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UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN VOLLEYBALL MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 18, 2013Kelly SheffieldTHE MODERATOR: The volleyball team concludes its regular season with a four‑match road swing. Badgers play at Michigan State at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and then at Michigan at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday. Head Coach Kelly Sheffield is here. We'll have opening comments and take questions. COACH SHEFFIELD: We open up the past weekend playing No.2, Penn State, but we had a nice match. I thought we played really well for a lot of it. Two times we played Penn State, I think we held them to their two lowest hitting percentages of the year in conference. We just haven't been able to generate enough offense. So first two games, we lost, off by two points each. Right there, just not able to close out to give us a chance for either of those. Game 3, we got stuck in the rotation and had a tough time getting out. I thought we played hard. I thought we gave ourselves an opportunity to win, just weren't able to do it against a really talented and experienced squad. Yesterday against Ohio State, I thought for about 90 percent of the match, we played at a really high level. I thought we let them back in the ball game in Game 1. That was frustrating, to say the least. I thought we responded really, really well in Game 2. We just got back to work. Those were things I told the team. I think that's why we're starting to get some of the fans back, because the team is responding appropriately when things aren't going their way or they hit a rough patch like we did there in Game 1. I thought we'd get right back to work. I thought both of our middles played really, really well, Haleigh Nelson and Dominique Thompson. When we went to Ohio State and Penn State, I thought they played like a bunch ‑‑ a couple softies. I thought they were both very physical. And I think they were really tired of watching them on film. We showed them a lot of clips of how poor they were the last time we played those guys, and I thought they responded appropriately. I thought our backcourt players were really, really tough this week in Annemarie Hickey, Taylor Morey. Our small fries were really, really good. It's a good weekend. We move forward to the Michigans, which is probably for us the toughest road trip of the year. We're excited about going there and seeing what we can do. Q. When you play a team as good as Penn State, afterwards, when you watch it, the film or whatever, do you almost have to grade on a curve because of how good they are? COACH SHEFFIELD: Grading on a curve, first time I've heard that. Probably, maybe. I mean, it's‑‑ our players are so ticked off, they're wanting to win that match. They feel like we let some opportunities go. As a matter of fact, afterwards, I talked with Lauren Carlini later on that night, and I think she was still a little pissed off that ‑‑ am I allowed to use that phrase? Sorry about that‑‑ that, you know, immediately after the match, our focus immediately went on to Ohio State, and I think she wasn't ready for it to go to Ohio State. She's still angry about what just happened 20 minutes earlier. Those guys are awfully good. You're not going to go up against a team like Penn State and hit.400 against them. Yeah, it's harder to score against them. We defended at a really high level the two times we played. We just haven't been able to put the ball away. When you're facing the biggest block in the country, it's harder to go. So, yeah, your numbers are going to be lower. If you want to put it as grading on a curve, that's probably fair. Q. What are you looking for when you go after two matches in the regular season for your team? COACH SHEFFIELD: You know‑‑ is there a way that we can get out there‑‑ you're battling to win. You know, you're battling to try to get better. We put ourselves in position to possibly be a seeded team. That is a goal of ours. To finish in the top four in the conference is a goal of ours. Both of those are attainable. You're going against‑‑ you're going on a road trip here that is‑‑ that's brutal. Our kids are going to need to have to be healthy and take care of the things this week that‑‑ I think every aspect of our game, can we find ways of just‑‑ you know, we talked about is 1 percent better. What is that? It's different for every player. Here's what I know. We've been really, really tough up to this point. The thing that gets me excited is I know we haven't played our best volleyball right now for a variety of reasons. I see a lot of things where we are getting better. Our outsides. Is a tough weekend a little bit for Deme on the outside. Chapman is getting a lot better out there. Deme's ball control is getting a lot better. Our connection with our middles is getting a lot better. Nobody had a better weekend on our team than Courtney Thomas, the stats stuffer of the weekend. We're getting better. I know we haven't played our best volleyball. As we get down the homestretch, are we able to put things together? That's what I'm looking for. Q. Kelly, are 20 wins significant for you in volleyball? Is that what you're looking for, a 20‑win season? COACH SHEFFIELD: It's a lot better than 19. I don't know. It's a number that you probably hear a lot of people‑‑ it's not been anything I've ever put up here and say, here, we want to try to get to this magical number. Yeah, you certainly‑‑ that's probably a number you hear from a lot of folks. When we get ourselves‑‑ we haven't really put those types of numbers in front of us. I don't know if it's‑‑ until this morning, I didn't even know that we were at number 20. I'm not sure I've known the record. Yeah, it's a nice round number. Q. Kelly, when you guys played Purdue, I mean, they were ranked 16, and you anticipated a real close match. These two teams this weekend look to be pretty close in terms of proximity to you guys. How tight do you expect these matches to be, and will it be as tight as Purdue? COACH SHEFFIELD: I don't know if it can be any closer than Purdue was. We're still feeling the impact of that match. Tori Blake and Haleigh Nelson haven't dressed in a (indiscernible) since that Purdue match. And I don't know if Dominique Thompson has jumped more than a handful of times since that match. That match really, really took a lot out of us. We haven't done a team drill. Hopefully, we don't leave this weekend with the same type of battle scars that we had from that match. Yeah, I think you look at this and you feel like it's the exact same possibility. I mean, Michigan certainly hammered us at our place 3‑0. The games were a little bit closer than the 3‑0 would indicate. It's a Final Four team from a year ago. Michigan State. My goodness, they're as talented as anybody. They've got three players that could easily be on the All‑Conference Team, and one of the top three or four setters in the league is one of their two setters. They're really, really talented. I think you go in as a team, as you're preparing for this week. You certainly don't want to run your team in the ground because you know on back‑to‑back nights on this trip, this could be a lot, a lot of volleyball. Q. One more question about the‑‑ you talked about hoping to be a seeded team in post. In football, they've got BCS standings and everything. People can kind of gauge as to where their team is. You look around the country and see what's happening and how that part of the puzzle might fall into place? COACH SHEFFIELD: You know, a little bit. I find myself being a lot less aware of what's going around the country this year, just the attention has been so much on us. It's required that. But, yeah, it will probably be maybe a little bit more as you‑‑ we still have two more weeks here, at least in our season. It would probably be a little bit premature to be looking at that. We're right on that line. We can control by taking care of ourselves and winning. If we do that, we'll be a seeded team. We don't need gifts from anybody else right now. We don't need other people losing to make that happen. We take care of ourselves, and we're going to put ourselves in position to do that. We haven't got to that point yet. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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