	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

December 19, 2019

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Wisconsin - 3, Baylor - 1

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the Baylor Bears, coach Ryan McGuyre and student-athletes Shelly Stafford and Yossiana Pressley.

RYAN McGUYRE: Wisconsin, a fun, competitive match. As the match went on, it was harder for us to get kills, and those for them are coming a little bit easier. But they're well coached, well trained, and the All Stars for them just made some really, really big plays at some key moments. Rettke from the service line, I thought, was probably the story of the match in disrupting us.

But as a team we win together, we lose together, and thankful for this opportunity. And not only just getting here but the journey getting here has been very, very, very well cherished. Pittsburgh has been great hosts and everybody working the event has been incredible hosts as well.

Q. Shelly, you won that first set. What changed or what was the difference maybe between this one and the first one, when you all played them earlier in the year?
SHELLY STAFFORD: I think that they've obviously gotten better, a lot better. They have a couple defensive specialists, back row. So their defense was awesome. They were getting digs we didn't expect them to make or getting saves we did not expect them to make also.

Yeah, I think we just needed to focus on our side more and make sure that we were winning the serve and pass game, serving tough, passing well. And I think that we could have done a better job of that in the second set.

Q. What did it feel like they were doing defensively that was maybe different than the first game you played, or was it the same and it was just different execution?
YOSSIANA PRESSLEY: Personally, I feel like they picked their spots better. I noticed the libero was playing middle back, and she backed up whenever I got set, because last time I went high with the hands a lot and used the block. So I feel like they made those adjustments and they had people for different roles, I guess, like people who needed to get like the deep tip or row shot three. So I thought they played that game pretty well.

Q. Obviously disappointed with the moment. How do you wrap up this season with so many freshmen in this program?
YOSSIANA PRESSLEY: Honestly, like right whenever I was shaking hands, I started crying a little bit. But then I got so happy for them I was, like, wow, this was such an amazing season. Even though it didn't go as we planned, you never know what's going to happen. And it's so great that we finally got to put Baylor on an even bigger platform and use it to glorify the Lord.

So I'm not sad. Of course, like, it stings. It does sting. But I'm so excited that we get to -- we got to play together, play our hearts out, get that patch on our jerseys and to take this program to places that's never been before and trust we'll be back next year.

Q. The journey when you first came in in January of '15 to now, what's that been like, and can you focus on that right now?
SHELLY STAFFORD: It definitely has been a journey. When I came to Baylor, we were kind of talking about it, we dreamed for a national championship, but we knew that it was going to take couple years to really, like, I guess, get a hold of the training and trust ourselves and trust everything.

But, yeah, it's definitely been a journey, and this season has been a season of firsts. And I'm upset that, like, I don't get another season to win a national championship, but I know that, like, as a senior season, this is -- we made history in so many ways. I'm so thankful for all the opportunities we were given.

And all my teammates, they've truly trusted in everyone. They've put each other on each other's backs many times. It's been an incredible journey, and I'm thankful for everything that Baylor has offered me in the past five years.

Q. Yossi, you said: We'll be back?
YOSSIANA PRESSLEY: I did.

Q. How much maybe does this experience help to get back and maybe even know what to do next time, that kind of thing?
YOSSIANA PRESSLEY: It teaches us that we need to have a little bit more grit. I feel like we're gritty out there, but I feel -- I also feel like there were moments we fell below our standard, and that can't happen, obviously, in the Final Four.

Like every team is amazing. Like they all have powerful weapons. They all have defense. They have serving, serve/receive. So many qualities in each player for the Final Four. So I feel like we need to be a little bit more steady next time and just focus on things that we need to keep simple, I guess, like the simple things.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach.

Q. Looked like you were all trying different stuff. Was it a case of just, you know, just things weren't working, or was this more Wisconsin kind of stepping up their game?
RYAN McGUYRE: Wisconsin was solid, for sure. And they were making some adjustments to what we were doing. Our execution just, as Shelly said, wasn't quite to the standard we were trying to do. Too many errors. And executing the game plan in just some crucial moments and what we were trying to do offensively, we had some miscues.

You come out and Hannah and Shelly didn't connect when they have been pretty solid all year long. So some of those little things just kind of add up, turning the points.

I think as we're headed into the final set, it was only like a 4-point difference, as far as earned points. But our serve/receive made it a little bit more challenging. Yeah, as the match went on, it was a little bit harder for us to score. And I feel like it was getting a little bit easier for them as we were playing a little bit of catch up.

I could probably give you 20 things we've got to fix and do better if we were playing tomorrow. But we'll address those in January.

Q. The same thing I asked Yossi: Will it help next year that you've all been here? This was Wisconsin's third time. Will it help you if/when you come back next year?
RYAN McGUYRE: It will most certainly help. Experience is something you've just got to be alive in order to get. And my hope and how we approach this season was to try and give them as much experience of what this atmosphere is like without ever having been there for anybody on the entire team. I felt we were close to that because we were able to come out, win that first set. And do that and they spoke to that grit.

But I think the hope is when you do it right, it does sting and that it burns for the ones that want to get back here and take it another step forward. So each year we've been taking a step, taking a step, taking a step, and definitely this is a big step to climb and get to and we'd like to take it a step further.

A lot of good volleyball teams in this country. And you've got to arrive here healthy and arrive here with great chemistry. And we were able to do that. A lot of work that goes into it.

But Yossi will be hungry. Hannah Lockin will be hungry. We go from six seniors to those two, and confident they'll do a great job.

And I was so proud of Nicole Thomas, and when I entered the locker room, I think she captures the heart of what Baylor is all about when you talk about preparing champions for life. Leadership is most needed when you feel least like giving it. And when I walked in there, Nicole spoke such incredible, powerful words of wisdom to the team that really captures it in the moment way better than anything I could have done.

So I probably got her in too late. If you're only as good as your best wing, I thought Nicole was the best middle in the match tonight.

Q. You brought Nicole in and you also brought Hannah Fluegel in to serve. Talk about those two seniors, was that strategic or did you get them in because they're seniors?
RYAN McGUYRE: No, Nicole runs the chutes very well. And that was part of our game plan to have Kara running chutes and rotations when their setter is front row, and for some reason that was something, we have to go back, did we just not make the right decisions, or is the passing not there in order to do that?

So for Nicole, it's like that is her best hit. It was go in there, go hit it, makes sure she sets you type deal. So Nicole also is fiery and has the ability to say it in a way that makes sure she's going to get set. And obviously seeing her crush the ball like that, she gave us offense in a rotation where we weren't doing the offense. Kara has given us seven blocks, still a lot of blocks through that.

With that same rotation, row four that we were stuck in, the thought was maybe as Braya wasn't passing in zone one quite as well to maybe leave Fluegel in and give us three hitters in a rotation where they're tripling up on Yossi and we weren't able to find Kara. Something we had worked on.

And Hannah Fluegel, I've said it before, changed the culture of this program more than anyone else from the bottom up. So that's one of the ones where I wish she served seven aces in a row because I know she's capable of doing that. But not because they're seniors, but because they're the right people at the right time, is what was going through my head.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297