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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN VOLLEYBALL MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 16, 2013Kelly SheffieldTHE MODERATOR: The volleyball team is 8‑1, heads to the NC State Invitational in Raleigh, North Carolina, this weekend. Badgers face the host team, NC State. On Friday at 6:00 p.m., then play VCU and Colgate on Saturday. Head Coach Kelly Sheffield is here and will have opening comments and then take questions. COACH SHEFFIELD: First of all, just one coach to another, that was‑‑ we've obviously hired a football coach that has a lot of class. I mean, that‑‑ I don't think a lot of coaches would have handled that situation the way that he did. It's just really impressive to listen to. We had an opening home tournament this past weekend and came out and played a Kansas team, found out about 24 hours before the match that we were going to be without Annemarie Hickey. Our lone senior had an injury, high ankle sprain, that was going to keep her out for that. So we're trying to roll with the punches. Again, it's a really good KU team. We're up 2‑0 and had a couple swings in game five to win the match and just couldn't execute to finish that off. So first loss of the year. Turn around, and we have a match the next morning, and you're hoping to get over that hangover pretty quickly. You're forced to do that, and I thought our kids did a really good job and came out ready to play and beat a Milwaukee team early in the morning and then turn around and beat a really talented, experienced Bowling Green team that night. So I thought we got some great, great effort from Deme Morales. I thought she was fantastic, a warrior throughout the weekend. And I thought Ellen Chapman, we leaned on her an awful lot as well. I thought those two were just absolutely fantastic. Our ball control was pretty good considering we were without Annemarie, with Taylor Morey and Deme really taken up the slack in that area. It's a good weekend, about one swing away from being a great weekend. We've got our last out of conference tournament coming up at NC State that we're looking forward to. Q. Kelly, one more week before Big Ten play. What needs to be shored up, and what are the emphases this weekend? COACH SHEFFIELD: We've got a lot of things we've got to work on. The problem is that this week I'm not sure how much jumping we're going to be able to do in practice. We've got a lot of kids that are just kind of hanging on a string right now. So priority number one has to be getting healthy. You know, I think our serving is getting a lot better. We're becoming better in that area. I think we've got to get a lot‑‑ our ball control, our serve/receive is pretty good. We've got to get a lot better in transition, a lot better when we're out of system. We've got to get better swings on the ball in those areas. We're going to try to do what we can to get better behind that. Our connections behind the setter have got to be a little bit better. With some practice, they will. I would say those are the areas we've got to be focusing in on. Q. Kelly, do you think your team is stronger now through these first three weeks because of all of the mixing and matching and playing players here and playing players there because of the injuries? COACH SHEFFIELD: I don't know. I think so. I mean, they're gutting it out. There's no question about it. You know, it‑‑ we've got a couple of kids that by the end of the weekend that were playing for us that were just‑‑ they were in a lot of pain and playing, and that's all there is to it. One kid, we're going to‑‑ I mean, both of them just in a lot, a lot of pain. They're struggling. I think when you come out, especially with some wins, there's some‑‑ you build some trust in your teammates, and there's some inner toughness that can kind of come through that. And you certainly admire the heck out of the players that are willing to lay it on the line when things are tough. Yeah, I mean, I do believe that there is some toughness and some‑‑ you know, maybe‑‑ I think when players are doing things that maybe they don't think they're capable of doing, I think that some really special things can kind of come out of that. So I think we're coming together as a team. What you're hoping is that at some point you start to heal up a little bit and realizing some of the potential that you have. To come out of this stretch right now 8‑1 without a senior on the court this past weekend and some of our top players that are out and very little depth, I think it's something our players should be very proud of. Q. Are the injuries common volleyball injuries? Is the volume of them anything that you've seen before as a coach in any given season? COACH SHEFFIELD: You know, I wish it would be‑‑ as a coach, you're always looking for answers. You're always looking for answers. So is it something from‑‑ you know, whether it's the floor, whether it's the shoes, whether it's the training, whether it's weight room or nutrition or how we're practicing. Because you want answers. Even if it's‑‑ you want to point at yourself or something. It doesn't matter who's at fault. You just want answers so you can fix things and move forward. These have all been fluke things, and just landing on somebody's foot in practice, or you go to make a dig and your foot breaks. How often does that happen? Concussions when you're going to block. It's just a lot of freak things, nothing that we can kind of point our finger at. Have I seen something like this? No, never. I mean, I've been doing this for over 20 years. The volume of this, I've never seen. Now, you know, I've been with some teams that have lost more players for the year. We should have most of our kids back at some point this year, but to see almost every other day, I haven't seen that. But on the other hand, from a good standpoint, I've never seen a team respond and come together and persevere as much as this team has. From that standpoint, it's a team that I've really, really grown to respect and really, really enjoyed being around because we talked about it from day one. When adversity hits, how do you respond? These guys respond in a way that any coach and any fan would want them to. Q. How is this tournament field that you'll be playing in? COACH SHEFFIELD: NC State was an NCAA Tournament team a year ago. They're 8‑1. At this point, they return everybody but one from last year. Their home place. We know that they're going to be tough. VCU, I would say, has probably been a little bit of a surprise. They graduated and had some key transfers. Not sure we were expecting them to be 8‑2 at this point with a win over Tennessee this past weekend and almost knocking off top 20 Kentucky the week before that. They're really good. Colgate, I think they're 6‑3, right around there, 5‑3. One of my former players is on their staff. Three teams that are going to be pushing for NCAA Tournament berth. So it doesn't get any easier from our standpoint. I think maybe, when you agree to go to this tournament, maybe you think it's probably not as strong as what the previous three were going to be, but that's proven not to be the case. This is going to be a tough one. This will be at least two teams that should be in the dance by the end of the season. THE MODERATOR: Anything else for Coach? COACH SHEFFIELD: Thanks, guys. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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