Waite addresses media on Monday
October 31, 2011 | Volleyball
Oct. 31, 2011
MADISON, Wis. - Wisconsin volleyball coach Pete Waite addressed the media Monday as his team returns home for a four-match home stand. The Badgers lost two Big Ten Conference matches in a row for the first time this season, falling at No. 3 Illinois (3-1) and Northwestern (3-2) last weekend. The losses drop the Badgers into eighth place in the conference standings.
Wisconsin looks to get back on track this weekend but faces two top-25 ranked teams. The Badgers (13-11 overall, 5-7 Big Ten) take on No. 22 Ohio State (16-9, 6-6) on Friday at 7 p.m. On Sunday, UW hosts No. 6 Penn State (17-5, 10-2) at 1 p.m. Both matches are in the UW Field House.
The Badgers have had to adjust their lineup this season after losing starter Crystal Graff to a season-ending knee injury. Junior Bailey Reshel has stepped into the starting lineup in place of Graff, playing the front row, while freshman Caroline Workman plays back row for Reshel.
A complete transcription of Waite’s comment is below.
Opening Statement: Over the weekend, on Friday, we were at Illinois and lost in four, but thought that was good progress for our team against, at the time they were No. 3 in the country, so we did pretty well against them.
Then at Northwestern on Saturday night, (we) lost a close one in five and that one was tough for us. We had beaten Northwestern here at home. On the road then they got us. It's probably the hottest team in the conference right now. The night before we played them, they beat Minnesota in three, and Minnesota was a top-15 team. The next night, Minnesota, after losing in three, went to beat Illinois in three, which was really shocking to everybody. It's just a little topsy-turvy across the conference right now.
Crystal Graff had her knee surgery on Friday and she's definitely out for the season, so we'll be moving on with Bailey Reshel on the left side and going from there. This week, we have Ohio State first and Ohio State, we beat them at their place and right now they're one spot ahead of us in the conference race, so this is a really important match for us.
And then Penn State on Sunday and Penn State just got done beating Nebraska, who was No. 1 in the country and had not had a loss in the conference yet, so it's going to be a big weekend for us.
Pete, you relied on Crystal Graff. I mean, she made the lineup. She was playing well. It takes a little while to make up for that loss, does it not? Are you kind of in that mode right now or do you think you're over that now?
I don't know if we'll totally be over it. I think Bailey has adjusted pretty well. Crystal was a six-rotation player, so she was passing in the back row and attacking in the front, where Bailey is more a front row player. We're making some subs in there, which, in our sport, we tend to run out of subs if you use too many, so you've got to be careful where else you use them. But Bailey has stepped up, and she's had a couple good matches since she's gotten in there. And Mary Ording got in there and did a little bit on the left side also.
It feel good that this team can maybe string together a little run here, because you've been pretty close in the ones you've lost.
Yeah, absolutely. Again, the youth of the team is the challenge at this point, because this is going past what a normal high school season would be. High school seasons are ending now, and we still have a month left to go, so they have to kind of push through that kind of thing and along with school and exams and everything going midterm. But they've got the talent. Ellen Chapman is doing a great job on the left side, and she just keeps growing and growing. She's playing more back row now that Crystal is out. She's getting in there and passing and attacking, and she's doing really well. Our setters are doing a good job with each other in there.
It's a matter of really us keeping our middles involved. Alexis Mitchell has really been putting up big numbers, and, until this weekend, Dominique Thompson has been doing really well also. She just a had a bit of an off weekend, but if we get all of them going, then we're clicking on all cylinders and we have a shot to beat a lot of the teams coming out.
Are you surprised that Penn State beat Nebraska, or is that, I mean, that should happen, right, don't you think?
Yeah. We've said how tough the conference is this year. Now Penn State had gone to Nebraska and lost in five really close ones, so when they got them back at home, they got the win and I think that's going to happen a lot in the conference. You're going to get splits. You're going to win one and it doesn't mean … it could be on the road, it could be at home, which one you win and which one you lose. But the Minnesota loss at Northwestern was a surprise, and then the win at Illinois was a surprise, but that just tells you if your team's on, you can beat anybody. If your team's off, you can take a loss.
When you beat Ohio State, what did you do well? Was it everything?
Yeah, we really did. I mean, the team, it's one of those matches where you walk on the court and everything just falls into place, the stars kind of align, everyone's very comfortable on the court with each other. We were blocking well. I think we kind of stressed Ohio State out with our block, and they started making a lot of errors that was uncharacteristic for them. The whole thing was solid on our part.
You were just asked with having such a young team if this season has exceeded expectations. For you, has this team exceeded, met, or not lived up to the expectations you had going in, because obviously you can't know what the injuries are going to be going into a year.
I think right up until the point where Crystal got hurt, we were right on track to be going exactly where we wanted to go. But now we've got to just adjust with that. There's nothing you can do about it. I think the freshmen that are on the court have been doing great, and another couple of sophomores in there. I think it's a really good progress from last year, as far as the level of play, the teams we're beating, just a little bump in the road, right there two weeks ago, but now other people have to step up and those people are excited to be on the court more, so hopefully they'll do that.
