his name. He looked at me funny and said "Steve, my name is Jeff, not Frank, you know that." I laughed and said "Yeah, I knew, but my name isn't Steve, it's......" We must have laughed for a good minute over that.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Not good news about Charlie coming from Kelly.

“Do we have a timeline or anything? We’re nowhere near that,” Sheffield said this week. “It would be nice to get her back this season, but I would say that’s TBD at this point. There’s no practicing that’s happening right now.”

I wonder if she is done for the season, she would qualify for a red shirt year?

 

[Voyageur]

Not good news about Charlie coming from Kelly.

“Do we have a timeline or anything? We’re nowhere near that,” Sheffield said this week. “It would be nice to get her back this season, but I would say that’s TBD at this point. There’s no practicing that’s happening right now.”

I wonder if she is done for the season, she would qualify for a red shirt year?

I saw an article where Kelly wasn't even convinced that she'd be back this year. Maybe it's best if she sits the year out to fully recover and come back next fall stronger than ever. She can redshirt this year. Here's a breakdown on how redshirt rules apply. Hers would be medical so she'd be good too go since she didn't play in 30% of their scheduled games.

A college volleyball player can play in four or fewer games during a season and still be eligible to redshirt. However, playing more than four games, even for a few minutes each time, makes a player ineligible for a standard redshirt and uses up one of their four seasons of eligibility. This rule applies to NCAA Division I and II sports, and any participation counts, so they cannot wait until a later point in the season to decide to redshirt.

• Standard redshirt:
  A player can play in up to four games and still receive a redshirt for that season.
  
  
• Playing more than four games:
  If a player participates in a fifth game, they use a season of eligibility, even if the playing time was minimal.
  
  
• Medical redshirt:
  There are different rules for medical redshirts, which are granted for season-ending injuries. For Division I, the athlete must not have participated in more than 30% of the season's competitions, and the injury must occur in the first half of the season.

 

[Voyageur]

What will make or break the 30% rule will be tournament play that goes beyond the regular season. The Badger have 30 scheduled. She could have 9 games played out of those. With no Big 10 tournament at the end of the season, all that's left is the NCAA tournament games. If they played in 6 of them, the 30% range would be 10.8 games so rounded up, 11. If she's been out 3 games as of now, we need to hope the Badgers play a long string in the tourney so they can reach the right total.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Hers would be medical so she'd be good too go since she didn't play in 30% of their scheduled games.

I was wondering this and just so I don't need to do the math, when you say "Games", you are talking about complete matches correct? "Games, Sets, Matches" are kind of intertwined with Volleyball.

Playing in "6 matches" of the NCAA VB Tournament, would mean that the Badgers would need to make the finals, if I did my math correct (64 teams). I don't see that happening with the current team, especially without Charlie.

 

[Voyageur]

I was wondering this and just so I don't need to do the math, when you say "Games", you are talking about complete matches correct? "Games, Sets, Matches" are kind of intertwined with Volleyball.

Playing in "6 matches" of the NCAA VB Tournament, would mean that the Badgers would need to make the finals, if I did my math correct (64 teams). I don't see that happening with the current team, especially without Charlie.

It's matches only. Once they are on the court for any period of time that's a game count.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Biggest game of the Season for Bucky on Friday night. The #1 Cornhuskers are coming to town and it might end up being a very scary night for more than just trick or treaters and those who come to the match in costume. The Huskers are hands down favorites to win it all this year. They haven't done anything on the court that would make me guess that they won't. They have won 31 sets in a row and thus sweeping their last 10 matches. They are absolutely loaded with talent.

While I expect the Badgers to try and give them a competitive match, I am afraid that without Charlie, that is going to be tough to do.

The good news, at least the tickets are at a premium! $281 for a regular season Women's Volleyball Match? Outstanding! Of course, that does include food, non-alcoholic beverages and a cash bar.

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

 

[Voyageur]

Biggest game of the Season for Bucky on Friday night. The #1 Cornhuskers are coming to town and it might end up being a very scary night for more than just trick or treaters and those who come to the match in costume. The Huskers are hands down favorites to win it all this year. They haven't done anything on the court that would make me guess that they won't. They have won 31 sets in a row and thus sweeping their last 10 matches. They are absolutely loaded with talent.

While I expect the Badgers to try and give them a competitive match, I am afraid that without Charlie, that is going to be tough to do.

The good news, at least the tickets are at a premium! $281 for a regular season Women's Volleyball Match? Outstanding! Of course, that does include food, non-alcoholic beverages and a cash bar.

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

It would be tough with Charlie. I just don't think this is a year the Badgers will fare well in the NCAA tournament. They don't have that chemistry we've seen over the previous few years. I could point out a lot of things, like the portal which has brought in one and done players not those who will grow into the program as part of the problem. It can hurt chemistry with younger players. Lack of height like we had in the past which overpowered opponents. Familiarity of playing with each other which I see happening quite often when there's an uncertainty as to who will do what and when on any given play, especially on defense.

I don't see it getting better next year either unless Kelly can hit some home runs with young freshmen he brings in so they can grow together to make a team that's competitive in 2027. This is all conjecture of course, but no matter what, Kelly does a great job considering he doesn't have the outside influences that Nebraska has in building their rosters year after year. Then there's NIL money. Nebraska has the 1890 Initiative which generates tons of NIL money specifically for volleyball where as Wisconsin's money from NIL comes more from the collective. I'm sending you a message on this.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Scary Night In The Fieldhouse.

My hunch was re-confirmed, Nebraska is loaded! I believe they will run the table and go undefeated this season.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Charlie was back today! Such a better team with her. Badgers dominated a #18 ranked Indiana team that swept Penn State @PSU.

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

An excellent 3-1 set match win today for Bucky! The Badgers came out red-hot and looked like they might even sweep Stanford today, a team that they have never beaten. Stanford got things going in the 2nd and tied the match up at a set apiece. For awhile there, this started to look like one of those matches that was destined to go 5 sets. That wasn't the case though, Booth, Colyer, Una and Charlie really had a solid day and they closed it out in 4 sets.

The Badgers seem to be peeking at a great time. Besides too many service errors (10), hard to find much wrong with what they did today. Oh and serving Ace, Freshman Natalie Wardlow, served 4 Aces, with 3 of them coming in a row.

On to the elite 8 and going up against Host and #1 seed in the bracket, Texas, on Sunday. The Longhorns swept the Badgers at the Kohl center back in August, but I think this is a much improved Badger team since then, so lets hope for a W!

Go Kansas tonight! I hope they knock out the undefeated and heavily favored Huskers. Although, I would be fine with the Badgers having that honor in the finals too.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Aggies knock out the #1 and undefeated Huskers, in Nebraska!!!! What a great match for Texas A&M! The road to a championship just got easier for the Badgers and every other team still playing!

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

What a win!!! Badgers get Kelly Shefield his 1st ever tourney win against a home team!

Carter said it all after the game!

https://x.com/carterwisconsin/status/2000400680289452365

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

We're going to 5!

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

 

[milani]

One of my old AOL Packer board friends on the West Coast tried to watch the Rams-Seahawks, the Golden State Warriors, and the WI-UK volleyball game all at the same time.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

One of my old AOL Packer board friends on the West Coast tried to watch the Rams-Seahawks, the Golden State Warriors, and the WI-UK volleyball game all at the same time.

That's a lot of screens open. I was glued to the Badger Volleyball match. Started out so good, they destroyed Kentucky in the first set and it looked like potentially an "easy" night. Give Kentucky credit, they fixed their mistakes and played really well in the final 4 sets.

Really good season for Bucky, since this was viewed as more of a rebuild season and then with Charlies injury, it looked bad. They were the last team standing for the Big10. Sounds like Charlie will probably have off season surgery on that shoulder and with some impressive recruits, as well as the transfer portal, I look for an even better Wisconsin team in 2026!

I would hope that Kelly and his coaching staff spends more time on serving. Much like the Packers special teams, serving seems to be the Badgers biggest Achilles heal from season to season. Last night they really looked bad from the service line and Kentucky looked solid. Hard to win points on your serve when you either have a service error or send over such a soft one, that the other team has too easy of a time setting it up for the kill.

 

[milani]

That's a lot of screens open. I was glued to the Badger Volleyball match. Started out so good, they destroyed Kentucky in the first set and it looked like potentially an "easy" night. Give Kentucky credit, they fixed their mistakes and played really well in the final 4 sets.

Really good season for Bucky, since this was viewed as more of a rebuild season and then with Charlies injury, it looked bad. They were the last team standing for the Big10. Sounds like Charlie will probably have off season surgery on that shoulder and with some impressive recruits, as well as the transfer portal, I look for an even better Wisconsin team in 2026!

I would hope that Kelly and his coaching staff spends more time on serving. Much like the Packers special teams, serving seems to be the Badgers biggest Achilles heal from season to season. Last night they really looked bad from the service line and Kentucky looked solid. Hard to win points on your serve when you either have a service error or send over such a soft one, that the other team has too easy of a time setting it up for the kill.

The other old poster chimed in when we talked about volleyball. He met Alaina Bergsma, a well known past NCAA volleyball player years ago on a plane. She was Miss Oregon 2012. Tall, beautiful.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

3 players for the Badgers have already entered the transfer portal. Setter Addy Horner, libero Aniya Warren, and libero/DS Maile Chan.

No real surprise on the 2 liberos. Freshman Kristen Simon played really well at Libero this season and neither were going to bump her out of her starting spot.

Horner is a bit of a surprise. However, with Charlie ahead of her for the next 2 seasons, she probably didn't want to wait around to start either.

The transfer portal has definitely done one thing, if you can't be a starter in your current program, find a team where you can.

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Really good interview with Kelly Sheffield. I think the longest one that I have seen. Super interesting to listen to what happened with Una and how money got involved. Yup, even Women Volleyball Players are effected by NIL money. I put a link to an article about it as well, below the interview.

The transfer portal shenanigans is real and has to be a hair pulling experience for Kelly.

You must be logged in to see this image or video!

Kelly Sheffield breaks down surprise Una Vajagic transfer: ‘We were sabotaged’

The Badgers had a surprise transfer this offseason.

www.buckys5thquarter.com