What we learned from Wisconsin volleyball coach Kelly Sheffield's first spring press conference

MADISON -The Wisconsin volleyball team returns to the UW Field House on Friday night.

The Badgers face Illinois-Chicago at 7 p.m. in the first of two scrimmages they have this month.

In advance of the contest, UW coach Kelly Sheffield held his first press conference of 2024. Here is what we learned:

Caroline Crawford, Saige Damrow had offseason surgeries

Defensive specialist Saige Damrow, a sophomore from Howards Grove, missed most of last season due to a leg injury that required surgery to heal. She has recently started rehab work and Sheffield hopes she’ll be fully healthy when preseason practice begins.

“Her spirit has been really high the last week as she’s been able to do a little more on-court stuff,” Sheffield said. “So we’re really happy with the progress she’s on right now, but we’re still probably a little bit of a ways away for her.”

Damrow definitely won’t play in the scrimmage. Middle blocker Caroline Crawford might be held out as well. The graduate student had hip surgery after the conclusion of UW’s Final Four run.

“I’m not sure if she’ll play this weekend, but she’s been doing about everything in practice and has been feeling good, feeling great, feeling better than she has in a long time,” Sheffield said.

A small roster makes the scrimmages more important

The Badgers have just nine players on the spring roster. For the sake of comparison, there were 14 players on the the spring roster last year.

This year's lower number means UW has not been able to do any 6-on-6 work in practice. The only work the Badgers will get in that regard this spring will be in their scrimmages.

UW’s scrimmage against Purdue on April 7 was canceled due to an issue at Purdue. That leaves the Badgers with matchups against UIC on Friday and Northern Iowa on April 26 at the University of Dubuque.

“This is the time of year in about every sport, especially the fall sports that you’re doing it without cameras, you’re doing it without fans, without competition. It’s hard,” Sheffield said. “It’s where you put the work in to be where you want to go. I think when you get some fans in there and you get the scoreboard and another team over there, it just feels good. You can let loose a little bit. It’s almost more mentally than anyone else.”

Sheffield loves Carly Anderson’s approach

One player who will get plenty of action in the scrimmages is Carly Anderson, a graduate transfer from Montana who is the only setter on campus this semester.

Anderson started 101 matches at Montana and will have a significant advantage in experience over Charlie Fuerbringer and Morgan Van Wie, incoming freshmen who will join the team some time during the summer.

What Sheffield sees in Anderson is a player working with a purpose.

“She soaks up information,”  he said. “She’s constantly looking for things to get better. I think she’s an easy player to play for. She wants to be really good for her teammates."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin volleyball's Kelly Sheffield met the media. What we learned.