Fiserv Forum match shows how volleyball continues to grow in Wisconsin

The crowd at Fiserv Forum for the volleyball match between Wisconsin and Marquette was listed as 10,020 fans on Sept. 17.

It didn't set an NCAA indoor attendance record like when the teams met in the building in 2023, but there will still be an impact that will be felt in the future as a large percentage of the crowd were young volleyball players who dream of playing on such a big stage.

Divine Savior Holy Angels has one of the top high-school programs in the state, and head coach Caitie Ratkowski made sure that the 50-plus players on the Dashers' four teams were in their seats by the time of the first serve. They all wanted to see former DSHA star Madison Quest take the court for the Badgers, and Ratkowski played at MU so there is a personal aspect to the rivalry.

"It makes them excited, for sure," Ratkowski said. "Seeing girls that they played club with, that they played on the high-school team with, and they see (playing in college) as a goal that they'd like to achieve and it's something that they want to work towards."

Ratkowski has been the DSHA coach since 2007, so she's had a front-row seat for the growth of the sport in the state.

"It's incredible," she said. "The Wisconsin state tournament, when it was WISSA, it was played at Wisconsin Lutheran college on multiple courts.

"And then it was played in Madison for a couple years and then moving it up to the Resch Center was a really cool shift, to have that bigger arena. But to be able to see a filled arena (like Fiserv) for a single match is pretty cool."

Marquette's Natalie Ring takes pride in inspiring young volleyball players

Dave Bayer, director of the venerable Milwaukee Sting club program, had a pretty cool view of the match. All the Sting's coaches took in the action from a luxury suite, marveling at the popularity of the sport.

"Fortunately for everybody in a high-school program or a club program in the state of Wisconsin over the last couple years, volleyball has been one of the hottest sports around," Bayer said. "For us to have two top-25 programs over the last couple years be right in our back yard ... and you have (UW-)Milwaukee and (UW-)Green Bay, you got (UW-)Parkside in Division II, you got awesome Division III programs ... any volleyball player in our state can go watch what it's like to play or what it's like to compete at that next level.

"Real-time, first-hand experience. I think that's really important. You talk about the hotbeds of volleyball around the country ... California, Texas. The reason those are hotbeds is because they have those same things: Top-20 programs, a lot traditions and a lot of history."

Bayer says that Sting coaches like to ask young players who their role models are in volleyball. There were plenty good examples in UW's 3-0 victory over MU, like the all-encompassing attack of UW's Mimi Colyer or the impressive development of MU's Natalie Ring.

That representation matters to Ring, who grew up in Madison.

"For all the youth, whatever age they are, I just want them to see the possibility of this being them and their dream bing accomplished," Ring said. "I think that we're able to set the scene of what volleyball can do.

"Playing in an arena like this is not something that we got to see growing up. So seeing the way that you can take the sport and where you can go with it is the biggest thing that I would want them to take away from it."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin-Marquette volleyball match shows how games keeps- growing