BIG TEN VOLLEYBALL MEDIA DAYS

August 2, 2023

Jim Barnes

Bailey Ortega

Delaney McSweeney

Iowa Hawkeyes

Press Conference

JIM BARNES: Hello, everyone. True honor to be here today. I want to thank the Big Ten, just a first-class effort that they've given volleyball and this platform. We're leading the way, and the Big Ten is a big part of helping us do that.

And so are all of you in the media, that you've made volleyball important, the way you promote our sport. So thank you for doing that. I think more and more media get involved in our sport, the passion starts coming out, and that's how you build a following. Thank you guys in the media.

We're excited to be here. I've got two awesome Iowa-born athletes here who completely represent our program in the right way, Delaney and Bailey. Two great leaders for us. Discipline, work ethic, all of that. And they're really fun. Just really glad to have them with me today to help represent Iowa volleyball.

Q. Bailey, you are someone who just grew up idolizing the Hawkeyes. What was it like to see your role grow, especially last year, and be a really important component of this steam?

BAILEY ORTEGA: Yeah, I think for me growing up in the state of Iowa, I always dreamt of being a Hawkeye and idolized the Hawkeye volleyball players. So now being a Hawkeye volleyball player, seeing the little girls in the stands, I remember what it used to be like, and I just -- no matter what role I'm put in, I'm so grateful that I even get to put on a Hawkeye jersey let alone have my name on the back of one.

I think that it just continues to show me how grateful I am and all of the blessings that I've kind of experienced throughout my time here.

Q. Obviously heading into your second year as a coach, you're going to want to build on what was done in the first year and kind of the foundation. What are some of the expectations? And for both the players, as well, what has it been like seeing how things have changed and developed in this second year as you now get the ropes of what's going on with the program?

JIM BARNES: (Audio interruption.) We do have nine returners and nine newcomers, so we're still developing obviously our staff and our roster, but our goal is to be the best team we can be every day, not just on game day but every day on and off the court, and how we treat each other and how we work decides the outcome.

We're making sure we control the things we can control and working and having that diligent discipline every day because discipline is rare. Talent you can find a lot of different places, but true team discipline is something that's rare. And this team has that ability to be exceptionally disciplined and play for one another, and I think that's going to be our strength.

Q. This time last year we were talking about you making your debut in the Big Ten and knowing what you were stepping into, and especially in Iowa, right in the heart of it. What were your takeaways from your first season, the most wins since 2016, and how you're going to build?

JIM BARNES: It was a blast. The Iowa fans are incredible. They love the school like no other. I love their support. Even when we lost matches, they came back and more fans were in the stadium the next day just because they loved how hard we played.

The league is the best. It's the top of the mountain. If you're coaching, this is where you want to be, and you want to be the best players around us.

And that's what we've been able to do is bring in some of the best players in the country, and we're going to represent Iowa from beginning to end, controlling the things that we can control.

It's a unique environment that I'm just really proud to be a part of it.

Q. You talked last year about wanting to play through the middles. Is that still the plan going forward this year?

JIM BARNES: Yeah, part of our philosophy is win the middle. It's part of our system. We've got a middle here that can help us do that. Delaney in her first year just did a tremendous job learning our offense.

And part of that's teaching our setters, who's sitting right over here, on, yeah, it's okay to set them as much as you can and set them from 20 feet off the net. And Bailey is one of the best I've coached at doing that. She really relishes that opportunity.

So we were able to make teams defend us in ways they weren't comfortable with because of how much not only we attacked the middle but that we stopped their middle so that they become a little bit more one-dimensional. It's our approach to the game.

But ultimately it's them really embracing that. And Delaney likes to be set, so it was no problem for her to go ahead and get more sets. And she's way better than she was last year, so we're expecting huge things out of Delaney.

Q. Delaney, to follow up after that, I mean, high praise. What was your work in the off-season and even continuing to grow, especially in this offense that really benefits someone like you?

DELANEY McSWEENEY: Yeah, some stuff that I worked on in the off-season, I was just really focused on strength and speed. We like to run things fast in our gym. It was something that I was very focused on in the off-season.

I think another thing I was really focused on was building a relationship with Bailey. I think we got much closer in the spring than we were in the fall, and just with everybody else on the team, I was new in the fall, it was hard for me to get super connected with people.

But I just feel like our connection is really special, and I'm glad that it is the way it is, especially with a setter in the middle.

Q. Is there anything special to that or just spending more time together? Anything you'd be willing to share?

DELANEY McSWEENEY: I think we just have a lot more free time. We do a lot of stuff right now. We go on hikes, we watch "The Bachelor," hang out by the pool. Just lots of stuff like that it helps build trust. It helps build a relationship that can transfer over to volleyball so that when we are in the gym, it helps us out when we are going through tough times on the volleyball court.

Q. How do the two of you approach year two under Coach Barnes and building on the relationship you've started to build with him?

BAILEY ORTEGA: I think that Jim is keeping a lot of the same ideas in terms of how hard we want to play, how disciplined we want to be as a team and our team connection.

I think just Delaney and I and all of us returners really building on the confidence we have within each other and building confidence with the newcomers, since it is split half and half, and I think combining the confidence of both of those sections of our team I think will really show that we are in a great year two with Jim and that things are going to be better and that they will continue to be better as Iowa volleyball grows to be a power in the Big Ten.

Q. Who are some of the mentors or youth coaches that have influenced you and helped you get to this point in your career?

DELANEY McSWEENEY: I had a trainer before I got to college. His name was Patrick Sullivan. He played men's volleyball at Long Beach State University. Heavily influenced my volleyball journey. Then I had a former teammate. Her name is Abigail Krueger. She played at Wake Forest with me and then UNC Charlotte, and she really helped me with my mindset, very positive person.

And I think that's really important for volleyball is having a balance of being positive, something we say a lot is to have fun working hard, so just having a smile on my face while doing the thing I love but also doing it with a purpose and determination.

BAILEY ORTEGA: I'd say for me, my first one would be Frank Flanagan. He's currently the club director at Iowa Select in Davenport, and he was the first coach to really see how much I loved the game, how much I wanted to improve. And he took me under his wing and, again, saw me when no other coach really did. No other coach took the time. And he continues to do that at Iowa Select to this day.

I wouldn't be anywhere I am without him.

He also introduced me to Nick Lynch. He was an All-American setter at St. Ambrose. And he took me for the past six or seven years, I've been doing private lessons with him, and I still do to this day.

So Frank has really taught me the intangibles of the game, and Nick has also taught me intangibles but has also really helped me technically.

Again, both of them have really helped both sides of my game, and I would not be anywhere without the both of them and, of course, our families.

Q. You played a lot of long sets last year, a lot of long matches, pushed a couple of the top teams to five sets and then got over the hump with those last two games in the conference. Do you feel like there's anything you can take away from the last two that you've figured out that you can carry over into this year to help turn some of those long matches that were losses into wins?

BAILEY ORTEGA: I think for me the thing I noticed the most in the last two matches especially against Michigan is the way we played for each other. I think it's one thing for us to say it and for us to try to do it in practice, but it was really shown. And then that obviously showed in our play and showed in us getting the win.

I think that it can be tough when you're in the fifth set. Everyone is tired, you're playing a team that they didn't even think you'd be in the fifth set against, and I think that us being able to really play for each other and focus on everyone but ourselves in that moment was what really got us those wins.

I think, again, us returners carrying that and implementing that into this team this year will be really, really important for us.

Q. Jim, we've seen the transfer portal evolve. You've seen players both leave and then you got new players to Iowa, too. How do you approach the portal and use it as an asset for program building?

JIM BARNES: We've been able to use it as an asset. It's not my favorite, but it is something that really has benefitted our program. Delaney is right here because of it.

I kept Bailey from going in there when I got there. She had one foot in the portal. We talked about representing Iowa, and they've been all in ever since.

The portal, there's good and bad to it. We're using it to help build our program. Ultimately we want players that are 100 percent all in for our program.

We've looked everywhere to do that because you've got to get the right players in, and I feel like we already have in just two years.

You're going to see a team that really plays hard for one another and plays to the end. That's what happened last year, we played to the end through every match and we had chances, and we got it done in our last two matches of five-setters.

But the game teaches the game better than coaches do. We've played a lot, we've learned a lot through the game. And that's how we practice, too. Our practices are full of competition and full of learning through the game.

So I think we've really accelerated our learning in two short years.

Q. Bailey, he mentioned you had one foot in the portal. What convinced you that Iowa was the place you wanted to continue your career?

BAILEY ORTEGA: Yeah, so when I had initially entered portal, it was more so for a plan B. I wasn't sure what the future held since we hadn't had a coach at the time. And when Jim got hired, we had multiple conversations right away, and I just loved the direction he was taking the program, his history as a head coach, and I just loved everything that he had to say to me. He was convincing. He's amazing. That's the reason I'm still here.

Yeah, I wouldn't trade it for the world. I think I've learned so much underneath him, and I'm excited to learn more this season.

Q. Bailey, you mentioned making Iowa volleyball a power. You got to see what a national power is like on your campus this spring watching the basketball team. Bailey and Delaney, what was it like to watch that run they had to the title game, and what can you take from that to apply to your sport?

BAILEY ORTEGA: I really, really love our women's basketball team for the people they are, aside from how amazing they are. I grew up watching basketball, playing basketball, so I of course loved that aspect.

But again, I love the way that they play for each other. I've gotten the opportunity to sit in on a couple of their practices. Since I want to be a coach, I've kind of sat in with Bluder, Jan, Raina, all of their amazing staff they have.

And, again, I love the way they play for each other. They're all best friends, and they all really enjoy being around each other. So I think that's something we can continue to implement and that I think we do have in our gym.

DELANEY McSWEENEY: Yeah, going off of that, I think it's really inspiring because just people never heard of Iowa women's basketball until a couple years ago. It blew up this year. It just shows how much you can do in a year or two years.

And I think that's something that can be really inspiring to our team and other teams that are similar to us. It's just how much can change in a year when you have the right determination and when you want to work hard for each other and be happy doing it.