It’s not every day the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay volleyball team gets to play one of the best squads in the nation at its own place.
That will be the case Saturday, April 18, when UWGB hosts Wisconsin at the Kress Center in a spring exhibition match in front of what will be a record crowd.
More than 3,000 fans are expected to be in attendance, which would far outnumber what is believed to be the current record of 1,401 that watched the Phoenix against Minnesota on Sept. 19, 2024.
The match is part of the Frozen Phoenix Invite, which starts with a Division III showdown between UW-Oshkosh and Lawrence at 10:30 a.m. and is followed by UWGB-Wisconsin at 1 p.m.
The Badgers made the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament in 2025, while Oshkosh won the DIII national championship for the first time in program history.
Although UWGB has played Wisconsin during the spring season in recent years, none of the matches have been in Green Bay.
This will be the third time in program history the Phoenix will host the Badgers and the first since September 2009.
How the heck did UWGB get Wisconsin to come here, even for an exhibition?
There are some sports – namely men’s basketball – that likely will never do that again.
“Usually, every spring I just kind of assume that we can go down there, which is always a great opportunity for us,” UWGB coach Abbey Sutherland said. “I was talking to someone on their staff who just said, ‘What if we come to Green Bay? I think that would be fun.’”
Wait. Hold on.
Did Sutherland hear that correctly?
“I was like, ‘What?’” she said. “I took her up on it immediately. I was like, let’s find a date. Let’s get this done. Just wanted to do it right. With that, I mean, welcoming them to the community. [Former Green Bay Packers president and CEO] Mark Murphy is giving them a personalized tour of Lambeau Field on Saturday morning, which I think is great. Then there is the Blizzard [football game at the Resch Center on Saturday night], and I asked if they wanted to be announced at the Blizzard game because they made it to the Final Four.
“They said yes. So, they are going to be announced along with Oshkosh, which won a national championship. To me, we are bringing people to the community of Green Bay, which makes it such a great day. Such a great day for Green Bay athletics.”
UWGB and Wisconsin have met 11 times in non-exhibition matches, and the results have been quite lopsided.
The Badgers have won all 11 meetings – the most recent was in September 2021 – and have dropped just two sets.
The last time the Phoenix wasn’t swept was 31 years ago, when it lost 3-1 in 1995.
Sutherland’s first season at UWGB was 2018. She led the team to a 20-8 record and to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history and the first since 2003, and the opening-round game was against the Badgers.
Ask her about that match, and she still believes her team should have won a set that day.
UWGB was tied at four points in the first set before Wisconsin won 21 of the next 26.
The Phoenix was up 5-0 in the second set before the Badgers pulled out a 27-25 win.
That tends to stick with a coach, especially a successful one like Sutherland who has led the Phoenix to 20 or more wins in a season three times, matching the 20-win seasons the program had in its first 34 years since starting play in 1984.
But a match like the one this weekend isn’t really about a win or a loss, although a big upset would certainly make a headline or two.
It does nothing but help UWGB get prepared for the fall, including being part of an electric atmosphere at the Kress.
One player told Sutherland that playing in front of a packed crowd in their own arena will be something she remembers for the rest of her career.
There might be some jitters going up against a Badgers team that won the national championship in 2021, but the hope is that there won’t be any fear.
“Taking reasonable risks, being daring and brave,” Sutherland said. “We’ve done so much growth behind the scenes, and it’s easy for that to not be showcased sometimes because the nerves kick in.
“We want our team to be daring and brave, we want them to go for it. We have got to serve very tough. We have got to try and hit as hard as we can to get kills against a team that is very physical. They are huge.”
UWGB volleyball has had plenty of growth this spring
The match against Wisconsin will all but wrap up the spring season for the Phoenix, which has had matches against Oshkosh, Northern Michigan, Michigan Tech, Winona State and Loyola Chicago.
It concludes the schedule with its annual alumni match May 2, which will include UWGB assistant Shannon Coughlin and UWGB’s graduate assistant for marketing and fan engagement Danilynn Schell.
Although the alumni often believe they will win, legend has it they never do.
The spring has helped not only the returning players get more experience – the roster includes two local products in De Pere’s Hailey Jeskewitz and Green Bay Southwest’s Alexa Hernandez – but the Phoenix has welcomed three incoming freshmen after the trio graduated high school early.
The newcomers include Sun Prairie West’s Sari Marks and two Minnesota natives in Minnetonka’s Eva Swenson (Wayzata High School) and Shoreview’s Victoria Kurilov (Mounds View).
Marks has played for Sutherland in the past as part of the Badger Region all-stars.
“It’s crazy that we have three, because they are basically still in high school,” Sutherland said. “It’s an adjustment for them, but the sad part in general is that it’s a trend you are seeing happen because people don’t want to play club their senior year. Like with youth sports and the way it is going and how serious it is and how expensive it is. They are just like, ‘Well, I’d rather just come to college and play college volleyball.’
“So, all three of them just asked if they could come. I didn’t tell them they should come. They did it on their choice. Which makes it better, because they are excited to be here and grateful for the opportunity. You can’t get around going through freshmen stuff, so they are just doing it earlier than the other four who will be here in June. They are learning and they are growing at a rapid pace in a lot of ways. You can connect so much more. You have more downtime to have relationships, instead of travel all the time in the fall. They have been doing great.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB volleyball excited to welcome Wisconsin to the Kress Center
Reporting by Scott Venci, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
