Pre St Louis Volleyball Update

Evan Muys was kind enough to answer some new questions which we have been discussing on the message board! We are approaching a critical time period for the volleyball team as they play St Louis twice in preparation for the A10 tournament. The match on Saturday at 3pm against St Louis is huge. Evan's first comments concerned the great fan support that he receives from you:

"First off, we as a staff love the support we are getting from the fans this year. The atmosphere that everyone brings to our gym on game day really does play to our advantage, so thank you for that! I will do my best here to answer your questions with as much detail as I can".

Question 1: How would you rate the team's improvement since the season began and what areas have seen the most improvement? I am personally impressed with the improvement which indicates hard work by the players and coaches. My personal prediction was that the team could improve enough to win the A10 tournament but I didn't expect them to win the A10 title.

"The amount of growth of each individual player from the beginning of preseason through today has been exponential. One particular area as of late that we have seen a ton of growth in would be our serving consistency. Both Alaina and Jess are 1 and 2 in the A-10 in aces/set, and now Janna is starting to creep into that mix as well. We love that are in control of our own destiny in terms of where we can end up in the league. We still have areas that we can improve on, so we are by no means taking our foot off of the accelerator".

Question 2: You struggled defensively against GW, particularly against their middles. What did you try in that match and what might you do differently in a rematch? Obviously great serving can reduce the number of swings that a middle blocker receives.

"GW has some great athletes on their team. Their middles are very physical from both an attacking and blocking standpoint. They try to get them the ball no matter where the ball is passed. We have identified tendencies and addressed them with the team in terms of what we want to do against them. If we see them again, it will be in our building, in the A10's, which we absolutely LOVE!"

Question 3: You have mentioned that the team is focusing on offensive improvements both in system and out of system. The team's hitting percentage has varied quite a bit from match to match but Jessica had a good match hitting from the back row. We have been discussing on the board how much passing impacts the hitting percentage of outside hitters. So, what are you doing to try and improve the team's hitting percentage both in system and out of system?

"Hitting percentage is a very important stat to us. We try to use all of our players to keep defenses uncomfortable, and Jane has been doing a great job of distributing balls to create balance in what we do on offense. We spend a lot of time working individually with our passers, in order to give ourselves the best possibility to keep balance in our offense and create 1 on 1 match ups. We are also working with our pin hitters on taking care of the ball when out of system, and what we can do to take our out of swings to turn them into out of system swings for our opponents".

Question 4: Tim has mentioned that you are working on the out of system offense. Can you tell the fans what percentage of points you terminate when you are out of system?

"Our out of system kill percentage is not quite where we want it to be at right now. We are terminating about 20% of our out of system attacks, and that is a number that needs to increase. We would also like to see our error percentage decrease when out of system".

Question 5: Congrats on the latest MB verbal which I know you cannot comment on. But, can you tell the fans if you are still actively recruiting for 2015?

"When it comes to recruiting,we are always looking for talent that is still available. Sorry I can't go into more detail on this one".

Question 6: This is a big week for the A10 standings with a big match against St Louis on Saturday. What can fans expect in this matchup?

"This is a huge match for us! We are looking to pack the house and use that home court advantage. Expect a close match between the top 2 teams in the league. SLU has beaten some great teams already this season and we expect them to come in ready for a battle. It will be a good one!"

Looking forward to tomorrow match and hope you can be there!

	Saint Louis SAINT LOUIS Saint Louis University is a Jesuit, Catholic university ranked among the top research institutions in the nation. The University fosters the intellectual and character development of more than 12,700 students. Founded in 1818, it is the oldest university west of the Mississippi and the second oldest Jesuit university in the United States. Located in St. Louis, MO, and just five minutes from the Gateway Arch, SLU offers 85 undergraduate programs and over 50 graduate study tracks. Over 99% of the SLU faculty hold the highest degree in their respective fields. Fellow member of the A10 Conference. Nickname is the Billikens, but also commonly known as "Sloo", the phonetic pronunciation of the school's initials. Athletic claims to fame include multiple national titles in men's soccer and men's basketball star Larry Hughes.