Ich Weiss Nicht, But You Might

In the post one below this here post, "anonymous" asked for the names of zwei, er two, former Wisconsin Badger setters who also played in the Bundesliga Frauen in Germany. Anyone? Anyone? Ich weiss nicht, but somebody out there just might.

OK, So What's the Largest?

If Valley Christian, with 69 students, is the smallest school at the Resch, which school boasts the largest enrollment?

The Answer May Surprise You

What's the smallest school, by enrollment, which will be playing at the Resch Center this weekend?

How Many Wisconsinites Are on AVCA Division II Top 25 Teams?

Here are the latest AVCA rankings. We count 21 Wisconsinites scattered among the top 25 teams, but let us know if we're missing anyone. Thanks.

• No. 1-ranked Minnesota-Duluth: Allison Fanta (Hillsboro '08), Brenda Hansen (Weyawauga-Fremont '06), Jamie Lakatos (Menomonie '07), Rachel Lamers (Kimberly '07), Kalli Lochner (Wisconsin Heights '09) and Katie Kuffel (Brookfield Central '06)
• No. 3-ranked Southwest Minnesota State: Mary Groth (Kettle Moraine Lutheran '09)
• No. 6-ranked Concordia-St. Paul: Erienne Lauersdorf (Watertown '10)
• No. 7-ranked Washburn: Hillary Hughes (Wisconsin Heights '09)
• No. 12-ranked Truman State: Allison Barker (Racine Lutheran '07), Tassia Hegyi (Waunakee '07), Lauren Radix (Wisconsin Heights '09)
• No. 13-ranked Minnesota State: Maddie Siroin (Washburn '10)
• No. 16-ranked Northern Michigan: Becca Feuerhard (Edgewood '08), Andree Ring (Edgewood '09), Suzanne Solin (Antigo '10), Kristin Wetzel (Kettle Moraine Lutheran '10), Emma Wolfe (Edgewood '08), Libby Woodford (Waukesha South '10)
• No. 22-ranked Missouri-St. Louis: Kelsie Rankin (Neenah '08)
• No. 24-ranked Dowling: Morgan Mutranowski (Greendale '09)

Congrats to all of the above.

Waunakee's Hailie Ripley to IPFW

According to the PoWer Sauk site, Hailie Ripley (Waunakee '11) will continue her volleyball career at Indiana Purdue-Fort Wayne. We've added the 2009 first-team Badger North all-conference star to our master list of 2011 recruits. Congrats.

And now for a little trivia: What other Wisconsinite plays volleyball for the IPFW Mastodons? (Yeah, it's pretty much a trick question.)

Eight Posts #6: A Little WVC JV Trivia

Which JV team, as of February 4, is undefeated in WVC play? Here's a hint (you know, if you choose not to click on the link provided): It's a school with an enrollment of 750 that's just under the UP.

What Do 2009 Florida and Illinois High School Volleyball Have in Common?

Both Florida and Illinois have state players of the year who will be playing next year for your Wisconsin Badgers. Congrats, Elise Walch and Annemarie Hickey.

What Do These Six Schools Have in Common?

1. Kaukauna
2. Muskego
3. Nicolet
4. Catholic Memorial
5. Middleton
6. Burlington

Hints: It helps if you're following all high school volleyball in the state and the list could be significantly shorter after tomorrow night.

Lunchtime Trivia: Why in the Name of All Things Volleyball in Wisconsin Are We Sharing the Video Clip Below Right Now?

"Wisconsinites Currently Playing at NAIA Schools One State Over for $100, Alex"

We sorta liked the Q&A format of our last Cheese & Trivia challenge so we're doing it again:

1. Which Wisconsinite was named Midwest Collegiate Conference Setter of the Week on Monday?
2. Which Wisconsinite is her coach?
3. What other Wisconsinites are on the team?
4. At which Wisconsin tournament will they be playing on September 25 and where is the host school ranked in the latest NCAA Division III poll?

And now, as is our custom, a few hints, er, giveaways:

1. Hint
2. Hint
3. Hint
4. Hint and Hint

And in the Other "DI in WI" Semifinal, It's the Badgers v. the Phoenix Tonight

Of course we know the four NCAA Division I schools in Wisconsin aren't really in a four-team playoff, but it sorta feels that way since UW-Milwaukee and Marquette played last Saturday and UW-Madison and UW-Green Bay are playing tonight at the Kress Events Center in Green Bay.

And here's a trivia question related to the match: Can you identify the two pairs of former high school teammates who'll be playing against each other in the match and which two high schools they're from? Here's one hint. And here's another.

"Wisconsinites Currently Playing at Out-of-State Universities for $100, Alex"

Here are five somewhat-random trivia questions about Wisconsinites playing at out-of-state universities. How many can you get right?

1. Which former Westosha Central middle had 14 kills for West Georgia in the Wolves' recent victory over Fort Valley State?
2. Which three Wisconsinites, one of whom was also recently named Big XII defensive player of the week, were named to the all-tournament team this past weekend at the University of Iowa Hawkeye Classic?
3. Which former Wisconsin Heights outside currently has 59 kills for the No. 6-ranked Division II team in the country?
4. Which two teammates on Kenosha Tremper's 2009 Division 1 championship team are still playing together in Florida?
5. Which former West Salem middle already has 47 kills in her freshman year at Northern Illinois?

Here's a little help (OK, a lot of help) with the answers:

1. Hint and Profile
2. Hint and Hint and Profile and Profile and Profile
3. Hint and Profile
4. Hint and Profile and Profile
5. Hint and Profile

Sixteen Bulldogs and Counting

OK, just for pure silliness (and to give a shout-out to some Wisconsin connections), we're gonna try to list every Wisconsinite who's on a 2009 college roster that has a Bulldog for a mascot. If you're wondering, we came up with this idea (such as it is) while refining the Wisconsin Heights fall preview below: Two '08 Wisconsin Heights grads, Lauren Radix and Kalli Lochner, just so happen to have the same mascot at two different universities. Here are the Bulldogs we've identified so far:

• Nicole Brown (Appleton Xavier '07) Drake Bulldogs
• Allison Gilbert (West Salem '08) Western Illinois Bulldogs/Leathernecks
• Allison Fanta (Hillsboro '07) Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs
• Nastassia Hegyi (Waunakee '07) Truman State Bulldogs
• Brenda Hansen (Weyawauga-Fremont '06) Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs
• Katie Kuffel (Brookfield Central '06) Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs
• Jamie Lakatos (Menomonie '06) Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs
• Rachel Lamers (Kimberly '06) Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs
• Chelsea Lauersdorf (Watertown '06) Drake Bulldogs
• Kalli Lochner (Wisconsin Heights '08) Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs
• Brianna McCarthy (Beaver Dam '02) Assistant Coach for Georgia Bulldogs
• Lauren Radix (Wisconsin Heights '08) Truman State Bulldogs
• Melissa Richie (Rice Lake '08) Gardner-Webb Bulldog
• Lindsay Schryver (Williams Bay '06) Drake Bulldogs
• Brooke Stittleburg (Black River Falls '08) Western Illinois Bulldogs/Leathernecks
• Alli Walsh (Greendale '08) Truman State Bulldogs

We're sure there are others. Shoot us an e-mail or leave a comment. If we get motivated, we'll try to find more and add links. If we don't, we'll keep working on the division three sectional four preview, which will appear later (maybe much later) today.

Boys Volleyball Players Who Don't Play WIAA Boys Volleyball

We know the blog is a little inactive right now, but that's because we're putting together sectional previews (the first one, for boys sectional one, will appear on August 1). As we've been researching players, however, we occasionally run across guys who are making their mark in Wisconsin volleyball, but go to high schools without WIAA volleyball programs. This, of course, naturally made us think it might be good to start a list that gives those players some recognition. Here's what we've got so far:

• Bruin Armwald (Madison Edgewood, '11)
  
• J.W. Kieckhefer (Hartford '09, IPFW '13)
• Josh Kirchner (Sussex Hamilton '12)
• Brian Emo (Milwaukee Lutheran '12)

So who are we missing or what do we have wrong? Let us know of anyone--even if they've already graduated.

Three Bests at the PrepVolleyball.com Classic: 17s and 18s Award Winners

Three Wisconsinites received special awards at the Classic:

• Best 18s setter was Elizabeth Koberstein (Madison West '10) of Capital 18 Nike David
• Best 17s passer was Catie Fredrich (Menomonee Falls '10) of Milwaukee Sting 17 Gold
• Best 17s coach was Evan Berg of Wisconsin Juniors 17-1

Congrats, congrats and congrats. And now a quick (and pretty easy) trivia question: What will Catie Fredrich and Evan Berg have in common, starting in the fall of 2010?

A Little Spartan v. Tar Heel Trivia Challenge

OK, we'll admit it: We're watching the silly basketball game right now. But we're still thinking about volleyball, oh yes we are. So before we do more congratulatory posts for recent verbals, we'd like to throw out this challenge for the group: How many volleyball connections does the state of Wisconsin have to North Carolina and Michigan State? Here are two we can think of to get things started:

• Krista Bucholz (Waupun '97) played at North Carolina
• Elizabeth Egerer (Sheboygan Christian '09) will play for Michigan State

Leave additional Wisconsin connections as a comment to this post or e-mail vbuberalles@gmail.com. Thanks.

Trivia for a Sunny Spring Saturday

Which Wisconsinites will play their first college volleyball match against Morgan Kuhn when she plays her first college match? (Oooh, we like this one.) 

Reader-Supplied Trivia Challenge

Someone recently left an anonymous comment that congratulated FC Elite 17-1 and West Bend Power 16 Purple on their outstanding runner-up finishes at the Mideast qualifier over the weekend.

That individual then posed this excellent trivia challenge: What was the last Badger Region team to win a national qualifier? We are hereby officially throwing this question out to the world (and hoping really hard that someone gets it right since we don't know the answer ourselves).

So what team was it?

The Eight (Plus Three)

In our latest trivia challenge, we asked for the names of any Wisconsinites who play for the top 15 teams in the latest Division I-II men's volleyball poll. Someone who goes by the name of "anonymous" was able to name these eight:

• John Baker (Racine Park) is redshirting at No. 1 Cal State-Northridge
• Garrett Werner (Nicolet) is a junior at No. 7 Stanford
• Phil Fuchs (Brookfield East) is redshirting at No. 8 Brigham Young
• Drew Pickering (Wauwatosa West) is a senior at No. 9 Lewis and the current MIVA player of the week
• Alex Vigansky (Kenosha Tremper) is a senior at No. 9 Lewis
  
• Ramzi Korkor (Arrowhead) is a freshman at No. 12 Hawaii
• Ethan Pheister (Shorewood) is a junior at No. 15 Ball State
• Eric Schulte (Shorewood) is a junior at No. 15 Ball State

And three more Wisconsinites play for Loyola, which "received votes" in the latest poll:

• Michael Hutz (Milwaukee Marquette) is a sophomore
  
• Matt Hogan (Milwaukee Marquette) is a freshman
  
• Daniel Leis (Brookfield Central) is a sophomore

That's a rather impressive list, don't you think? We thought you would.

Been Too Long Since We've Done Trivia

In the past, we used to mix things up with a little trivia and we're not sure when or why we fell out of that habit. But we're back and today's question has two parts:

• How many Wisconsinites (including those who are redshirting) are on the rosters of the top 15 men's programs as identified in the latest AVCA/Bison Division I-II Poll?
• Why are we asking this question at this time? (OK, that's pretty subjective so we'll give you a hint: It has to do with the new number one team in the country.)
  

Leave your answers as a comment to this post or an e-mail to vbuberalles@gmail.com.