Wisconsin Women's Volleyball Faces Eight October Conference Matches; Badgers Test Mettle Against Top-20 Ranked Opponents
As conference play intensifies, the UW-Madison squad will face three ranked Big Ten teams this month, with all games broadcast on ESPN, BTN, and FS1.
WAUKESHA — The Wisconsin Badgers women's volleyball team opens a stretch of eight October conference matches tonight against #18 Indiana at 8 p.m., the first of three games this month against teams ranked in the national top 20, and the matchup has prompted at least one Waukesha bar to put a volleyball schedule on the same chalkboard it normally reserves for Packers byes.
The Badgers follow tonight's home match with a road trip to #15 Minnesota on October 4 at 5 p.m., then a October 10 road match against #1 Nebraska, a program UW-Madison has not beaten since the 2021 NCAA tournament. All three games will air nationally, on ESPN, BTN, or FS1, meaning Waukesha residents can follow the entire October slate without driving to the Field House.
A Wednesday Night Alternative
At The Sideline on South Street, bartender Sarah Chen said the bar began advertising volleyball viewing on its sandwich board outside two weeks ago, a decision she described as "mostly an experiment" given that the bar's ten televisions are more commonly tuned to Packers pregame coverage or, lately, Brewers postseason baseball. Chen said six regulars showed up for a September 24 match against Michigan State specifically to watch, a number she called "small, but real," and that the bar has since added the October schedule to its weekly events chalkboard alongside trivia night.
"Wednesday night volleyball is finally getting the respect it deserves," Chen said, adding that she has fielded more questions about outside hitter rotations in the past two weeks than in the previous three Octobers combined. She said the bar plans to show tonight's Indiana match on two of its smaller screens, leaving the larger screens available for the Brewers.
"I don't think anyone's switching allegiances from football. I think people just have more screens than they used to, and volleyball's finally allowed on one of them."
— Sarah Chen, bartender, The Sideline
Chen's assessment tracks with what she described as a broader shift in televised sports interest locally, one she attributed less to any single season and more to the sheer volume of nationally broadcast college and professional games now competing for attention on a given night. "Five years ago there just wasn't volleyball on at 8 o'clock on a Wednesday," she said. "Now there is, and it turns out some people were waiting for that."
A Difficult Middle Stretch
UW-Madison enters October at 10-2 overall, a record that assistant athletic communications staff at the university have noted reflects a non-conference schedule considerably gentler than the one ahead. Between the Indiana, Minnesota, and Nebraska matches, the Badgers also face Rutgers, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Northwestern, giving the team no unranked week off for the entire month.
Waukesha West graduate and current UW-Madison sophomore defensive specialist Haley Brunner, reached by phone, said the team has treated the ranked matches as "measuring sticks" rather than must-win games this early in conference play, citing seeding implications for November's postseason tournament rather than October standings as the stated priority. Brunner, who played club volleyball in the Waukesha area before college, said she has heard from "a handful" of friends back home that local bars have started showing the games, a development she called "weird in a good way."
Chen said The Sideline has no plans to expand its volleyball coverage beyond the three ranked matches this month, citing limited screen real estate and the ongoing Brewers postseason run as the bar's current priority. "If the volleyball crowd grows, we'll figure out the screens," she said. "Right now it's two TVs and whoever shows up."