Marquette NCAA Division I Runner-Up?

Don't try to pretend you've never spun a tournament this way:

1. In the second round, Marquette lost to Illinois in three sets, with the last two closely contested
2. Illinois is playing UCLA for the NCAA Division I championship tonight
3. If the Illini win, the Golden Eagles can make a case for second place, right?

In all seriousness, Marquette did have a nice finish to its season -- and things do seem to be looking up at all four DI schools in the state (DII UW-Parkside had a nice season as well). You're free to agree or disagree, of course, but here are a just a few of the exciting things we're seeing:

• Wisconsin Badgers Incoming freshman Meghan Haggerty participated in the 2011 Under Armour All-America Volleyball Match & Skills Competition last night (it'll be on ESPNU the day after Christmas)
• Wisconsin-Milwaukee Two All-Americans, including returning junior, Rachel Neuberger
• Wisconsin-Green Bay An incoming freshmen class that includes three WVCA All-Staters
• Marquette Three All-Americans and AVCA Northeast Region Coach of the Year

Can't wait till next year.

Marquette Wins, Milwaukee Leaves It on the Court

Marquette defeats No. 24-ranked Western Kentucky to advance to a second-round showdown with Illinois tomorrow night at Illinois. Good luck, Golden Eagles.

UW-Milwaukee loses in three extremely close sets to No. 4-seeded Iowa State. Definitely left everything and then some on the court. Congrats on a great season.

More in the morning.

Fun Stuff: "Now It's Three Minutes Away"

Our Bad

Someone let us know that we had inadvertently neglected to include Catie Fredrich (Menomonee Falls '10) in our list of NCAA Division I Tournament participants (see post below), we thought we'd partially atone for our omission by including this video we found online. Note: We also added Central Michigan's Jocelyn VerVelde to the list.)

We Count 31 Dancers

Here's what we believe to be a complete listing of former Wisconsin high school players who will be participating as players in the NCAA Division I volleyball tournament starting tomorrow. We'll try to do coaches with Wisconsin connections, but might not get around to it (big surprise). Let us know who we've missed or where we've erred. Thanks.

• Anna Bartz (Burlington '09) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Hannah Blanchard (Muskego '11) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Danielle Carlson (Marshfield '09) Marquette
• Elizabeth Egerer (Sheboygan Christian '09) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Catie Fredrich (Menomonee Falls '10) Ball State
• Taylor Golabowski (Menomonee Falls '11) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Lindsey Gosh (Oconomowoc '11) Marquette
• Carol Henney (Catholic Central '09) Marquette
  
• Andrea Henning (Kettle Moraine Lutheran '09) North Dakota State
• Melissa Jansen (West Bend West '08) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Elizabeth Koberstein (Madison West '10) Kentucky
• Julie Kolinski (Catholic Memorial '10) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Mary Kurisch (West Salem '09) Northern Illinois
• Catherine Mayer (Neenah '10) Marquette
• Kaitlyn McIntyre (Beaver Dam '11) Central Michigan
• Holly Mertens (Stanley-Boyd '08) Marquette
• Mackenzie Millis (Black River Falls '08) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Courtney Mrotek (Manitowoc Lincoln '10) Marquette
• Rachel Neuberger (Muskego '10) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Mary Beth O'Brien (Xavier '08) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Megan Plourde (Somerset '08) Colorado State
• Morgan Potter (Stoughton '08) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Erica Reetz (Homestead '10) Yale
  
• Kerri Schuh (Kaukauna '07) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Michelle Smith (Catholic Central '09) Colorado State
• Debbie Stadick (Watertown '08) Iowa State
  
• Molly Toon (Middleton '10) Michigan
• Samantha Trawitzke (Burlington '08) Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Jocelyn VerVelde (Sheboygan Christian '08) Central Michigan
• Carissa Whalen (Wausau West '10) North Dakota State
• Arianna Wiersma (Cambria-Friesland '11) Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Pretty impressive group with excellent representation from around the state and across all WIAA divisions.

Good luck to all in the big dance.

Panthers Playing for a Bid

The Horizon League's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament is on the line today at 1 p.m. in the Klotsche Center. UW-Milwaukee v. Cleveland State for the championship. Go Panthers!!!

UPDATE: DANCING!!!

Giving the Panthers Their Due

The UW-Milwaukee Panthers are also hosting a championship this weekend: the Horizon League Championships, to be specific. Our oversight (one of a million). The Panthers take on Valpo at 2:30 p.m. today. Go Panthers!!!

Ready for a Golden Afternoon of Volleyball?

Catch the Big East semifinals today at the Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee.

• Notre Dame v. Louisville at 1:00 p.m.
• Cincinnati v. MARQUETTE GOLDEN EAGLES at 3:30 p.m.

You in?

2011 Badger South All Conference

FIRST TEAM

• Kristen Cobb, Madison Edgewood, 2013
• Lauren Pfeifer, Fort Atkinson, 2013
• Katie Soddy, Milton, 2013
• Lauren Streets, Milton, 2014
• Allison Schullo, Milton, 2013
• Maddy Gits, Oregon, 2014
• Rachel Ott, Stoughton, 2012

SECOND TEAM

• Emily Bongard, Madison Edgewood, 2013
• Olivia Parman, Madison Edgewood, 2013
• Haley Schwenn, Madison Edgewood, 2014
• Kylie Frohmader, Fort Atkinson, 2015
• Michelle Bartzen, Monona Grove, 2012
• Dani Crawford, Monona Grove, 2012
• Becca Armstrong, Monroe, 2013

HONORABLE MENTION

• Sam Foti, Madison Edgewood, 2014
• Amber Foerster, Fort Atkinson, 2012
• K.C. Mylin, Milton, (graduation year to come)
• Kelsey Stalker, Milton, 2012
• Jenna Farnsworth, Monona Grove, 2012
• Shanda Roeming, Monona Grove, 2013
• Hearther Barta, Monroe, 2013
• Kirstie Hinojosa, Monroe, 2012
• Taylor Barrett, Monroe, 2014
• Caitlin Bundy, Oregon, 2012
• Katie Tushoski, Oregon, (graduation year to come)
• Morgan Hacker, Oregon, 2013
• Amber Severin, Oregon, (graduation year to come)
• Alexis Krause, Oregon, (graduation year to come)
• Josie Logan, Oregon, (graduation year to come)

They're at the Al McGuire Center. Will You Be?

We're speaking, of course, about the 2011 Big East Volleyball Championships. The Golden Eagles play their quarterfinal match at 6 p.m. Friday against Seton Hall.

It's a great opportunity to see some great volleyball. You in?

Wisconsin-Penn State Volleyball Highlights

Wisconsin 3, Penn State 2

This is B1G. Congrats. Here's a recap on Penn State's site. And another on NBC15.com. And yet one more on the Badgers site. Oh what the heck, here's the Capital Times.

DIII Playoffs

As always, your best resource is elsewhere. We'll do our best to echo some of what we find over there. And good luck to all the Wisconsin teams still in it.

Panther Shout Out

Congrats to UW-Milwaukee volleyball for winning the regular-season Horizon League championship. Here are a couple of Panther facts:

• They've won the last three Horizon League Player-of-the-Week awards: Rachel Neuberger (Muskego '10) this week and Kerri Schuh (Kaukauna '07) the previous two
• The aforementioned Schuh has exceeded 1,100 kills for her career

Well done.

UW-Parkside Volleyball Is GLVC Tournament-Bound

For the first time since 2003, the Wisconsin-Parkside Rangers have earned a berth in the GLVC tournament. Congrats and good luck.

Nine Straight

The Golden Eagles are on a Big East roll. Go Marquette.

Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Dig Di

Congrats to UW-Green Bay's Brittany Groth (Wisconsin Lutheran '09) for recording her 1,000th career dig on the same night she set the Phoenix record for digs in a four-set match with 35. As a side note, we were a few characters short of being able to type the word "dig" 35 times into the title of this blog post. Clearly, even the blogging platform we're using agrees that that's a lot of digs.

No, Kids, Kim Carnes Was Not Their Libero That Year

The last time UW-Stevens Point could celebrate what they can celebrate this year, Kool and the Gang might very well have been playing during warmups. And the libero that year was, uh yeah, about that. Congrats.

1,000 + 1,000 = Congrats + Congrats

We don't actually keep a list for college players who reach 1,000--but if we did, we'd have to add Marquette's Ciara Jones to it. She reached that milestone in the Golden Eagles' 3-2 win over Rutgers this weekend. We do, of course, keep a list for high school players. And we just added Alison Halweg (Sauk Prairie '12). Congrats and congrats.

While You're Killing Time Till You Can Watch Your Team Get Kills Tonight

Check out Green Bay v. Valpo live online right now.

Green Bay wins the five-set thriller.