Waite Addresses Media Monday
November 24, 2003 | Volleyball
Wisconsin volleyball head coach Pete Waite addressed the media Monday at the UW weekly news conference. Waite discussed the team's recent performances on the road and the Badgers' upcoming matches against Indiana and Purdue this weekend at the UW Field House.
A full transcript is below. Video is also available by clicking on the "multimedia" link located in the red menu bar above.
Opening Statement: 'Last weekend we really focused on probably Ohio State first as even being the bigger match of the two. I was really pleased with the way we played. We held Stacey Gordon (Ohio State outside hitter) to 11 kills. She had 70 matches in a row where she had double-digit kills. Right up to the last minute we nearly had her and stopped that record. That was a great win for us. We knew we needed that going into the NCAA pairings coming up on Sunday. We knew Penn State 's first in the conference right now and they are playing great at home, so there was the possibility we would take that loss. We knew Ohio State was a great win for us so we felt good about that. Coming up this weekend, now we've got Indiana and Purdue. Both of them are in the bottom half of the conference, but both have had good wins against top teams in the conference. Both of them are coming off wins over Northwestern, who we took a loss to just a couple of weeks ago. We're glad to be home. We've been on the road for two weeks. We're hoping to have a good crowd on this Thanksgiving weekend because we're trying to secure that second spot in the national attendance figures. That would put us over Nebraska and that is always a good win for us if we can get that. So we're hoping everybody comes out for that. It should be a lot of fun. It is also Senior Night on Saturday night.'
What more could you ask for from Lisa Zukowski and what she has done for your program' 'She was amazing. She actually had a bit of an off weekend last week, but boy she came out on fire this weekend. Against Penn State, she was like the `Player of the Year' in the conference the way she played with 19 kills. I wish some other people had games similar to that. We would've had a shot at the win. She was amazing. She was unstoppable out of the front row and the back row. You are talking about a 5-10 player who is going up against 6-2, 6-3 and actually in Penn State's case a 6-5 middle blocker and scoring at will on that night. It was really fun to watch her.'
Coach, you mentioned Zuke ( Lisa Zukowski) and senior night. What has the senior class as a whole meant to the program' 'Well they've been amazing. Actually as a class, it's the shortest class we have, so what they bring is the speed and the intensity and the real drive of our team right now. Morgan (Shields), Zuke, (Jill) Maier really put a lot of time in over the summer playing a lot of sand ball on campus, doing all of our camps, did everything they could to have a great senior year. They've really been inspirational for the rest of the team.'
Pete, how important is this weekend, not only with the NCAA pairings and everything else that is coming up with the selections, but also for the confidence and psyche of your team going into the post season' 'It is big. Obviously we want a shot at hosting the NCAA tournament and we need both of these wins to even have a chance at that. If we go on the road, it is going to be tougher. Being at home is awesome. We are playing a lot better at home, so I like that. Those are two teams are real threats. There is no doubt that in the past you've been able to overlook Purdue, but they've got a new coach and a whole new attitude on the court. They've been taking the top teams. They beat Minnesota, they took Illinois to five, they beat Michigan State at home in three. They've been doing some nice things, so we really have to be watching out for them this weekend. It should be exciting.'
Can a team with your size make a run in the post season ' 'I think we can. It all depends on who you match up with. That is the thing. The top teams in the Big Ten this year are just some really big teams. You 've got 6-4, 6-5 on the right side and it is tough to go up against that with our size. But some others we match up well with. With our speed and like you said Zukowski doing the things she's doing there's a chance. We'll make the biggest run we can. We'll go after it no matter where we have to go.'
