College volleyball is exploding in popularity. Marquette's Morgan Daugherty and her basketball-loving father know why.

Morgan Daugherty is a sophomore middle blocker for the Marquette volleyball team, but she once seemed destined to become a star basketball player.

Her parents excelled on the hardwood and her father, Sean, was a 6-foot-10 forward at the University of Wisconsin from 1994-98 before playing a few years of professional hoops overseas.

Morgan played basketball year-round until she was 14 years old. Then she was hit with the realization that she was much more passionate about volleyball.

“I think the speed of it is really fun," Morgan said. "And also it’s just a little less hard on your body. I’m not like a big, tough girl who can take a bunch of hits. So I liked that it was kind of quick. It’s a lot of fun running around and jumping and stuff like that.”

Just like a lot of talented athletes over the last decade, Morgan went all-in on volleyball. The sport is growing at the speed of a well-hit ball, the hard evidence being that MU will take on top-ranked UW at a nearly sold-out Fiserv Forum on Wednesday. The match will be televised on Fox Sports One.

"Since it’s gotten more air time, people are starting to invest more in it," Morgan said. "It’s just a really fun sport to watch and now that it’s cracked its way into bigger sports channels people are starting to catch little glimpses of it and understand that, maybe if they’ve never thought about volleyball before, it’s really fun to watch and something they can put on with their families just like they would with a basketball game or a football game.

"I think people want to be a part of this growth that’s happening, so as more people start watching it then more and more people start watching it, just kind of like a positive feedback loop."

Former Wisconsin hoops player Sean Daugherty now a passionate volleyball fan

Even Morgan's hoops-loving father has been spiked with volleyball fever. When his daughter switched sports, Sean was a novice when it came to volleyball.

“I knew nothing about it," Sean said. "I grew up in Indiana and volleyball was not a big thing. It was not offered to boys and I would not say the girls team was a strong program at my high school.

"Obviously in the last few decades, Indiana has become a pretty strong volleyball state. But at least in southern Indiana when I was growing up, it was not. So I knew nothing. I knew the terms bump, set, spike. I knew you had to get the ball over the net in three hits."

Morgan grew to 6-foot-3 and was recruited heavily at Brookfield Central High School. Her younger sister, Molly, is following in Morgan's footsteps in volleyball and is a standout sophomore with the Lancers. Brother Jack also played volleyball, but he decided to focus on basketball and just committed to Illinois State.

"Since Morgan kind of pivoted and the other kids jumped in it, we’ve spent a significant portion of our time during the club year in the car going somewhere," Sean said. "Driving them around and in convention centers. Learning the sport.

"We’re learning every day, every match we go to, nuances of the sport. I’ll tell you, as much as I think there’s a lot of strategy and so forth in basketball, I think volleyball is the ultimate communication and strategy sport."

Like Morgan, many college volleyball players are the progeny of former high-level basketball players. Aubrey Hamilton is a heavy hitter for MU, but her mother, Heidi Bunek-Hamilton, was a standout player at Notre Dame. On Wisconsin's roster, Anna Smrek's father, Mike, played six years in the NBA, and Carter Booth is the daughter of Calvin, the Denver Nuggets' general manager and a longtime player in the league. Several others competing for MU and UW had parents who played basketball in college.

"I think a lot of it is genetics," Sean said. "You look at each of those situations and there’s at least one very tall parent that played sports. So certainly that’s a part of it. I think there’s definitely a definitive advantage in volleyball if you’ve got height and you can move and jump."

Morgan thinks having competitive parents led her to trying all sorts of physical activities as a kid, not just basketball and volleyball. She is a black belt in karate.

"A lot of parents who were athletes just put their kids in a ton of sports," she said. "There’s just so much appeal to volleyball right now. Like I said, it’s a little less hard on your body and it’s just a really good environment since it is growing."

More: Rekindling of Wisconsin-Marquette volleyball rivalry leads to special night at Fiserv

College volleyball drawing large crowds, including in Wisconsin

Last season, UW set an NCAA volleyball attendance record with a match against Florida witnessed by 16,833 fans at the Kohl Center in Madison. Last month, Nebraska blew that away with 92,003 people filling Memorial Stadium.

"I think there’s only going to be more of these situations happening," Sean said. "So for the women to have the opportunity to play in an arena like that, that the Bucks play in and the Marquette men’s team plays in, and to have fans fill that place up, it’s a really cool situation.

"It’s awesome to see the sport growing and to see the excitement about it and for the women to have the opportunity to showcase their skills and abilities and play in that atmosphere is very cool."

MU and UW announced this matchup at Fiserv Forum last December.

"I just think it’s going to be such a fun experience," Morgan said. "I think as stressful as it is to play in front of that many people, we’re just so lucky that we get to have this experience.

"No matter the outcome, it’s going to be so much fun. We’re playing in front of a sold-out student section and a nearly sold-out arena. Just to see all those people care about our sport and care about our teams, that’s just really special. It’s just going to be really fun and kind of like an out-of-body experience for us."

Sean will be one of those passionate volleyball fans in the stands Wednesday. For those wondering, Sean holds no conflicting emotions, despite his 1,057 career points on the basketball court for the Badgers.

"I’m all blue and gold in that match," Sean said. "It’s a huge difference-maker when you got a kid lining up in a uniform.

"My wife and I went to Wisconsin, loved my time there and am passionate about the Badgers. But in that moment, when the ball goes between the lines, it’s ‘Go Marquette.’ “

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Marquette volleyball's Morgan Daugherty is daughter of UW basketball's Sean