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NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

December 12, 2018

Minneapolis, Minnesota

THE MODERATOR: At this time we welcome the BYU Cougars. We will start with opening comments from Coach followed by questions for the student-athletes.

HEATHER OLMSTEAD: We're excited to be here in Minneapolis, actually just thrilled. Want to thank the city of Minneapolis for being such great hosts so far. It's been a great couple days here already. Congratulate Stanford, Nebraska and Illinois on also being in this championship. We're super excited to play tomorrow. Can't wait to get out there. Thanks for having us.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up to questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Lyndie, since most of us wouldn't know what it's like to be a twin, but to play volleyball with your twin, can you tell us what that's like?
LYNDIE HADDOCK-EPPICH: It's incredible to be able to share this experience with my twin sister, especially because we watched my older sister play here four or five years ago in the Final Four. Just being able to cap off our year and our career with a Final Four appearance is just awesome.

Q. Roni, you told me last year that getting married made you a better volleyball player. Can you expand on that some.
RONI JONES-PERRY: Yeah, I don't know if it's necessarily being married or just that my husband is so great. But he just takes a lot of the load off of me. He makes it easier to go worry about the things I need to worry about, whether it's cooking me dinner, whatever he can do to make my life a little bit easier. I think in that way he's made me a better volleyball player.

Q. Lyndie, the same question?
LYNDIE HADDOCK-EPPICH: I think it's just been a better support system. Just being able to go through volleyball season, it's a lot easier. Yeah, he's been a big support.

THE MODERATOR: We'll dismiss the student-athletes and continue with questions for Coach.

Q. What is it like to be a twin and what is it like to be a twin playing with your sister, which you did? Also, what is it like to coach twins?
HEATHER OLMSTEAD: Yeah, I think being a twin is just really special, you have a special bond. I loved playing with my sister growing up. We were beach partners, played indoor together. I understand the bond that Lacy and Lyndie have together. It's really cool to see them play together. I've never seen them fight on the court or any I have sort of quarrel. They just love each other, really impressive. I've been honored to coach both Lacy, Lyndie and Tambre, their older sister.

Yeah, me and my sister fought. She always won usually (laughter).

Q. We were talking to Kevin Hambly. He said he has a lot of fondness for his alma mater, everything you've done there. He said he's known you for a long time. Can you talk about that friendship, how long you have known each other.
HEATHER OLMSTEAD: Absolutely. I have a lot of respect for Kevin, the way he runs his program at Stanford University. He's a great coach. He has a great staff. He does things the right way at Stanford. They're a technically trained team. I think they're the full, you know, team. He's done a good job with them this year.

Obviously we had a chance to meet up with them earlier this year. That was a great match in Provo. We both played well. We were able to come out on top. We understand this match is going to be different tomorrow. I got to know Kevin a lot while he was at Illinois coaching, and learn from him there. I'm excited for his future at Stanford, to match up with him again.

Q. The second time you're playing Stanford tomorrow. Tell us what are the biggest areas you feel your team has improved since the last time you played? Also from your scouting of them, how do you feel Stanford has improved?
HEATHER OLMSTEAD: I think both teams are different in a way. Obviously our lineup has changed. We've been better offensively being able to spread the ball out. We have a lot of offensive options and players that were able to go to distributing the offense. We've worked hard on our serve-and-pass game. We're serving the ball well right now. That's going to help our block, help us get touches. I think our passing has improved a lot, as well. We've spent a lot of time trying to get better at passing. That's the name of the game, serve and pass.

I think we're playing some of our best volleyball right now and that's exciting heading into tomorrow's match.

Q. (No microphone.)
HEATHER OLMSTEAD: Stanford has continually gotten better over the course of the year. They're playing a freshman middle. She's gotten better. Obviously four months of training, getting better, playing matches twice a week. I think blocking, they're a good blocking team. They've always been a good serving team. I think they focus on serving and passing.

I think we match up extremely well with Stanford. We're excited to see how that plays out tomorrow.

Q. I hesitate to say somebody six foot or so is undersized. That's a little bit smaller of an outside hitter. Obviously Stanford has someone like that, and you with Roni. Talk about hitters that size, how they're difficult to stop.
HEATHER OLMSTEAD: Our hitters?

Q. (No microphone.)
HEATHER OLMSTEAD: Yeah, so we have our hitters that do a good job of using their toolbox, seeing the set, getting in rhythm, swinging high with range. They're used to seeing big block in our gym. We have a decent sized block in our gym. They're used to seeing hands in their face.

They do a good job taking what they see, developing their options swing-wise, toolbox-wise, so they can hit line, flat five, sharp cross, tip and roll. That's what we're trying to do is develop volleyball players throughout the course of their year.

Roni has done a good job of that being a senior and we're continually trying to teach that to our younger players.

Q. It's so interesting to hear about all the connections among these four teams here at the Final Four. Coaches who know each other, worked together before. How does that dynamic play out at this event in terms of when you're facing these teams on the floor and the fact that all four of you were together here enjoying this collective experience?
HEATHER OLMSTEAD: Yeah, I have a lot of respect for all the coaching staff that are here. There's a lot of good teams that would love to be here. I think we just feel honored and privileged to be matched up with some of these teams that are in the Final Four. There's a camaraderie in our community, as you can tell with the Final Four convention being held here, a lot of people are just friends. We're able to learn from each other. I think there's such a growth mindset in the volleyball world that we want to learn from each other.

Kevin let me come into his gym at Illinois for three days, to see how he trains. Most programs have an open door policy. John Cook also let me come into his gym for three days. We want to help each other out. When you get on the court and face each other, it's may the best team win.

Q. How does it help to have been through a Final Four before?
HEATHER OLMSTEAD: Yeah, it's really hard to explain to them how it's going to be. They've got to experience it themselves. We try to prepare them for what we know since we've been here before. They've done a great job staying in the present and enjoying each moment as it's come. I think they're having a lot of fun. We were able to go out and have a good practice today, focus at the task at hand.

There's just really no way to prepare for it till you live through it. I can tell they're doing a good job enjoying the moment.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks so much, Coach. Good luck.

HEATHER OLMSTEAD: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297

NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

December 12, 2018

Heather Olmstead

Lyndie Haddock-Eppich

Mary Lake

Roni Jones-Perry