If you asked the average Wisconsin volleyball fan where the Badgers can grow and why they’ve lost a few Big Ten matches now (Washington, Nebraska, Penn State), the answers would vary. Many would point to serve-receive or blocking, maybe even defensive issues. Often the easiest answer is the youth of this team.
Kelly Sheffield may agree with those fans on a bunch of those concerns; however, after Penn State, he noticed something bigger. The stats even proved his point, as many fans and reporters were pointing out passing as the primary problem.
Sheffield says that the passing certainly needs to be better and that Audrey Flanagan had a tough day against Penn State. However, he said that the advanced stats point to the reality that Wisconsin actually was hitting 200 points better after passes than Penn State. That wasn’t the reason they lost; according to Sheffield, it was that the Nittany Lions outhit them in transition…