University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Volleyball Media Day Quotes/Video
8/21/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
The Minnesota volleyball team had its media day on Monday, Aug. 21. Minnesota Head Coach Mike Hebert and several players met with the media and talked about various subjects, including fall practice and the 2006 season. The following are quotes from Hebert during the media day press conference. There will also be assorted free clips taken from media day involving the players.
(Opening Statement)
“Last year we finished 25-8 and ranked No. 21 in the nation in the final poll. For a lot of programs that would be considered a very good season. For us it was a little bit of a letdown, because we thought we would be better. We had eight new players to try to assimilate into a group of 15, and that ended up being too many. We had some chemistry issues to make up for, and some familiarization with our system to catch up with. All those things are the foundation for having a better season this year. So far, the first week and a half or so we have been performing better then I thought we would. If we can pass the ball (or receive the ball and get it accurately to our setter), which is sort of the offensive line play of volleyball (in other words you don’t get a lot of credit for doing it) we can have a lot of success. Without passing well you can’t play at a high level. After losing Paula Gentil to graduation, our challenge will be to develop a passing game that will keep us at a high level. If we can do that the rest of the pieces are in place.”
(On trip to Europe)
“Traveling internationally for any sports team is a wonderful opportunity to do a couple things. One it helps the team to bond together. You are in situations while you are traveling internationally that never occur when you are back here on campus. On campus, players are in classes, meet for practice and then scatter to study. So they never really get the opportunity to interact with each other all day, all night and compete against teams playing a very different style then back here. It just opens up so many avenues of understanding and presents so many challenges that they have to overcome as a team. During these types of trips they have to one-by-one take on challenges that come at them and solve them as a group. I think the net result is a team that has welded together interpersonally at a much higher level. Over my career I have taken teams on trips like this internationally 10 times, and every single time they come back and have a tremendous season. I am hoping that is the case with this team.”
(On Kelly Bowman and Malama Peniata)
“Because they are seniors they will be tremendously important. I think that both of them have become experienced at all levels of the game at this point. In practice so far they have both been floor captains. They direct traffic out there, and let people know when they are falling back and they need to rev it up a little bit. Mainly, both of them will be primary passers. Malama Peniata will be our libero and will handle the ball in the ball control department quite a bit. Kelly Bowman, who was a setter last year in our 6-2 attack, is going to be a passer this year and an attacker on the right side. So those two are going to be at the center of everything we do in terms of developing a passing game.”
(On who will be the other passers)
“We have a new player, freshman Christine Tan from Florida. She is a tremendous ball-control player, and she will be joining those two in the passing formation. Those three will be our three main passers. We will also have some other defensive specialists and outside hitters that will occasionally pass a sliver of the court, but those three will be the main ones.”
(On other things that have stood out in practice so far)
“One of the bright spots in practice has been Jessy Jones. She is a junior middle blocker who played tremendous on our European Tour. She has finally discovered how good she can be. She was a blocking machine during the tour. Her offensive skills have also matured a great deal. If she does not have a breakout season I will be really surprised. Meredith Nelson, the other middle blocker, has already established herself as an all-conference player. We also have a new player on the outside named Rachelle Hagerty, and when she hits the ball it makes a different sound then anyone else. She hits the ball that hard. We have only two freshman coming into our team this year, and that is a good thing because we have such a large group returning and it is not a huge group to assimilate. However, these two players have plugged important holes, with Tan improving the ball control and Hagerty giving us a terminator on the left side. So our pieces are fitting together extremely well and I am looking forward to a very successful season with this group.”
(On versatility of his team to switch from 6-2 to 5-1, after playing 6-2 for two years)
“I like the fact that we have players that are versatile enough to play different systems. The fact that we can play the 6-2 system for a couple of years, and then adjust back to the 5-1 system lets me know we have people with a lot of experience who are not afraid to change this for the better. We have players that can not only make big changes, but also handle them relatively smoothly. I think going between the two systems has given them a lot of confidence to be able to handle anything.”
