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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN VOLLEYBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 28, 2015

Kelly Sheffield

Madison, Wisconsin

THE MODERATOR: Head Coach Kelly Sheffield joins us. We will have opening comments and take questions.

COACH SHEFFIELD: Thank you, Brian. Just got back from a really, really tough battle, came out on the short end against a really good Ohio State team. We have a quick turn around against Illinois this Wednesday, like Brian was saying. We're excited about being home, playing back in the fieldhouse, against a team that's really, really talented and that we have had some great battles with over the past few years. We're excited to get back after it.

Q. Losing streaks are something new here compared to the last couple of years. What's the reaction you see and what's your reaction in trying to deal with it going forward? How do you try to turn it around?
COACH SHEFFIELD: Well, it's a good question. You start seeing the character when things aren't -- what is the character of your team when things aren't going the way and having the results that you're wanting to. The truth is we played against some pretty tough teams. I see them -- I see the work load that they're trying to put in increase. They're searching for ways which as a coach you love being around those types of kids, you know?

What is frustrating is when you are around people that don't want to stay in the fight, you know, they're just there on the good days and they abandoned each other or whatever when things aren't going their way.

These guys are searching and coming out against Ohio State I thought that was us in a nutshell, in game one. We were pressing really, really hard and that's on the coaches, being able to -- we've got to compete, but there has to be this balance of, you know -- remember the end of "Animal House" when everybody is all over the place, and they're running and young Kevin Bacon says, "All is well. Remain calm. All is well"?

Sometimes there is a little bit of that. I thought at the beginning of that they scored a couple of points and we're just running all over the place creating mayhem, and we were able to calm down and get back in the fight, and it was a good match. The difference was we fell behind in game five, 5-1, and we were in an uphill battle. Going in -- a show that I used to like when I was younger, remember the "A Team"? There was a guy that said, "I love it when a plan comes together." Who was that? Mr. T. I think that's who it was. That's kinda my feeling, is that we're getting closer.

I know that, we are getting closer, and I see that, even though we lost a few. You know, we tackle finding ways to get better, and those are the things that I love, when a plan comes together, when the team comes together and we're searching and finding ways. Our team is -- we're exactly how we probably want us to be right now.

Q. You didn't play poorly just not well enough yesterday is what you're saying?
COACH SHEFFIELD: Don't get me wrong, we had our moments where it was -- it seemed to be a pillow fight a little bit at times. I thought our fight, I thought our communication, I thought the dedication to making each better, responding after an error, with strength. I thought all of those were much, much better. Do you have the characteristics of an elite team. Rather than a couple players here or couple players there, we're all kind of in this together. I think our middles are really starting to play well. We've lost three matches but our middles have been great for those three matches, and I would like to be able to give them the ball a little bit more, but those are things we have been working on.

I thought defensively we got better, moving Taylor Morey over the middle back, and I thought there were elements that helped out, and I thought our serving got really good after game one. We made a lot of hitting errors and our ball control wasn't where it needs to be.

Q. What makes Illinois so good?
COACH SHEFFIELD: I think they're -- they don't beat themselves. They're really well coached. I think they've got an outside hitter, Birks, that is really good, a great young libero, their freshman setter has come in and similar to Lauren, just doesn't blink, even though this is her first year. She just -- she is taking that team and they are off and running. It's a solid team all across, there are just not a lot of weaknesses from them. They're going to be one of those teams that are going to be right into it till the very end.

Q. So you win the conference last year, you started 0-1. You're not writing that off, are you? Can you repeat even after the start that you have had?
COACH SHEFFIELD: You've got to have a little bit of help when you're going 0-2. Truthfully we didn't talk about it last year. We just didn't. We don't spend our time -- you know, two years ago we didn't talk about making it, you know, to the Final Four. We discussed it in preseason and last year we discussed, hey, let's go out there and try to find a way -- let's compete for a Big Ten title. This year we talked about it at the beginning.

The thing that we do every year is it is always about just the process of getting better, and our kids aren't -- yeah, they're wanting to win, but it's the same thing when we get back after a match. We're always hunting for the things that we've got to get better at, and we're doing that after a win or after a loss; it's the same thing, let's find ways to get better. So there is an element that is the same right now with our group.

THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach? Thanks, Kelly.

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