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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN VOLLEYBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 9, 2015

Kelly Sheffield

Madison, Wisconsin

THE MODERATOR: Women's Volleyball Head Coach, Kelly Sheffield is here. We will have some opening comments and then take questions.

COACH SHEFFIELD: We have a quick turn around with Michigan after just playing them a few days ago, like Brian said. You know, we -- it was a 3-0 sweep a few days ago, but we also know that we were in one heck of a battle. That game won -- of course, that could have gone either way. I think they had game point and then missed a serve long that kinda gave us a little bit of life.

That was probably one that got away from them a little bit. We were fortunate enough to win that. We also know we're playing against a team that is very, very different at home. I think they're 4-3 on the road and 10-6 at home, and that's a really tough place to play. It's a team that is very comfortable playing there, and so it's a very different match.

We're looking forward to playing again.

Q. You got win 350 yesterday. Does that mean anything to you?
COACH SHEFFIELD: It's better than 349. We went out, we partied a lot last night and really celebrated with the family, and got all the former assistants and all my former players together, went out. I didn't even know that! (Chuckles.) Wish I had something! It's cool! (Chuckles.)

Q. Players have talked about trying to step up the serving. Have you seen that as part of them contributing to the improved play down the last couple of weeks?
COACH SHEFFIELD: I think individually I think we have become better servers. What I don't think we've done up to this point is where we put it all together, you know? I think that's -- we gotta get to that point, where, you know, we've got -- Haleigh, match in and match night, you know she is going to be able to put some pressure on the opposing team. Just about everybody else, it kinda comes and goes. Yesterday Taylor really gave them some fits with her serve and really put some pressure on 'em, and there's other days that she is just not doing that, and you can go right up and down our lineup with everybody.

So we've got to get to a point where that's a part of our game, that we're just constantly applying pressure, and right now I would say in most matches we are probably doing that two or three rotations.

The difference is the beginning of the year, we had one player that I thought was a really good server, and the others just were very average. Now they've got that part of their game, it's just bringing it every night.

Q. Haleigh is hitting over .500 the last three games. Is this the best you've seen her play since you've been here?
COACH SHEFFIELD: Yes, yes. Nelly is playing great. The combination of her and Lauren, very, very comfortable, three years together. You know, you don't see a lot of missed connections between the two of them. They work really hard, you know, they communicate effectively with each other, Nelly works hard, especially in transition, of getting herself in position to be open. She has always been a relentless blocker, and -- but her movement is getting crisper. I see her confidence -- you know, she's -- she wants the ball in big moments, and that's a big difference that I've seen from her and her past.

Not that she shied away from it, but, you know, her shoulders are big, she's got the confidence and the mojo that she is wanting those big -- she wants -- she wants to be there when the moments are big, and Lauren's got trust in her, but she is playing great right now.

Q. Is the .400 hitter in volleyball equivalent to a .400 hitter in baseball?
COACH SHEFFIELD: It would be as an outside hitter; I wouldn't say as a middle. You know, the elite middles are hitting over .400, between that 4- and .500 range, the elite ones. If you're a left or right-side attacker, yes, I would say that's very good. Her hitting percentage is -- it's probably a very short line that's in front of her. The thing is that we're giving her the ball. There's plenty of people -- there's quite a few people hitting .400, but they don't ever get set. They get set very, very rarely. She is carrying us in a lot of matches and hitting .400. We're giving her the ball an awful lot, and she is keeping that hitting percentage up there.

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

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