Waite Addresses Media Monday
December 04, 2006 | Volleyball
University of Wisconsin volleyball coach Pete Waite addressed the media Monday afternoon to answer questions about his 10th-ranked Badgers competing in their third consecutive NCAA Regional this weekend in Austin, Texas.
Wisconsin (26-6) takes on eighth-ranked Texas (23-6) on Friday at 7 p.m. in Gregory Gym on the campus of the University of Texas. Regional play opens with second-ranked Stanford (27-3) facing off against 13th-ranked California (22-9) at 5 p.m. on Friday. Semifinal winners will play at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday live on ESPNU, for the right to advance to the NCAA final four in Omaha, Neb., on Dec. 14 and Dec. 16.
The Badgers are looking to advance to at least the Elite Eight of the NCAA championship for the third straight year. The UW has lost to the eventual national champions in the regional finals the last two seasons.
A complete transcription of the news conference follows below. A video archive of the news conference can be found by clicking on the Audio/Video link to the right.
Pete, you guys had first round at the Field House and now you 're going to (play) at Texas. I don't know how the system works, but with how successful your team has been, is regionals in Madison something you'd try to push for in the next years'
Actually, we will be next year. We're going to be putting in for regionals next year. That's something you look at for your team and their strength and their maturity, because had we put in for this year, then we probably wouldn't get it next year and we've got a group that will hopefully get even stronger next season. So (the bid) will go in and we should find out in the next month or two.
Pete, can you talk about the strength of the Longhorns. You mentioned when you played them at the end of August that they were the tallest, probably the tallest team in college volleyball. Can you talk a little bit about their strengths and how you conquer that height'
I think they're probably still the tallest team we've played, but they 're very close to Penn State. Obviously, in our conference, we split with Penn State and were able to take them the second time we played them and adjust after we got used to what they do. But (Texas has) some great players. (Michelle) Moriarty is the setter, who was the MVP of our tournament when she came. They've got (Ashley) Engle, who's a freshman, about 6-3, 6-4, a lefty. They've got (Destinee) Hooker, who is a tall left side, about 6-3, 6-4 also. So it's different angles that they bring the ball with than you're used to, so you do have to adjust your block, adjust your defense. And I think we are just a much better team than we were the first time we faced them and we're healthier now.
And I know that (Texas) lost two experienced players to injuries. Were you impressed with how quickly their freshmen made an impact'
Actually those freshmen were starting in the beginning of this year, because they had some upperclassmen that started last year on the bench, so that's how deep they are. They were able to bring some of those players back. And they did lose one starter, who had been out there the whole time, but they were strong and deep and now they're still strong, but they've had to adjust and they're not quite as deep as they were.
Are they a team that you kind of kept an eye on during the regular season, knowing that come post-season time you may get a second chance at them '
We followed the Big 12 standings and see their results against different teams and see just even teams like we played Iowa State, how Iowa State did against them or how they did against Nebraska. And they've done well obviously. They finished where we thought they would in the conference. They've just got a lot of weapons, (they're a) very physical team. It comes down to this now. We're going back on their home court, but again, just like we played Penn State, we've got to refocus and go at them. And we're the underdog and sometimes that's a good thing.
With five (conference) teams in the Sweet 16, can you just talk about the strength of the Big Ten'
Yeah. I was just talking about that with one of the other reporters. It's a lot to be proud of ' for the Big Ten to still have five out of seven teams that were in the tournament still in there and with a shot at advancing. The tough thing is a couple will meet each other in this next round, so it'll narrow things down a little bit. But the depth of the conference is strong each year and it prepares us for the tournament. It makes us stronger too.
You mentioned Penn State and Texas. Do you adjust your lineup when you're facing teams who are taller'
We probably won't change any personnel as far as who's been starting and people that are coming off the bench. I think we've got a pretty good system as far as that goes. We might adjust match-ups as how we rotate against them and where we think we would benefit that way. But overall, we like what we're doing. We could change some people within positions on the court and we may do that a little bit just to benefit our side.
How big of an advantage is it to have seen Texas even though it was very early'
I think it does help. We'll actually start watching tape today and the tape we 'll watch is our first match with them. So we'll see just how we did. And actually I think when our players see that, they'll see they didn't play very well and that usually motivates them to come out even stronger, knowing that they 've improved a lot since them.
Audra Jeffers is much stronger. She was probably at 75 percent when we first played. She was just coming off that back injury. And we've nursed that all year and she 's now, I would say, at 95 to 98 percent. And to have her on the court at all is great, but she was one of the kill leaders in our match on Saturday night. So even (Texas ') coach knows we're a much different team now. He said that in his press release. He's followed us, knowing that this could be another rematch.
Pete, Maria (Carlini) got her 1000th kill this past game. Can you just talk about her and what it takes to reach that mark '
She's obviously been taking a lot of swings for her career, which means the setters have trusted her and she's gotten her kills in critical matches for us and in a tough conference. That's not something that every hitter goes through the program doing, is reaching 1,000 kills, she's been a great producer for us on the court. And it's not just her hitting. She's been a great blocker, great defender and a great team leader. We will miss her a lot after the season is over.
You mentioned before about watching the tape of the first time you played them. But losing 3-0, I'm guessing that it sounds like you 're not worried about any mental sort of block of them having to get over a team that beat you soundly early at the beginning of the year.
No, not really. We started two different people in that first match than we're starting now. We went and lost in three at Penn State and come back and beat them later in the season. And Penn State actually went down to Texas and beat Texas down there. If you combine all those things, I think we've got a great shot.
Can you just assess the regional as a whole (including) the other match'
Well, you've got Stanford against Cal-Berkeley in the other match and I 'm sure Berkeley wasn't too thrilled to see Stanford come up on their side of the bracket ' their location, they're so close. They're in the same conference together and now they've got to meet again on Friday night. (California is) obviously going to be very strong and Stanford is traditionally an extremely strong team.
We saw Cal last year, so we know somewhat about them and we're familiar with Stanford also. We've played them recently. We'll try to get by Friday night and then we've got our work cut out for us on Saturday night too. But if we do that, then obviously it's a neutral crowd, if Texas is out of the picture on Friday.
Pete, looking at the stats of these four teams, their strengths and their weakness are pretty much equal. They're all in line. It 's like the same team playing each other.
Well and that's where you get some real battles, when it comes down to it and just the strategies of each coach and who they're going to go against. But it 'll still come down to, as we say all season, if we serve tough and keep them out of their offense, we've got a shot at defending and then transitioning back at them. And each coach is going to be saying that the whole time. But these are big teams 'big, good blocking teams, so when they go head to head, it should be exciting.
