What excites Wisconsin’s Kelly Sheffield about new Big Ten volleyball tournament
· Yahoo Sports
MADISON – The idea of eventually having a Big Ten volleyball tournament was a point of discussion that Wisconsin’s Kelly Sheffield heard for “a lot of years.”
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Then the timeline accelerated with a recent meeting.
“A few months ago, they presented a plan for the start of 2027, and we all said, ‘Man, the plan looks great,’” Sheffield said. “‘We’re excited about it. We’re so excited about it. Can you make it happen in 2026?’ And they took a big gulp.”
The Big Ten, after its big gulp, made the big idea happen in time for 2026. The first-ever conference volleyball tournament will begin on Nov. 20 in Fishers, Indiana. It’s a big reason for excitement, too, ahead of Sheffield’s 14th season at the helm of the Badgers.
“I think it’s something that our players are going to be very excited about,” Sheffield said. “I think our fans are going to get excited about it. I think the media will be. … It’ll be some of the best teams in the country just going at it for a title that means a lot.”
The Big Ten’s inaugural volleyball tournament will be Nov. 20-25 after the Big Ten regular season and well before the NCAA tournament, with a conference title (and automatic bid) at stake.
“I really like our players feeling this win-and-advance, lose-you’re-done going into the NCAA tournament as well,” Sheffield said. “There’s something to play for.”
The format, Sheffield said, will be very similar “if not identical” to the 15-team Big Ten women’s basketball tournament. (That tournament also has 15 teams, with the top nine teams receiving a bye and the top four teams receiving a double-bye.)
“I think the intention is to have an off day in there somewhere,” Sheffield said. “Historically, you look at a conference that has done very, very well in the NCAA tournament, and we didn’t want to sabotage ourselves for that.”
Theoretically based on the women’s basketball bracket, one of the top four teams would need to win three matches to claim a conference tournament title. Those three wins, barring any upsets, would be against three of the top eight teams in the conference.
“We’ve got a great product,” Sheffield said. “The regular season of the Big Ten has been great. It’s been very compelling for a long time. So if you’re going to give up three matches, you want to make sure that you get this right.”
Of course, a nearly week-long conference tournament leaves one fewer week for the Big Ten regular season. The conference is cutting the 20-game slate to 17 games, and teams will play each other one time in a single round-robin. (Had that format been in place in 2025, that would have meant one fewer match against Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota.)
Sheffield is a fan of the Big Ten’s venue of choice, as well – the Fishers Event Center in Fishers, Indiana. He experienced the venue as a spectator for the Indy Ignite’s franchise opener (and supporter of the UW alumni involved in that match) and left with a good first impression.
“It’s a fabulous facility,” Sheffield said. “It’s a really, really neat facility. It’s in a volleyball-crazed area. The schools that have the largest fan bases in our conference – it’s drivable or an easy, quick flight. … I’ve already been getting text messages of people that live in the region that are fired up to go and watch that.”
Sheffield’s friends will not have to wait long either after the Big Ten staff’s big gulp and adjustment to make the tournament happen in 2026.
“Which is further proof of just how important our sport is to the conference,” Sheffield said.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: What excites Kelly Sheffield about new Big Ten volleyball tournament