After being prepared to sit out a year with the Badgers, Michigan transfer Tiffany Clark has surprisingly been cleared to play at Wisconsin for this season. The decision was made by the Big Ten as they granted Clark a waiver to be eligible in 2017 despite transferring within the conference.
A 5’11” sophomore, Clark has three years (including 2017) left of eligibility as she now can participate in this week’s matches for Wisconsin as they take on Lipscomb and Texas A&M.
Previously at Michigan, Clark made her first career start at libero late in the season on November 15th against rival Michigan State and notched 17 digs. She totaled 35 match appearances with 18 starts for the year en route to racking up 239 digs (1.82 per set) and 23 aces (third on the team).
She may be a bit rusty without game action over the first two weeks of the season, but she saw plenty of play at a high-level over the summer as part of the Team USA U20 team that traveled to Costa Rica and won their first-ever U20 Pan American Cup. Her performance there earned her a spot with the team for the U20 World Championships later in the summer as well.
It is unclear at this time what went into the waiver process and what caused the Big Ten to clear an in-conference transfer right away, but for Clark it gives her a shot at competing on a National Title contender right away. Clark won’t be the only Badger reinforcement that comes from within the roster too. All-American Molly Haggerty could return at any time for Wisconsin, although her season still remains in limbo.
Wisconsin, who is off to a hot start to the 2017 season, has four other defensive specialists/liberos on the roster. All four have played in at least seven sets this season as three are underclasswomen (one freshman, two sophomores) and another a junior.
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