DAYTON (OH) -- By many program's standards this has already been a good season. The team is 18-3 and we have played four top ten teams (in RPI) and defeated one of them (Northern Iowa). This team is focused on wins after the regular season and probably hasn't accomplished any of their goals to this point.
In a lot of ways a team is what it is by now. As an example it is very difficult to transform yourself from a bad defensive team to a good defensive team with slightly more than four weeks remaining in the regular season. It would be difficult to suddenly improve your blocking numbers at this point of the season unless your personnel changed.
But, if you are solid in all phases this is the time where you fine tune things to make a final push. You want to play your best volleyball during the NCAA tournament. When UD lost three early matches to top 10 RPI programs there were some who considered jumping off the bandwagon. The players didn't know how they would fare going against some of the very best teams in the country but they knew it was important to find out where they stand against the country's top programs. They wanted to be tested and responded with better play each time they played against a top team.
The team still faces two tough conference matches (and at least a couple of other matches against well coached teams) against
Xavier (this Friday Oct 29th) and
St Louis before the conference tournament. Both of these teams took UD to five sets earlier in the season and will not be underestimated.
I asked Kelly several questions on the season so far and the team's final push to prepare for the NCAA tournament and here are his responses.
Becky, Yvonne and Megan told me a couple of weeks ago that they would rate the team's overall play at a '6' or '7'. How do you feel about your overall play? Jody Novacek added up the errors of the top 25 teams and found that you were 2nd in fewest error points.
At times we are playing like we are one of the top teams in the country and at other times we are inconsistent and not playing at the level we are capable. I think that pretty much typifies a lot of teams in college volleyball this season. I think we are in the middle of the greatest season college volleyball has ever seen. It's wide open and anything can happen on any given night. It's going to be fun watching all of this play out. I'm not sure if I can put a number scale on where we're at. I do know this, we don't give people many points at all. Very few teams in the country have as few reception errors/set as we do. We don't give away a lot of free points from serving errors, our hitting error percentage is one of the lowest in the country, and we don't have a lot of blocking or ball handling errors either. When you play the Flyers, teams have to earn their points.
How has the team improved since the early season losses to Minnesota, Nebraska and Illinois?
I think one area that we are really starting to get really good at is our serve receive. Our passing numbers have climbed steadily as the season has progressed. Paige and Amanda have really been steady and solid for us all season back there.
During the NCAA tournament there is a chance you can play at UD arena in the regionals. How does playing in a larger open arena versus the cozy Frericks Center affect the players?
As for playing in large arena's, there's certainly a different visual and depth perception can be a little different, but that doesn't seem to bother most elite players a lot. What is more challenging is when we go to a place where there is a significant altitude difference. In basketball and soccer that really affects their breathing (and it can in volleyball as well), but it really affects the movement of the ball significantly in our sport since the ball spends a lot of time floating in the air. We haven't really played in significantly different altitudes. Humidity can also play a big factor. The big arena at Nebraska actually played like a much smaller venue. Xavier plays like a much bigger venue. How people pump air into a venue can have a factor as well.
It looks like you have great leadership on this team. Could you expand on that?
We talk about leadership all the time in our program. We want the players here to be leaders when they leave UD. It goes way beyond the volleyball court. We want the players sitting in the first three rows in class and be active participants. They go with me when I am giving speeches - so they get work on their public speaking. Some of the decisions they make as far as staying on campus during the summer and no drinking during the season demonstrate leadership. I think our team is loaded with great leaders. Jess is our floor captain and is the only one that can talk to the officials. Amanda, Yvonne, and Rachael are our captains. Yvonne is the organizer and keeps people on task. Amanda leads with her humanity, positive spirit, and love for the game. Rachael gives a kick in the butt or a high five and knows when to do each. But we are getting great leadership from others as well. Becky's attention to detail, Tiffany's work ethic and selflessness, Lindsay's leadership has greatly improved and I see her helping out the younger players more and more. All of these things are critical and important to the success of our team this year. I think Ally and Megan are going to be awesome leaders for this program down the road. I look at the leadership on this team kind of like an onion. Lots and lots of layers.
The team's blocking has been tremendous and a big improvement over last season. Can you explain how such a large chance occurred in one season?
Our blocking and defense have certainly improved since last year. Part of that is personnel - having Yvonne and Jess up at the net. And some of it is skill work and being more disciplined. Both middles are much, much better blockers than they were a year ago. There's a major difference in both of them. Kray has also seen big-time improvement in her back court game. I'm not sure if it's been easier or harder than I thought. We just try and get a little bit better every day. We still have a long way to go, but with that said, L1's are barely hitting positive against us this season. For the most part we have absolutely shut down the opposition's top left side. When you do this, you have a great chance of winning.
A Couple of Questions from the Fans:
How much does it take out of the players to play a five set match?
As for how much does a five-setter take from the team, it's much more the type of match that it is rather than how many games. Xavier and UNI were really tough because there were so many long rallies. Lots of jumping, lateral movements, and long transition. In the Xavier match we were really pressing from very early on and I think that takes a lot out of you as well. SLU was different. That match had some long rallies, but not nearly as many. And Santa Clara didn't have the same effect as the others. Three of the games were blowouts, and the other two, even though they were close, didn't have long drawn out rallies. I thought we recovered very quickly from that match. As far as what the players bodies felt like after the match, Santa Clara was like playing a game of horse. UNI and Xavier were like playing the Phoenix Suns.
What do the players say to each other when they are in a huddle between points?
What are they telling each other between points? I have no idea. Probably something along the lines of how sick they are of their coach.
If you have never been to a volleyball match Friday would be a great day for the first one. The team and crowd will be pumped to play a good Xavier team. There is a chalk talk prior to the match, doors open for chalk talk at 4:45.
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