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NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

December 16, 2015

Omaha, Nebraska

THE MODERATOR: Representing Texas, head Coach Jerritt Elliott, Yazzie Bedart-Ghani, Molly McCage, Kat Brooks, and Amy Neal.

COACH ELLIOTT: We're obviously honored to be here and represent the Big 12. We know it's going to be a special Final Four here in Omaha because the crowd is so wonderful. We've got a lot of respect for what Minnesota can do. We're just so happy to represent the University of Texas.

Q. Minnesota, when you look at the swings of the team, it's somewhat similar to yours. They have a one-hitter that gets a lot of swings in. What's it like to go up against a team where one-hitter is kind of the focal point?
COACH ELLIOTT: Hugh's done such a terrific job of creating a system where it's still hard to be able to trap, given the speed of the game they play at. It's the fastest go set in the NCAA, that we've seen at least. And they've got a great center. So they're on point.

The other players are the ones that can really hurt you as well. It's not just one player that's able to take over. We've got a lot of concerns with a lot of the different players.

Yeah, she's going to take a majority of the swings, and obviously, you'd like to do a good job managing those swings and contain her to a certain level.

Q. You've been here before, if my memory serves, when the Final Four was here in Omaha. What does it mean to have this be an advanced sellout for the sport? I know there's going to be a lot of red, but it's still a pretty good showcase for volleyball.
COACH ELLIOTT: Yeah, absolutely. We're excited that we're here, obviously. We're excited to play in front of the Nebraska fans. I think they're fair. They're good people. They appreciate good volleyball. I think it's going to be an entertaining four teams that are playing, but I think it's also kind of a direction of where the sport is heading.

There's continued fan growth. Our goal is to get that across the country. We're starting to see it in our home state in terms of what's going on there and across many universities. This sport has developed to a much higher level. The games are a lot more exciting. It's a quality sport.

Q. Jerritt, kind of along the same lines, have you taken note of just the fact that all these are Midwestern teams, that there's no West Coast teams here this year?
COACH ELLIOTT: Someone mentioned that to me yesterday, that it's the first time there's four teams from the central time zone. I can tell you, when I got to Texas in 2000, the state wasn't very hot, and now it's arguably one of the best states. California was the hottest state.

Now you look at the Midwest in terms of how many great players are coming out of there, and you look at the numbers of high school participants in all the different sports and you see what's happening in the sport of volleyball. We're getting better athletes that are coming over from different sports. I think they're enjoying it. It doesn't surprise me anymore. I think anyone can win from any part of the country now.

Q. This is for the seniors. I wonder if you could just touch on the accomplishment of making it this far every year throughout your career and the chance to end this thing the way you started it.
KAT BROOKS: It's crazy to think this is our fourth Final Four. We're the only class at Texas to have been to four Final Fours. I think it's just a testament to how many great players we've played with in our four years here and just the job that Jerritt has done recruiting in the past, to build that up to be able to do that.

It's incredible. It's really crazy to think about. We're just really happy to be here again.

THE MODERATOR: Amy, do you have anything to add?

AMY NEAL: Like she said, Jerritt's done an amazing job here. Eric, Tanya, DeAnn, our trainer, Donnie our strength coach, Nathan. Susie, our media lady. They just all do everything, and they contribute so much to everything here. So I think that they have a part in our success as well and just all the hard work that they put into helping this program succeed.

THE MODERATOR: Molly?

MOLLY McCAGE: I think it's a matter of how hard we worked over the years. Like Kat said, there's so many great players we've played with, and every single team is different. I love that each year we're willing to work with the pieces that we have so we can be successful.

Q. Coach, I know you can't pick whoever you want and that's how recruiting goes, but I wonder how familiar you were with Kelsie Payne before she came to Kansas. If you can discuss what you think, how she's done so far, and made an impact obviously.
COACH ELLIOTT: I think we were very -- we were well aware of her. She came for a couple of visits, and we looked at her. She's in our backyard. Sometimes, as recruiting goes at such an early age, you're learning a lot about where they are emotionally as young ladies.

We knew she had the talent to be extremely good. That was always our position. At the end of the day, I made a miss, and that's not the first one I made a miss on. She's a great player playing for a great coach at a great program, and it's good to see her succeed.

I don't regret any part of it. I think she's happy, and I wish her the best of luck.

Q. Molly, the only players in the field right now who have Final Four experience are from Texas. Can you just talk about leaning on the past three years, those experiences, to get ready for tomorrow. And Yazzie, if you could answer then, what are the veteran teammates on your team telling you about this experience and what you should expect?
MOLLY McCAGE: Yeah, we've been here before, so we know exactly what we're going to do today and tomorrow and how to prepare. That being said, our team is very different. So the way I prepare tomorrow is way different than last year. Just getting our team ready is a different process.

Yeah, it's really nice to have an advantage and just to be comfortable here because we've played in a big crowd. We've played in front of Nebraska fans several times. I'm excited. Our team will be comfortable.

YAZZIE BEDART-GHANI: They've really helped us all with just being comfortable in the tournament. Kind of step by step, they've told us one point at a time, one game at a time. We get each opponent by themselves and just don't look ahead. And throughout the whole tournament, they've just been great with keeping us all, like telling us all how to do the tournament and get through it.

So like now that we're here, they've just been keep confident and everything like that.

Q. Coach, with apologies for another Kansas question, I know your mind is on Minnesota, could you offer some perspective. You guys have obviously seen Kansas. Offer some perspective about their victory over USC. Does that speak to the growing level of parity in this sport or in the Kansas program itself?
COACH ELLIOTT: Yeah, obviously we know the program well. I'm very tight with Ray. We got to see them twice this year. I don't think they played very well when we were down in Austin. I thought we played exceptionally well. And I thought it was a very, very competitive match when we played there. That could have gone either way. We just executed late in Game 5, which was good from our part.

They cause a lot of problems based on all the movement they have. They run a lot of different play sets. Kelsie has the ability to go over anybody and be able to create some different angles. But what isn't talked about is how good their center is. I think she does a phenomenal job of running around. She's really fast and getting her hands on the ball and puts up quality balls, and their defense is better than people give them credit for.

The combination of being able to counteract with their defense and their setting can become overwhelming at times. They've got the player personnel to be able to hurt you on the left, hurt you in the middle, and hurt you on the right based on what rotation is in and the personnel they've put together for this team.

Q. Two years ago when you beat Nebraska to get to the Final Four, I remember you made a comment during that press conference that there's -- people chide Texas by saying, well, it's just a bunch of good athletes, and all we have to do is open the door and let them go into practice. The fact that you guys have made -- you brought that up, and the fact that you guys have made the Final Four five years in a row, does that dispel that myth there that it's just a bunch of athletes and not great volleyball players?
COACH ELLIOTT: I'd love to put those people that say that in my shoes in terms of how much management goes in to being a coach. Obviously, there's easier management when you have great talent, but there's also different personalities, and you have to be able to blend the talented players, and the system you develop has to be good year in and year out.

You've got to have a good staff. There's things that go on that makes it more reality, and I think it speaks volumes on what our seniors have done to reach the goal they've created. Right now we've got a lot of trust in their leadership.

No one expected this team to get here with some of the injuries we had early on, and the unity of this team is tighter than it's ever been. When you have that, great things can happen, and it's the reason that we are sitting in front of you guys today.

If that's what the criticism is of me or my program, I will take that all day long.

Q. Amy, being an Austin native, this is a different stage all together, but if you could reflect for a moment on the path through Austin that it took to get here. Can you share that?
AMY NEAL: Yeah, it's been incredible playing in front of my family at every single game. I actually have 15 family members coming to Omaha today. So I just think the fact that I've been able to be with them at every single game is incredible. I wouldn't have wanted it any different way.

Just the fans in Austin, besides the family, are crazy. You saw Gregory Gym on Saturday in the Florida game. Just playing in that environment, the fans are so much fun, and they get us going. I think being in Austin in that environment is huge for our success.

Q. The talent you were just talking about, five of them All-Americans today. Could you just comment on that accomplishment.
COACH ELLIOTT: Is that official now? I can speak to it? Yeah, there's only one ball to go around, and when you have five All-Americans, it's pretty special. Again, I think there's so many pieces that go into those players deserving that, but it's not only the players that earned it, but it's the players that are around them.

I think this is the most that we've ever had as a program. So it kind of showcases what we have as a team this year that we're more of a -- when I say team, it's not saying we weren't teams before, but we're utilizing more personnel on a consistent basis instead of overloading certain players.

So me, we made a quick announcement. It's very -- it makes you proud, makes you realize what these players have sacrificed to get to this point. But more importantly, and I think these girls will speak on, their goal is not to be All-Americans. Their goal is to win a National Championship. I think those are the things they work for every day, and that's what their goal is.

Q. This is for the athletes. Minnesota and Nebraska are both in the middle of finals week. I was just curious where you guys are in the semester, if you have finals this week or if you've had a crazy finals story at this point this week with traveling and all that stuff.
KAT BROOKS: I didn't know that. I actually finished two weeks ago. I've been cruising.

MOLLY McCAGE: I finished about a week ago. It was bad first and second round. That was a pretty bad week for us. We've been done for a couple of days.

PLAYER: The last final was yesterday, and it was one person.

COACH ELLIOTT: We try to organize it so they're done before this point. It's part of the preparation that we go through.

Q. Amy, this is for you. Coach is talking about individual honors, a big deal. You did have -- you and I talked about this. You had a rough freshman year, and now you're a senior, First Team All-American. What does it mean to you to have made the journey you made?
AMY NEAL: I think the biggest thing I reflect on is just the hard work that I've put in with my teammates to get there and just how this team is so much fun to be a part of. I couldn't have done any of this without my teammates.

And just my coaches, my strength coach, everyone has contributed to it. Just the confidence that they've given me and how much they've taught me about like life lessons that will go on outside of volleyball, just about myself and what it takes to succeed at this level is probably the biggest thing.

Just looking back, the sacrifices, the hard work is the biggest thing that I've noticed that pays off.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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