Waite addresses media Monday
November 24, 2009 | Volleyball
Nov. 24, 2009
MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin volleyball coach Pete Waite addressed the media Monday as his Badgers (11-16 overall, 6-12 Big Ten) wrap up the 2009 season by hosting two matches in the UW Field House. Wisconsin takes on Indiana (15-17, 4-14) on Friday and Purdue (13-16, 5-13) on Saturday. Both matches are at 7 p.m.
Wisconsin fell to seventh place in the Big Ten Conference standings after losing its last seven matches. The Badgers will not compete in the NCAA tournament for the second straight year and will record their first losing record since 1992.
The Badgers will honor seniors Brittney Dolgner and Caity DuPont prior to their final home match on Saturday. A complete transcript of the news conference is below. You can also watch the news conference here.
Opening Statement: Even though we took two losses on the road this weekend, we’re still seeing bright spots in the lineup and people coming on and improving their games. We’ve been seeing Mary Ording, as a freshman middle blocker, come on (and) do some great things. There are at times we’ve got three freshmen on the court at once. Kim Kuzma against Northwestern had 30 digs, which is a career high, which is phenomenal. She was all over the place, so she’s doing some great things.
We’re seeing some things. We’re still looking for that improvement and to really get that, to get the win where we all play well at the same time. It’s just been a little bit up and down. We’re looking to this weekend to be a big one for our seniors, because it’s their last weekend with us and they’ve done some great things in the program and we want to go out in a great way for them.
We’ve got two good teams coming in with Indiana and Purdue. Purdue is the one who, early in the season, was predicted to be in probably the top four in the conference and they have not been. They’ve got the personnel. They’re a very physical team and they just got a nice win over Ohio State over the weekend. Indiana is one of those teams we’ve talked about before. We beat them in five at their place, so it was very close. They’ve got Ashley Benson in the middle, Kent Benson’s daughter, very athletic, one of the most athletic middles in the conference. We’ve got a lot to deal with.
Actually, even though we’ve been on a losing skid here, the team’s really enjoying the game still and really still wants to be out there practicing and doing things every day. That’s a good thing, because sometimes psychologically it can get tough for a team, but they’re training hard and want to get better every day.
I know you have two matches left now, but you look ahead to what you have next year and the recruiting class you signed last week too. You’re looking, you have to look to the future, do you not?
Well, we want to look to the future, but at the same time, we don’t want to forget about the present and especially for our seniors this weekend. We want them to go out on a high note. And so we won’t totally abandon the things we’re doing, but at the same time, we want to be looking at the kids who are on the court, the young ones. We’ve got three freshmen and a sophomore often on the court right now out of seven starters, so that’s a very good sign.
We did sign some very, very good players that we’re excited about. Two out of three won their state championships and were state players of the year and they’re going to add a lot to us next year. But right now we’ve got to take care of the Big Ten final weekend. We’ll look to the future, but not too soon.
Coach, you talked about your players still wanting to get out there and still practice. How are you handling this, this sort of losing skid, not being used to, I guess, the sort of results?
Well, we don’t want to get comfortable with it, that’s for sure. But there’s a lot of things that I think some of the fans and some of the people don’t know that are going on behind the scenes, as far as injuries and things you deal with on a regular basis that kind of limit kids in practice. As where we kind of know, and we’re realistic about what we were going into this year and really, I think at times, overachieved and got some wins against ranked teams, so that was very good.
Bottom line, I’m still a teacher. A coach is a teacher and I’m trying to teach them the game, as much as I know, for the ones that are here right now to get it done this weekend and then for the future so that they really grow. And some of that is technical and physical, but some of that is mental and emotional. Some of the freshmen go through things where they may doubt themselves here and now, but then in the future, into the spring, they become much stronger, mentally tough. That’s what we need out of them in the future.
My job and my staff’s job is to come in and teach every day. And we’re still doing that and we want to do it in a way that keeps them optimistic that the next day is the day that’s going to turn the corner. And really, we’ve talked about this whole year being one we want to kind of turn the bus around and get heading the other direction from last season and we really have. They’re playing at a much different level. Psychologically, they’re at a higher level. We’re pleased with that. We’re going to get in the gym each day and try to improve them all we can.
Can you reflect on the careers of your seniors, Dolgner and DuPont?
Yeah, those are two great kids. Caity DuPont, first of all, is a great leader off the court. She’s the kind that everybody flocks to and follows and is so responsible, a great student, has done everything we’ve asked. On the court this year has been a little tough. She’s been a little bit up and down, but she just keeps plugging away. And actually, I didn’t mention it, but at Illinois on Saturday night she had one of her best matches of the season. We were all thrilled for her and the team was too. She’s a great kid.
And Dolgner, obviously, All-American her sophomore year and both kids are dealing with some injury issues that have kind of hindered them in their last two seasons. Brittney is a phenomenal athlete and she’s done some great things for us. I know they both want to leave here with a couple of wins, feeling great about things and both of them have just loved playing in front of our fans the whole time. They mention that all the time that they just still, even in a season like this and even within the last two days, have mentioned they still think this has been a fun season for them, enjoyable that they can kind of, as the only two upperclassmen, try to help this younger group get things on track and heading in the right direction.
If only Brittney Dolgner had been healthy her whole career, how good could she have been? Where would she stand in the record books?
Oh, one of the best ever at Wisconsin and possibly a three-time All-American and that’s tough. I mean, and also DuPont. She had a bulging disc when she came into us, had surgery and just ever since then. They’ve been on the court and practice, but it’s every other day. And when you do that, you’re just not able to push yourself and we can’t push them as we’d like. Brittney was, when she was fresh and had not injured her back yet, she was doing some amazing things as a sophomore especially. She’s a special one.
And every match we play, people are still asking about Brittney and how’s she doing. Even at Illinois, we were going to, we started DuPont instead of Brittney and one of the Illinois fans said ‘Hey, is Brittney going to be playing tonight?’ They already knew, they just come to watch Brittney because she’s so exciting. We’re going to miss them, both of them. They’re great players and great people. And both of them, I’ll tell you, their No. 1 goal is getting their degrees, and they’re very proud of that too, (getting their degrees) from the university.
