Waite Addresses Media Monday
December 02, 2002 | Volleyball
Wisconsin volleyball coach Pete Waite spoke to the media on Monday during UW's weekly news conference. Waite talked about the upcoming NCAA tournament and addressed various issues about the team.
A transcript of the news conference follows. The news conference video is available by clicking on `multimedia' on the red menu bar.
On the Badgers' wins last weekend: 'I felt really good about it. I felt going into the weekend, if we split it would be a little shaky, if we won two we would be on real solid ground. I think the combination of where we place in the Big Ten, the strength of the Big Ten, and our crowds really had us in there in a solid spot. I was feeling good.'
How does this year compare to your first year at Wisconsin ' 'There are some similarities. Even in the Big Ten play, that was another year [1999] where eight teams out of eleven were selected to go to the NCAA tournament. It took us a little while to get rolling early in the season, where we took probably a month, month and a half, to get everything in gear and then we started taking off. This team is playing with a lot of confidence right now. At NCAA tournament time, anything can happen and that is the exciting part about the big dance. We may not be in the top five or six right now, but we could finish up there with a good run so we are going to go after it.'
On the youth of this year's team: 'I think we have got some good youth on the floor. Jill Odenthal has been making a big impact now. She has been awfully tough to stop. Sheila Shaw is in the middle, we have got [Lauren] Ford coming off the bench. We have the freshman. We've got [Lisa] Zukowski in the back as libero, Morgan [Shields] coming back as a setter. The people are there in those positions. You can only tell when the next year comes around. We are solid right now. Really, Byrd's been doing a great job. She has been solid, of course we will be losing her. She has been coming out and she has been one of those tough players in Big Ten play this year and she should be making All Big-Ten.'
On Alabama A & M: 'I do not know much about them yet. We will be getting tape on them tomorrow. We will just check their record and check their conference. I know as a conference they are not used to playing at the same level as Big Ten play. They are not used to playing in front of the same kinds of crowds as we have. I think that will be to our advantage. I like the bracket. Last year, what they did is they sent us a Big Ten team, Michigan State, and we did not really want to see any Big Ten teams this year, so it is good in that way. We have seen Duke already. We played them up there at their place and beat them. We have that advantage. Miami [Fla.] is a good program, just a few years old. They have a great coach who I am very familiar with and she has done a great job in bringing some veteran players into place right away. She has had some good wins this season so it has been pretty exciting.'
On the beginning of the season versus the ending of the season: 'I think considering how many All-Americans we lost, two All-Americans from last year's team and a third player that went to the nationals, that hurts your starting line-up. It is understandable that we would have a slow start. Early in the season, at times I was wondering if we would even be .500 in the Big Ten knowing how tough it is. I am really proud of how well they matured and how far they have come in that time. Finishing in a tie for second is fantastic. Preseason, I would have picked us around third, but I still did not know how we would react to the loss of those three players.'
On what changed to improve the team: 'I think in the last month we have just become a lot more disciplined. Early in the season, they tended to kind of do things on their own. I can say that as a coach. They were kind of doing things that they felt was the right way to do it, but was not as a team. We were not in sync with each other. That is such an important thing in volleyball. On such a small court, and so many times the ball has to touch two or three people, every time it comes over the net. They became more disciplined and started trusting the staff and trusting each other sometimes. They just got better as we went on.'
Did you expect this team to improve the way they did ' 'Early in the season, I was wondering. As a coach, you want to be in control. Then there are those games were you just wonder if they are listening to what you are saying. It is almost where they would learn something and do it for two weeks and then unlearn it and then they would relearn it. The engine would not get going, but I think we have it going now. They have taken a hold of it. That is exciting for us now because when we played at Michigan and Michigan State over the weekend, they played very, very solid volleyball. Those are two very good teams.'
On any certain individual's substantial improvements: 'I think it was really a group effort. That is the thing that this year we do not have a Division I big stand-out. Byrd has stepped forward at being one go-to player, but other than that they all have good nights. When they do, we are a very, very good team.'
On Morgan Shields and Lisa Zukowski: 'I think they are two very aggressive players. They handle the ball very well. In a serve receive, if you can get the ball to the setter, Morgan can do a great job. I think they were a little crowded on the court for awhile. Once we separated them and they had more court to cover, they could focus more ' I think that was a big part of it. That was probably about a month and a half ago. Obviously when we moved Zukowski to libero, that was a big change and it took her a little while to get used to that. That is a really different position.'
Is Erin Byrd one of the best players to come through Wisconsin volleyball' 'She has to be. She started here four years. She has grown over those four years. She is certainly a well-rounded player. She came in as mostly a defensive player and now she is a great offensive player. She nearly doubled her hitting percentage over the course of four years. She is really unstoppable right now and playing with a lot of confidence, so I would definitely put her in that category.'
