Rekindling of Wisconsin-Marquette volleyball rivalry leads to special night at Fiserv
MADISON – The expectation from this neck of the woods is that history will be made at Fiserv Forum on Wednesday night.
“I think last year we set the attendance record at the Kohl Center and I think this one is going to be a higher number than that at Fiserv, so we’re certainly excited about that opportunity…,” Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield said. “The fan base in this state, they show up no matter what you’re doing.”
It was around this time a year ago that the Badgers volleyball team hosted Florida in a match that broke the NCAA regular-season attendance mark.
Since then, Nebraska crushed that mark by drawing 92,003 for a match at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln, Neb., on Aug. 30. That mark is out of reach for UW and Marquette, which play at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The match, however, could draw the largest indoor regular-season crowd for a volleyball match in NCAA history and, according to UW officials, the largest crowd to see a women’s sporting event in state history.
The match is the kind of event that highlights the game’s growth as well as its potential. And it wouldn’t be possible without the rekindling of a rivalry that has been off, more so than has been on, over the years.
Not counting 2020, when UW played a Big Ten-only regular season schedule in the spring due to the pandemic, the meeting marks the sixth straight year the programs will play. That is the longest continuous run for a series that began in 1977. Before 2017, the teams hadn't played since 2008.
UW owns a 22-1 advantage in the series.
What makes the matchup work?
You can start with the head coaches. Sheffield and Marquette's Ryan Theis go back to their days as the head coaches at Dayton and Ohio, respectively, and have a good rapport.
And there are the teams. Both are regulars in the national rankings and NCAA Tournament field.
“The teams are too good and too close to not play each other,” Sheffield said.
“I don’t think it does either team any good to duck the other one and I think it’s a win-win for both of us,” he added. “I think it’s a win-win for the fans and it just makes sense.”
Marquette’s rise has been key
The Golden Eagles are in the midst of their greatest run of success. They’ve qualified for the NCAA Tournament 11 times in the past 12 seasons and reached the Sweet 16 for the first time last year.
That success has helped raise the Golden Eagles' attendance. MU’s average attendance of 1,216 last season was the largest of Theis’ nine seasons as head coach. So far in Year 10 the Golden Eagles are averaging 1,558 per match, a pace that is twice as much as the program drew during his first season.
He looks back at his team’s sweep of No. 11 Creighton in the regular-season finale last season as an example of where he'd like the program to be on a regular basis. The match drew 3,175.
Marquette, which started the year ranked No. 12 in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, is 2-5 this season against a loaded schedule. The match with UW will be the Golden Eagles’ fourth against a ranked opponent.
Despite the setbacks, MU remains one of the favorites to win the Big East title and, Theis hopes, the type of team fans want to see throughout the season.
“So we put 17,000 in Fiserv and hopefully 10,000 of those are Marquette fans,” Theis said. “(The hope) is they get regular-season tickets and they’re at more and more matches and instead of ending (the season with) 3,000, 2,000 fans, I’d love every game to be 3,000, 2,000 fans.”
Wisconsin no stranger to the big stage
A handful of matches involving Wisconsin are included on the list of the highest attended matches in NCAA history.
The 2021 NCAA final that featured the Badgers and Nebraska was the previous record (18,755) for the highest attended match . Last season’s Wisconsin-Florida match ranks 13th overall (16,833) and was the most attended regular-season match before Nebraska surpassed that mark, and the 2021 national semifinal against Louisville is 15th (16, 531).
In all, the Badgers were involved in six of the top 32 most attended matches. Soon that number will rise to seven.
"It’s really exciting," Badgers graduate transfer Temi Thomas-Ailara said. "I feel there are going to be a lot of young girls there and it’s fun to be a role model to show them what women’s sports can do and what women’s volleyball has grown into."
When it comes to experience on these big stages, UW has plenty. Seven players, including five rotation regulars, remain from the Badgers 2021 national championship team.
The team this season has been tested by a non-conference slate that is one of the toughest Sheffield has put together. The Badgers are 4-0 against ranked teams, a mark that includes five-set wins in front of a record crowd at Arkansas on Aug. 30 and at home against Tennessee on Sept. 3.
UW is doing its part to hype up its faithful with a pep rally from 5-7 p.m. at the Mecca Sports Bar & Grill in the Deer District.
"What else do you’ve got going on on a Wednesday night?," Sheffield said. "This is a college sports town, but this is a sports state. I would guess if you put a ping pong match between the two there would be a record crowd showing up for that.
"I think Fiserv Forum is an unbelievable place to watch an event. I think not only will that place be packed, I think it will be energetic."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin, Marquette volleyball ready for big stage at Fiserv Forum
