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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN VOLLEYBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 4, 2013Kelly SheffieldCOACH SHEFFIELD: We played a lot of volleyball this week. I think the two matches combined were over five hours. I'd say that's a lot of jumping. The IU match, I thought we played hard. We grinded it. It's a really small gym and a tough gym to go in there and play well at. I thought we just grinded most of that match. Purdue was‑‑ I don't know. I'm not sure you could have a closer match than what we had at their place 15 versus 16 ranked teams going at each other four of the games decided by two points, game four had 21 ties. So it was a really, really, really close match. It wasn't always the prettiest volleyball, but it was two teams playing well out on the court. I thought Purdue played really well. Their libero, Carly Cramer. Man, she's probably about as tough as they come. She might be the toughest kid in the country. Had he she had a car accident early that week, and was cleared to play. During our match, she goes down, gets poked in the eye, and they're working on her for a few minutes and she stays and made massive plays at the end of Game 5 for them. Lot of respect for her and our kids. I thought she was really good. Courtney Thomas I thought she has had a tough time hitting the past few matches. She really got going Saturday night and we needed that in a big way. It was really good to see her having the match she was having. It was a tough loss. Really tough loss. Not sure we could have played any tougher than what we did. We just had a few service errors in game four that you wish you had back. Tough time putting the ball away in the very end. Not sure if we ran out of gas, but that's possible. Just two teams laying it all out on the court. We got Nebraska this weekend. We won five at their place and lost a tough one there. We're excited for another opportunity against the Huskers on our home court. Q. It's back‑to‑back weekends and you've got the Nebraska on Friday night. I think it's Penn State on Friday night the following week. How do these next two weekends, what do they mean in the bigger picture for the Badgers? COACH SHEFFIELD: Well, you're right. We've got four more home matches. Hopefully, the fans will show up like they have been and continue to help us out. We need them in a big way. We're wanting to be stronger in the second half. You mentioned Nebraska and Penn State. We've also got Iowa and Ohio State. I think we put ourselves in a position to be a seeded team. I think that's a goal. Can we be a stronger second half team than we were the first? Can we put ourselves in position where we can host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament? I think the Field House is a great place for volleyball. It would be this place has always supported postseason volleyball really well. We'd love to be able to play those matches at least the first two matches in our own venue. So, yeah, we've got some tough opponents coming up here. But you know, hopefully we can finish off in the right way so our fans can be trading some postseason. Q. How has this team grown since the beginning of the year? COACH SHEFFIELD: That's a good question. You go back and watch. As we're seeing, one of the things when you're seeing an opponent the second time, you're going back and watching previous tape of when you played them the first time. I mentioned Dominique Thompson going off this week and her connection with Lauren is just massively different right now than what it was earlier in the year. Lauren has gotten a lot better setting behind her back set, especially the slides with her and Haleigh. I think her and Haleigh and her and Dom are connecting a lot better. I think we've cleaned up some of our serving. I think we're aggressive without missing quite as much now. It's funny to say that we missed four in Game 5. But I do think our serving is better. Defensively, we're a lot better than what we were. I think both of our outsides, Deme and Chapman, I think the variety of their shots are getting a lot better. I think both of them were probably it's pretty predictable where they're hitting. I think there are a lot of areas we've gotten better. Plus you throw in the health and we're getting a lot healthier. On film we just look so much cleaner than what we did earlier in the year. Now will that translate to more wins? I guess we'll find out. But we certainly look like a lot cleaner of a team now. Q. Nebraska, they're a pretty young team. Are you impressed with the job John Cook has done down there? COACH SHEFFIELD: I think John Cook has done the best coaching job in the Big Ten this year. He's done a great job. I think their transfers that are come in have helped them. Kelsey Robinson, I don't know if there is a better player in the country than her. She's doing it all at such an unbelievably high level. She's had one of the top two or three seasons in the past ten years for them right now and is really helping those young kids come along. I think the setter has really grown. I think their freshmen that are playing, especially the twins, are just unbelievable. I'm not looking forward to seeing them for the next three years. Offensively I think they're better than they were earlier in the year. That's impressed me. I think some of the ball control issues they had earlier in the year seem to be a lot cleaner right now. He's done a really good job. That team has progressed. They don't seem like they're getting tired like a lot of young teams can at this time of the year. So, yeah, I think he's done a really good job. Q. Some would argue that you've done the best job coaching in the Big Ten this year, Kelly. COACH SHEFFIELD: Well, we've had 12 matches, so, yeah, we still have eight more. I think our kids are playing really hard. They're playing the right way. You know, I'm excited about the fact that how much better that we're getting. I think what's tough is with young kids, especially with a new coach that's coming in is are they going to buy in or are they enthusiastic? Our leadership has been really good. I think the same thing could be said for the football team and things. That leadership when a new coach comes in is really critical. Are they buying in or excited for the future or are they wanting their time to pass? When that leadership buys in, then it certainly makes coaches like myself and Coach Andersen look a lot better. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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