GREG ANDERSON
W
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isconsin volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield
has called her a "stoic player." So it may
be challenging, he suggested, to get a read
on Ellen Chapman based solely on her facial expressions.
But there has been no mistaking her value. Chapman is one of the reasons why the Badgers have advanced to the regional semifinals of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2006.
"She's playing her best volleyball at the end of the
season. I think that's what great players do," Sheffield said. "When the lights get brighter, they embrace those challenges. She's certainly doing that."
Over the last three matches ― which the Badgers
have won by 3-0 scores ― Chapman, a lethal outside
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VARSITY December 12, 2013
hitter, has been averaging 3.89 kills and 1.1 blocks
per set while hitting .372.
"She's in the middle of a really hot streak," said
Sheffield. "She has been absolutely tearing it up.
She's just playing without fear. She has let go. I guess
it's the best way of saying it. She has just let go."
Just let go? "She's just playing," he explained.
"She's really, really good when she just lets go."
A definition was in order; maybe two since Sheffield earlier did refer to Chapman as being a player
who expresses little or no emotion. Stoic was Sheffield's word. She has heard it before, too.
"My whole life," said Chapman, a junior from Glenview, Ill. "I'll be walking to class and people will be
like, 'Why are you so mad?' I get the question all the
