Wisconsin volleyball breaks new recruiting ground with 2026 outside hitter (2024)

Precedent was not on Kelly Sheffield’s side when he made Halle Thompson one of his top priorities for the 2026 college volleyball recruiting class.

Thompson, a 6-foot-1 outside hitter from Spring, Texas, had established herself as one of the premier players in the class— ranked No. 2 by Prep Dig, Prep Volleyball and VB Adrenaline.

But history was not on the side of the University of Wisconsin in trying to lure her from Texas to a state where she’s never been.

“The weather, I feel like, is the toughest sell for people going from Texas, where we never see snow, to Wisconsin,” said Sean McMurry, Thompson’s coach at the powerful Houston Skyline club.

And Thompson conceded she hadn’t spent much time thinking about Wisconsin as June 15, the first day that college coaches could contact players, approached.

But it didn’t take long for the Badgers to rise to the top of her list and by Tuesday she was onboard, calling Sheffield to verbally commit.

Thompson becomes the first high school player from the state ever to commit to Wisconsin, with Shanel Bramschreiber from Plano, the only other Texan to play for the Badgers after joining as a graduate transfer from Baylor in 2022.

“I do think they were an underdog in this process,” Thompson said. “But that just goes to show how great of a program it is to have bypassed all the others in my eyes and come out on top.”

Thompson was the last of eight players that Sheffield talked with on Saturday and she said that conversation helped send the Badgers soaring up her list of schools.

“I had narrowed it down to a few schools,” she said. “At that moment in time I was still thinking about other schools but after one good night’s rest I woke up and I came to the realization that these schools don’t even … I wouldn’t say compare, because that’s kind of harsh, but these schools don’t check as many boxes as Wisconsin does.

“The first time I ever got on the phone with him and about five minutes into the conversation he was like, 'I want to make it very clear, we want you, we want what you have to offer.' That showed a lot. He wasn’t second thinking it, he truly trusted me and my abilities and that’s something I feel really good about.”

Thompson is the fourth player to commit to Wisconsin’s 2026 class, joining Audrey Flanagan, also an outside hitter, and middle blockers Lynney Tarnow and Kymora Scott. Thompson, Tarnow (No. 6) and Flanagan (No. 8) give the Badgers three of the top eight ranked players in the class, making it the likely top class in the nation.

Thompson said she felt an immediate connection with Sheffield, a feeling that only grew over some follow up conversations.

“I was very comfortable meeting him and the staff as well,” she said. “I could tell that they really wanted me in their program, as a person and as a player. They showed how they care about all those other things outside of volleyball. The program has so much to offer. No wonder it’s a winning program.

“I would say after the second or third conversation it was clear what school was the best for me to pick. The margins of every single school are very slim. But with Wisconsin there are so many amazing things about the whole program, the school, Kelly, (associate head coach) Brittany (Dildine), all of them. So it was pretty clear cut I would say.”

McMurry is confident that Thompson will be an impact player when she arrives at Wisconsin.

“Halle is an extremely fierce competitor, as anybody who gets to that kind of level is going to be,” McMurry said. “She’s very vocal, very outgoing, very much embraces the team aspect of the game, as well. She’s a very smart player.

“She just finished her sophom*ore year of high school but she already plays with the IQ of a seasoned veteran like somebody who’s been playing college volleyball for a long time.

“Athletically she’s amazing. She hits the ball out of the back row like you’d expect collegiate men to do. We can set the ball six, seven, eight feet in front of the 10-foot line and she’s going to go up and get it. So she has really impressive jumping ability, power with her arm. Just an all-around great player with her passing and defense, as well.”

Thompson grew up around the game— her mother played volleyball and her sister Fallon is a junior with the Gonzaga volleyball team— but it took her awhile to get into the sport. Her primary activity until she was 11 was cheer, where she already was performing tricks normally reserved for 18-year-olds.

“I had gone to the highest level of cheer so I couldn’t do that anymore,” she said. “I was like, what’s next? One day my dad came up to me and said I’ll give you $200 if you just go to one lesson. I was like 12 and this was the most money I’ve ever seen in my life. So I went and it the rest is history. I’ve loved it every since.

“People ask me, what’s my why? Why do I play? Obviously, I play because I have dreams and goals, but I also play for that little girl that played for fun, played to get her giggles out of it. I was like I had to pick something else up. Volleyball kind of fell into my lap, luckily.”

Thompson helped lead her Grand Oaks High School team to its first ever 6A state championship this past season, earning MVP honors in the process. That experience just whetted her appetite for winning championships. That was a big factor working in the favor for Wisconsin, which has played in the NCAA Final Four in four of the last five seasons.

“That was the tip of the iceberg,” Thompson said of that state title. “Winning a state championship is nothing compared to being in a Final Four or winning a national championship. But it definitely gives you a little taste of what that would be like. So winning that state championship makes me crave it even more, made me realize how much winning really does mean to me.

“That is huge for me. One of the biggest deciding factors was I wanted to go somewhere that I can develop myself and someday be on a podium with an Olympic gold medal around my neck. A winning program for me was very important because I wanted to go somewhere I knew for sure that I would be developed into a great player. I’m excited to work hard and get really good there.”

Thompson took a first step toward realizing that Olympic dream when she made the USA U19 team that will compete in the NORCECA Continental Championship in Honduras in July. And it just so happens that two of her roommates at the tryouts were Flanagan and Natalie Wardlow, who will be future teammates at Wisconsin.

“I think it’s such a funny coincidence that three of us roommates will end up going to the same college,” she said. “I’m real excited about that because I won’t go into it completely blind. It feels really good going in with people I know have my back.”

While she left her cheer career behind, Thompson brings a level of passion and exuberance to the game that would make any cheerleader proud.

“I would say that volleyball definitely brings out the excitement in me,” she said. “And I think that’s the most important part, to have fun in what you’re doing. You can be real serious. Like U19 was super serious. Playing for Wisconsin and having that name on your jersey is really serious. But it’s really important for me to find that happiness, the little jokes and giggles out of it, because that’s what’s going to make you be able to play for a long time.”

Thompson said she hopes to make an official visit to Wisconsin sometime this fall. But she was able to get a little sneak preview of the campus from Sheffield.

“He called me and he showed me around campus on his phone,” she said. “I’m from Texas and I haven’t made my way up to Wisconsin yet. So he showed me the campus, giving me a little stroll along the lake. It was the cutest thing.”