A season ago, the Wisconsin volleyball team reached the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament before their neighbor to the south, the Illinois Fighting Illini, ended their chance at a national title.
The future seemed bright, however. The Badgers lost only one starter in middle blocker Tionna Williams and returned their three All-Americans from a year ago.
Then the Badgers suffered their worst start to a season in nearly 30 years. With a brutal non-conference slate, UW stumbled to a 4–4 record before Big Ten play started and hadn’t registered a home win.
They couldn’t finish sets.