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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN VOLLEYBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEOOctober 6, 2014Kelly SheffieldCOACH SHEFFIELD: It was a tough week. Northwestern and Illinois, two really, really good teams on the road. I thought the Northwestern match, we got very back. I thought Kelli Bates, in particular, stood out that match and really played well. I thought we served the ball really well. Illinois probably one of the toughest environments I've been in, certainly the loudest environment I've ever been in. We came out and executed the first couple games and got our tails kicked in Game 3 pretty handily. We came back and refocused in Game 4. Came up with what I thought was a huge win. Loved the way that we bounced back after that third game. I thought we showed a lot of toughness. I thought Lauren, our center, I thought was really drove and willed our team. I thought it was a great performance by her. So we're excited about this week, first of all, to get a full week of practice. We haven't been able to do that the past couple weeks because we've been playing on Wednesday night. Second of all, to be able to play Rutgers and Maryland for the first time. So we're excited to have them in the Field House. Q. You've been on this murderer's run of schedule since your trip to Seattle. Now you're playing the two teams, new kids on the block. They're winless in the conference. Do you worry your team might take a breath? What do you do to combat any mindset like that? COACH SHEFFIELD: Well, Sundays‑‑ yesterday was our off day. That was the day to take a breath. I know a lot of them went out to the women's soccer game and supported them. Great weather out there. But by the time we get going here about 3:00 o'clock they better be ready to get after it. I'm not really worried about it too much. That hasn't been their deal in the past, and we haven't seen Rutgers, but we saw two matches of Maryland when they were out there in Seattle. They're very athletic, very talented. They gave Purdue all they could handle the other day. Purdue is the only team in the conference that hasn't lost yet, so I think they're going to have our attention. Q. How hard was it with the two new teams to get as familiar with the teams you've played throughout? COACH SHEFFIELD: Well, we'll have every match they played. That is the Big Ten agreement. You share every single match, so everything they've done, we'll be able to see. You don't have that memory of what people were last year, but we'll be, by the time the match gets here, we'll be plenty familiar with them. Q. After your team has experienced a couple losses in a row, they've bounced back with three wins. Where do you feel like this team's psyche is or confidence is right now? COACH SHEFFIELD: Well, the two losses were against two Top 5 teams in the nation. So it wasn't that we had this dry spell and we're starting to get hot or anything. The level of competition probably dictated that a little bit. You know, I think this is a resilient bunch, you know. I think they were really, really down after those two losses, and they got back in the gym. I think there was even stronger focus, stronger will. I thought we saw it again against Illinois. You lose that game. You don't just lose, but we got outscored 14 of the last 15 points in that game. That's an embarrassment. You know, that really woke up an already pretty boisterous crowd. That's‑‑ I thought we got right out in Game 4 and got right back to work. So I think that is the thing that I'm learning about this team and the players on this team is they may get knocked down, but they don't stay down for long. Q. I don't know if you can answer this question. But how difficult is it to win three straight matches in this league? COACH SHEFFIELD: I don't know if we did it last year. I mean, it's tough. I mean, it's really tough. Two of those things on the road. I think I don't know if we've ever beaten or gone to Illinois and Northwestern. Those two are usually travel partners. I don't know if we've ever won those two. I know Illinois they've won 9 of the last 10 matches. Yeah, you get in on any type of winning streak in this league and you're probably accomplishing something. So the trick is can you be consistent over time, and that is kind of the big thing that we stress is it's what's in front of you. We've responded appropriately. Q. You mentioned resiliency earlier. Does that come from you or are there certain leaders on the team that are more the rah‑rah types? COACH SHEFFIELD: I think probably about every coach in every sport is resilient. The key isn't whether the coach is resilient and can bounce back; the key is whether the players do. Usually that comes not only from within, but it comes from the leadership. Are the leaders saying and preaching the same message as the coach? I think that's critical. Is that gap, is that bridge really long between your leaders and your coaching staff or is it short? Usually our better teams, and I would think that's the case in most sports and most programs when that bridge is really short and everybody's on the same page, you've got the ability to accomplish some special things. If there is a big, big gap between the coach and the leaders, that is when miscommunication happens. That's when people go off and do their own thing. Those have usually been my toughest teams is when those leaders are totally different page than me. The group here, I think we've got some great leaders. They've done a really good job of making sure that the players away from the practice are doing and saying the right things. They're coming to practice in the right mindset. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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