Waite Addresses Media During Monday News Conference
November 19, 2001 | Volleyball
Wisconsin head volleyball coach Pete Waite spoke to the media on Monday about the Badgers clinching a share of their second-straight Big Ten Conference title. Waite also talked about the depth of his team, senior Sherisa Livingston and the team's post-season outlook. A partial transcription of the news conference follows.
Is the team peaking at the right time': 'We're playing some great ball. We've been focusing on peaking at the right time and this team has just continually been progressing. With the loss of [Lisa] Zukowski half way through the Big Ten season, that made us reorganize, get somebody new in the lineup and that's actually been a nice surge for us. [Jill] Odenthal has done a great job coming in on the left side as a freshman left-hander who has really thrown some curves to our opponents and it's made it really tough for them.'
Feelings on the depth of his lineup: 'I feel pretty good, because also we've got Marian Weidner coming in sometimes for Lori Rittenhouse. She's doing a nice job. We've got a couple of defensive people that can come in, so in general we're doing pretty well. Marie Meyer is a senior in the middle that could come in for Sherisa [Livingston] or Amy, [Hultgren] so I feel pretty good about it right now.'
On Northwestern: 'Northwestern is in the lower half of the Big Ten this season. They started strong and were showing some signs of being one of the most improved teams in the conference, but they're still very young. So I think once these teams got a hold of their scouting report and saw them the first time, then the second time around they've been struggling a little bit. They're coming in here and it's going to be a tough match for them. They're not used to our kind of crowd. They draw about 300 people a match and we've been drawing 3,400 people a match, so I think we've got the advantage.'
On the team's play since losing three starters from last season: 'We've just had some great people ready to go. We got real lucky after losing three starters [last year], our first sub in and also (Lisa) Zukowski going out this season. The people that came in from last season, people like Erin Byrd stepped up their game so much that it made a difference. We had a transfer come in, Amy Hultgren coming from Texas as a junior, that made a big difference. And the rest of the players, people like Lizzy setting the offense and Sherisa doing such a great job ' Sara Urbanek defensively, they just brought everyone else along with them up to the level they had been playing. So it really surprised me how quickly they jumped up to they level we were last year.'
On the possibility of hosting in the post season: 'The first and second rounds we should have, after that we really don't know. In the coaches' poll, we're around seventh, some computer rankings are showing us at ninth, which surprises me for what we've done against ranked teams so far this season. But again, they might be changing things as far as who they select and what regions they go to just because of the Sept. 11th attacks. They might keep people more regional. So there's a chance with all the West Coast teams, some of them being higher ranked [than us], that they would bring someone out of the Midwest or the East, and we're one of the highest ranked teams there. So there's that shot. We can be hopeful that it could happen.'
On Sherisa Livingston: 'She's definitely one of the best [players in the nation]. The only things she's missing is we're not using her in the back row and she really is doing some great things in practices that way, but we just think with Korie Gardner [we're better off right now]. She's quicker and we're gaining points with her serve. But [Livingston] is phenomenal. She's the kind of player where she's almost like a Michael Jordan where every night you go out just to watch her to see what she's going to do tonight. On the bench, as a staff, we're seeing her doing things every night that we haven't seen her do before, so as we give her things to do she's raising her level up every time. She's just phenomenal. She's so fun to watch.'
How much will last year's post-season experience help this year ' 'It's definitely going to help. Already this season, we've just clinched a share of the Big Ten title and there was no major celebration on the court. Where last year, when we did it at Michigan State, everyone was jumping up and down, they were all excited and it was the first time they had done it in a few years. Now they have higher expectations. The celebration will come when we win sole possession of the Big Ten and then advance further and go a long way in the NCAA tournament. This team has some very high goals and the Big Ten championship was just one of them.'
