INSIDE VOLLEYBALL BY DIANE NORDSTROM @BadgerVBall SCHEDULE
Last Week at USF Invitational Friday
at USF Saturday vs. UCF vs. Creighton This Week
at Long Beach State Invitational Aug. 31 vs. James Madison 1 p.m. vs. CSU Northridge 7 p.m. at Long Beach State 9 p.m.
Sept. 1
Up Next InnTowner Invitational Sept. 7 Sept. 8
Drake
North Dakota State Noon Milwaukee
Badgers continue road
swing to start season UW travels to Long Beach for tournament
T
he Badgers kicked off the 2012 season last week-
end with a second-place fin- ish at the USF Invitational in Tampa, Fla. UW got off to a good start
with 3-0 wins over USF and UCF but like Hurricane Isaac, the Badgers blew it away in a 3-1 loss to Creigh- ton in the title match.
46 » VARSITY AUGUST 30, 2012 The loss showed weakness
es in Wisconsin's defense, particularly in its block. The Badgers averaged 3.25 blocks per set in their first two wins but just 1.0 blocks per set in its loss. "We need to shore our blocking up and closing that up so there aren't the seams for the hitters," said
UW head coach Pete Waite after the match on Saturday. Wisconsin will need to improve quickly as it heads to to the Long Beach State Invitational this week- end, facing tough competition in James Madison, Cal State North- ridge and Long Beach State.
Leading the Big Ten, again » After leading the Big Ten with 4.77 digs per set last season, junior Annemarie Hickey leads the con- ference again this season, upping her average to 5.50 digs per set. She had 10-or-more digs in
all three matches to up her streak of double-figure dig matches to seven, dating back to last season. Hickey had a season-high 22 digs vs. Creighton. The 5-9 libero has 849 digs in her career and ranks fourth on the UW career record list in digs per set at 3.60.
7 p.m. 7 p.m.
W, 3-0 W, 3-0 L, 1-3
