Upon introducing himself Tuesday at the Madison Sports Hall of Fame Club luncheon, guest speaker Matt Fuerbringer delivered the inevitable punch line.
And it was well-received.
“At home, Charlie is my daughter,’’ he said. “Here, I’m known as Charlie’s dad.’’
Charlie Fuerbringer earned third team All-American honors this past season as the freshman setter on the University of Wisconsin volleyball team. She was well-received.
“We’re just super thankful for this Wisconsin community. It has embraced us; most importantly, it has embraced Charlie,’’ her dad said. “We feel love and support for her and for our family.
“When she was choosing where to go to school, it was so many choices and she could have gone to schools right in our backyard (Hermosa Beach, California) which would have been nice for us.
“But what some of those schools in California don’t seem to have is that same support system not just from the university but from the fans.’’
Matt Fuerbringer, head coach of the new LOVB Madison professional volleyball team, speaks Tuesday to the Madison Sports Hall of Fame Club.
Fuerbringer and his wife, Joy Mckienzie-Fuerbringer, “knew bringing her here that she was going to get that support,” he said.
“That’s what we’re hoping our women on the LOVB team can feel.’’
Fuerbringer is the 50-year-old head coach of the LOVB (League One Volleyball) Madison professional team that will open its home season this weekend at the UW Field House.
LOVB Salt Lake will be the opponent at 8 p.m. tonight and LOVB Omaha at 9 p.m. Saturday. The other matches in Madison will be staged at the Alliant Energy Center.
This is the inaugural season for the six-team pro league that also has franchises in Atlanta, Austin and Houston. Last Friday, LOVB Madison lost its opener in Texas to LOVB Austin.
“I just don’t think we performed at the level we could,’’ Fuerbringer said. “We just need more connection, we need more communication, we need to be on the same page more.
“I’m all about finding solutions. Right now, we need to solve our challenges on our side of the court. Everybody wants to make a strong first impression in front of the home crowd.’’
The local fan base will be able to identify with three former Badgers players: Lauren Carlini, who has been tabbed as the team’s “founding athlete’’; Sarah Franklin and Temi Thomas-Ailara.
At the Hall of Fame luncheon, the 6-8 Fuerbringer looked around the room and pronounced Carlini as someone “who you guys all know and obviously got the silver medal in the last Olympics.’’
Lauren Carlini reacts to the crowd’s ovation after the Wisconsin volleyball setter’s four-year All-American career came to a close after a loss to Stanford Dec. 10, 2016 in an NCAA Tournament regional final.
This past season, Carlini was on the UW volleyball coaching staff as an offensive analyst and strategy consultant. “She’s helping coach my daughter, which I’m very grateful for,’’ Fuerbringer said.
In her final year of college eligibility, Franklin helped lead the Badgers to a 26-7 record and the NCAA regional finals. Franklin was a two-time Big Ten Player of the Year and All-American.
“Adding Sarah to our team adds a lot of athleticism, and a lot of talent,’’ Fuerbringer said of the 2023 National Player of the Year. “She’s a very high-level competitor.
“It’s nice to see her so motivated. It has been a long season for her. It started in September and she didn’t take a break. You can see her curiosity and enthusiasm is really high right now.
“Making this transition from college to the pros is not easy.’’
Consistency is one of the keys, whether advancing from club to college or college to pro. “How often can you do it?’’ posed Fuerbringer, citing the game-in and game-out mentality.
“The biggest thing you have to do at the pro level is learning how to kill the ball when there’s not much court. It’s so hard to find the court at this level. Sometimes there’s nowhere to go.’’
Franklin is in the process of making adjustments.
“Everyone is going to have a scouting report on her,’’ said Fuerbringer, who added that she will be tested by “how can she deal with women who know where she wants to be.’’
Franklin had seven kills in her pro debut last week against Austin, a team built around Olympic middle blocker Chiaka Ogbogu. Madison was led by Annie Schumacher, who had 16 kills.
“She’s a lefty, she’s dynamic and she’s strong,’’ Fuerbringer said of Schumacher, a former Purdue star, a nine-year pro and a winner of Olympic gold in Tokyo and silver in Paris.
“She’s one of the best competitors in the world. One of those players who doesn’t seem to get phased in big moments. She’s self-made. Worked hard and got better.’’
Wisconsin Badgers Sarah Franklin (13), Temi Thomas-Ailara (12), and Carter Booth (52) celebrate with setter Izzy Ashburn (11) during a match against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at the UW Field House in Madison on Oct. 13, 2023. SAMANTHA MADAR, STATE JOURNAL
Fuerbringer’s roster includes two young players from Louisville: Anna Hall, a two-time All-American and Claire Chaussee, a Sun Prairie native. “We call her Air Claire, she skies,’’ he said.
One of his middle blockers, Taylor Sandbothe, is Ohio State’s career leader in blocks while another, Ana Beatriz Correa, is from Brazil and has won Olympic silver. She’s been a pro since 2008.
Daly Santana, a former University of Minnesota outsider hitter, is from Puerto Rico and has competed professionally in Japan, South Korea, Turkey and Italy. She was in the 2016 Olympics.
Another outside hitter, Jennifer Janiska, is a 15-year pro from Germany. Both Liberos have diverse backgrounds: Milica Medved is from Serbia; Simin Wang is from China.
Fuerbringer pointed out that the LOVB Madison roster isn’t yet at full strength, making it more challenging to practice at the Sun Prairie training center, which is shared with junior clubs.
The pros will train in the morning and the youth players in the afternoon at the facility. There is some overlap and the interaction between young and old is a unique quality of LOVB.
“The vision for the league is that we have an ecosystem where the professional athletes are in the same gym as our next-generation athletes and inspiring them,’’ Fuerbringer said.
“For Lauren (Carlini), she didn’t get to look up to anyone playing professionally. It wasn’t an option. But now someone can look up and say, ‘I want to be like Lauren’ and they can talk with her.’’
Fuerbringer sports an impressive volleyball resume. At Stanford, he was a four-time All-American and on the 1997 NCAA championship team. He was adept, too, at beach volleyball.
As a pro, he competed around the world until he was 38. As a coach, he has been an assistant on the U.S. national team and has brought home a couple of Olympic bronze medals.
He’s not the only coach in the family.
While directing the Mizuno Long Beach Volleyball Club, a passion to this day, Joy Mckienzie-Fuerbringer has an extensive bio in the sport, including as the ex-head coach at Long Beach State.
Mckienzie-Fuerbringer was an All-American setter at her alma mater, Long Beach, and a member of the 1993 team that won the NCAA title by beating Penn State at the Field House.
Yes, it can be a very small world.
That Charlie just completed her first season on that UW stage has been very satisfying for the Fuerbringers, whose son, Mateo, is an accomplished player as a high school sophomore.
Reflecting on Charlie’s decision to leave home and become a Badger, Matt Fuerbringer said, “She had a little courage to try something new and trust people and she really connected.
“The strong culture here at Wisconsin was a big factor.’’
Today, he’s building his own culture with LOVB Madison and the expectation for it to connect hasn’t changed. Charlie’s dad is counting on it being well-received. Like she was.
