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NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPDecember 13, 2018Lyndie Haddock-EppichRoni Jones-PerryHeather OlmsteadMinneapolis, Minnesota Stanford - 3, BYU - 0 THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the BYU Cougars. We'll start with opening comments from coach, followed by questions for the student-athletes, then questions for coach. HEATHER OLMSTEAD: Really proud of our team for just the fight they put up tonight. Congratulations to Stanford. They played a great match. Well deserving of advancing to the final. I want to tell them congrats, they're a great team. It was a good match for them. I want to thank the University of Minnesota for their hospitality and Minneapolis. This has been absolutely a first-class event. We've enjoyed everything about it except that match. We're really happy obviously to be here. I don't know, I can't say enough about this group of young women that I got the opportunity to coach, along with our staff. It's just been a fantastic ride. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. Roni, what offensively were you trying to get done? You made a lot of adjustments during the season when things didn't go right. What were you trying to get done? RONI JONES-PERRY: I think we were just trying to stay good at the things we were good at all season. It wasn't our best match offensively. You can see that in the numbers. But I think Lyndie did her best job of trying to get us hittable balls. I think our middles did really well scoring. Q. Roni, how hard was it to generate offense against that block? RONI JONES-PERRY: They were a really good block. So it was tough. They did a really nice job. Yeah, they did a really good job. Q. Lyndie, reflect a little bit on your career at BYU, kind of the magical ride this season was. LYNDIE HADDOCK-EPPICH: Yeah, I'm just grateful to be a part of BYU. I would have chosen no other school. I invite no one else to choose any other school. This coaching staff is one in a million. They believe in us. Put together a season with us to finish out my career and Roni's career. It's just been such a fun ride this whole year. Q. Roni, Stanford's coach mentioned he felt you guys might have been a little tight coming out. Did you feel that? RONI JONES-PERRY: I think coming out in the first set, we were super fired up. We were just playing free, having fun with each other. As the set went on, our energy was a little bit up and down. We talked about it. I'm proud of our team's fight, the way we stayed together on the court. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. We'll continue with questions for coach. Q. What took you by surprise that wasn't on the scouting report? Did they do something you didn't know about them? HEATHER OLMSTEAD: No, there were no surprises tonight. Stanford is a great team. They serve tough. They have a big block. We weren't serving tough enough for us to get any touches, get some blocks. As soon as our passing broke down in set one, it was super hard for us to generate any offense. We were trying to swing wide, go high off hands. The passing wasn't there, the sets were off the net. We tried our best, but they took us out of our game. Q. As it wore on, how did you address that with your team? HEATHER OLMSTEAD: We kept trying to get them to focus on the next touch, get a simple pass. It just took a lot of effort. Just wasn't coming. It wasn't our best passing match. Lyndie did all she could to try to get the hitters in rhythm. Again, their block, they knew where we were going. It wasn't hard to figure out where we were setting. They did a good job of getting over. We needed to take a few more better swings, but we tried. Q. Over the course of the season you have been able to adjust to whatever the other team has been throwing at you. You talk about problem solving. What problems were you not able to solve in this match? HEATHER OLMSTEAD: We couldn't pass. We kept trying to problem solve. I'm sure we'll look back and see maybe a couple things we could have done better. But we tried the best we could. We tried to put the people in the right spots that could pass the ball. We've been able to pass all season. We just kept waiting for our passing to get better. Once it did, we started to generate some offense. We were able to score in the third set okay. So it got a little bit better, then obviously Stanford just took off at the end of the third set. Q. As you reflect on the season, could you reflect on just being here, what that means for the program moving forward? HEATHER OLMSTEAD: Yeah, absolutely. It's been an incredible season. It's been one obviously that we'll remember for the rest of our lives. This group of seniors that led the way, carried us on their backs to this event, it's just been remarkable to see what they've gone through throughout their careers. That's something that the younger kids are going to be able to have for their experience going forward. They're going to be able to have this experience playing in a Final Four and playing well all season. Obviously 31 wins is remarkable for this group. Every single win was blood, sweat and tears. They worked very hard for every single win all year. This match is not going to define this group. It's been such a remarkable year. We're so proud of everything they've gone through, the resiliency, battling through injuries. We had an injury early, we had an injury late. It just didn't matter. We kept saying, What else you got? They had a goal. They wanted to get here, and they did it, against a lot of odds. So I'm really proud of them. Q. I don't think a lot of people knew about the scene volleyball-wise in Provo. You added to that conversation this year. How has the conversation around volleyball and the university changed? HEATHER OLMSTEAD: Yeah, absolutely. The community and student support, the fan support this year, they just jumped onboard with what we were doing from the beginning of the year. They could feel the excitement of this 2018 team. I think it's going to be great for women's volleyball. We have a great men's volleyball program, a great women's volleyball program. It's volleyball year-round. Nothing better, right? Take the summer off and go to the beach. We're really proud of the tradition of volleyball we have at BYU. We know those fans are going to come back next year. We hope they're hooked, they want to come see the 2019 team. It's created a buzz, electricity in Provo that we're really proud of. Q. Being named Coach of the Year, what does that mean for you? HEATHER OLMSTEAD: Yeah, it's an honor to be named Coach of the Year because the coaches voted on it, colleagues and friends. So it means a lot. It means that our kids played really well, well enough for us to get recognized as a staff. It's always a staff award when someone gets Coach of the Year. It doesn't happen on your own. We have great players that were able to work hard, get better all year long, execute the game plan. It's an honor. Again, so proud of the season as a whole. Could not be more proud of this group, what they accomplished. Looking forward, I think the future is bright. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. HEATHER OLMSTEAD: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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