Press Conference Quotes

NCAA Volleyball Tournament Press Conference - Nov. 30, 2004

Iona Coach Kris Zeiter
On his first year of coaching:
It’s an honor to finally be the first Iona women’s volleyball team to make the NCAA tournament. It’s a great opportunity for us to represent our school and represent our conference. It’s also an opportunity to play the No. 1 team in the nation.

On Nebraska:
I know they are 27-1, and they’re No. 1 in the country. Our video is coming in the mail today [Tuesday], so we haven’t had a chance to see them on video yet.

On the emotion of the team:
I was a little concerned about the attitude of my team, but it turns out they’re very excited about the opportunity. Like I said before, it’s just a great opportunity for them to get a chance to showcase their abilities against the best players in the country. They are very excited about it, and they are really looking forward to it.

On the atmosphere when playing at Nebraska:
It’s about 4,000 spectators who are very knowledgeable about volleyball. For me, it’s very exciting to get the chance to play in an atmosphere like that, and I’m sure my players are looking forward to it as well.

On putting the team in position to qualify for the NCAA Tournament:
Coming in my first year, I just wanted to instill in the players a work ethic, a team concept. I think they really bought into those two things all the way. They’re just a great team. They love each other and they support each other. They just play as hard as they can. They got better in every single match, which was our goal all year long. Finally, they just played the best match of their lives against Fairfield University in the MAAC Championships. Hopefully we’ll keep the ball rolling and play an even better match against Nebraska.

On the development of the team:
They had to get used to me, and I had to get used to them. They had to figure out what we were good at and what we were bad at. It just took a little longer than I thought it would, but I had great seniors. I had just wonderful leadership, and they really helped me keep everyone together, everyone positive all year long. It really just snowballed from there. It’s just a great team.

On what made him want to coach at Iona:
They have a great support staff here. They have a wonderful young athletic director who is really enthusiastic about the athletic program here. They just have a lot of support, which I felt would really help be able to recruit the players and be able to travel and play the teams we needed to play to be a top-notch volleyball team in the East.

On what he expected in the first season:
This was the primary goal of myself and my team. There were periods of time when I thought it wasn’t possible, but I knew we had a good team and if we kept working hard and kept getting better, we would have a chance at it. As I told my assistant coach and my players before the MAAC championship match, I really had no idea that we were going to play that well and pull off that victory. I was just kind of sitting there and observing like the rest of the fans were.

On Emily Mansur and Miki Hogg:
Miki Hogg is just a great player. She’s a great leader, a real fiery and competitive kind of player. I can’t say enough about her. She’s just works so hard and plays so hard, and she’s been there for us all year defensively and offensively. She’s just a great player.

Emily Mansur is another real fiery, competitive player. She is extremely athletic and just has a great desire to win. She’s an excellent leader as well. She really demands a lot of everyone, including myself. It’s been great having those two be our best players this year.

On what he has learned as his first year as a coach in the NCAA:
I’ve learned that I’ve been doing things the right way in the six years that I’ve been coaching so far. I learned that in periods when you question yourself, the stuff that I have been doing and teaching my players is working, and it’s the right way to coach. There’s a right way to do things, and my players respond very well to it. It’s very exciting for me to have that validation.

Wichita State Coach Chris Lamb
Opening Statement:
Everybody is really going crazy around here. It’s a first-ever appearance. We’ve come a long way in a pretty short time. I had kind of had us in (the NCAA Tournament), regardless of the automatic bid; I pay attention to that stuff, and even though you never know what the committee will do, I really liked our chances. My hope was that we would either go somewhere or play in an obvious, well-known volleyball arena and situation. I was just thinking ?how cool would it be to take our team to Hawaii or out to Penn State or Florida or Nebraska’ ? just somewhere where it’s obviously a big deal and the environment would be great. I just feel really, really fortunate ? maybe not from a chance to get to the Sweet 16 standpoint, but just the opportunity to be welcomed to the NCAA Tournament by a place where it’s done right.

On playing at Nebraska:

As a coach, I played there when I was coaching at the University of Arizona a few years back. Our players have never been to Lincoln, though we did play the Nebraska group last spring out at Manhattan, Kan.

On the expectations of this season:

A couple of surprises ? we’ve battled some injuries and illnesses. One of the injuries was one we had last year, and we thought we were out of the woods with that. That kind of came back, so we were only playing one match a week to kind of take pressure off a foot injury. We had a little meningitis scare early in the season, which was something that we had to get through. Then on a good note, the surprise for me was the consistency. In our conference, it’s pretty much been dominated by Northern Iowa, Southwest Missouri State and Illinois State. Those are the only three teams to ever win our conference championship. We played eight matches against that field this year and we’re 8-0 against that field in a year where everybody thought the Missouri Valley was at its strongest and had its most parity. I thought for us to be the top team in a year where we were perhaps the strongest the conference has ever been at the top, to go 8-0 against that field when we had the most parity, to be honest with you, that was a real pleasant surprise.

On the loss in the conference:

In our league, all the teams that had their one bad loss, it was all at the end of a two-week road swing that you’re get in a double round robin. The way that it might have helped us is that it might have put me back to the drawing board, and it did allow me to consider maybe taking our Missouri Valley Player of the Year, who has been a career right side player for us, and move her over to the left. We’ve been kind of going back and forth with that, but that was the only significant change since that time. Since that time and since that change, we’ve been pretty darn good. That change also put freshman Sarah Lungren on the floor, and she’s just been great.

On his feelings since the loss (to Creighton):

For better or worse, I’m a drawing board guy. I’m a tinkerer. I always just keep trying to find a way. Even when we were on that big win streak, I was still training different systems and trying different things. It’s just that at that time, I felt it was worth a shot. I’m glad I took that shot because I think we’re better for it.

 

 

On the satisfaction of going through conference play with only one loss:

That’s what I’m talking about ? the consistency. I think you could even ask John, now that we’re in this rally scoring era, it just seems like anybody can win, and anybody can lose. People are already talking about the team that’s going to win is probably not the country’s best team, or the Final Four might not even have the four best teams. I think all the coaches feel like anything can happen in rally scoring, so to be able to keep one streak going or to win our conference by four games, I think I have to call that one of the big surprises and one of the things I’m most proud of.

On the health of the team:

We had Sarah Younes, the Missouri Valley Player of the Year, suffer an ankle injury at the end of the semifinals of our tournament. She did not play in the final against Southwest Missouri State. She has been putting weight on it. We will practice today at 2 p.m., and I think they’re going to let her start passing a little bit. I don’t think she’s going to jump today. That is the one issue.

On starting out slowly:

I was very happy with our performance early in the season. We had Santa Barbara and Kansas State early. We were injured or sick at that time. Michigan, Washington, we got the Arkansas win. Even though I don’t think Texas Tech was great, it was a good win at the time, going through what we were going through. I wasn’t disappointed at all. I was worried we could have been 0-7 to start the season.

I have never been looking to be the fastest coach to 100 wins or anything like that. I want to play the best teams I can get on the schedule, period. I like watching my team play against strong teams. I tried my hardest each year I’ve been here to schedule tough ? go to tournaments with good teams in them. I do believe that’s what makes you stronger and makes you confident because you can point back to those moments that you’ve been there before.

On the appeal of coaching at Wichita State:

I have a lot of friends who were in my same position. Some took jobs, and some didn’t. Most people have said that in the eyes of athletic directors, you have to get that head coaching thing under your belt from a resume standpoint. The real reason I left Arizona ? we were a Final Four team there, my boss was my best friend, and life was good ? was that my girlfriend, later to be fianc?e and now wife, was the assistant at Washington State. Coming to Wichita allowed us to finally get in the same time, and she’s been my assistant coach since I’ve been here. We’re married now. The No. 1 reason I came to Wichita was so Shannon and I could not be 1,500 miles away from each other.

On his expectations of how long it would take for an NCAA Regional appearance:

I thought it would take a few years to get good. I think we’re a several years ahead of schedule because I just looked at Northern Iowa, Southwest Missouri State and Illinois State having so much dominance over the league. We’re kind of ahead of the timeline.

On a strategy to work around Sara Younes’ injury:

The reality is that Cori Meyer, who played in Sara’s spot, has taken more swings as an outside hitter than Sarah has. That adjustment came later in the year, and Cori had gotten us to that point. It’s not anything that we haven’t done before or done a lot of, so it’s not that unusual for us to come out that way. I just think it would be unfortunate for arguably the best Shocker of all time, Sara Younes, if she didn’t get to participate. If she can give it a shot, we’re going to go for it.

 

Nevada Head Coach Devin Scruggs

Opening Statement:

We’re excited to have the opportunity to be in the NCAA Tournament, and we’re looking forward to going out to Lincoln. I had an opportunity to play Nebraska when I was at the University of Pacific a number of years, so I know it’s a great place to play volleyball, and we’re excited to go there.

 

 

On her years at Pacific:

I was at Pacific from 1987to 1990. We were in the national championship in 1990 and actually played Nebraska in the semifinals and beat them and lost to UCLA in the finals that year.

On Hawaii and its effect on the WAC:

Hawaii is a fantastic program. The experience that we got playing in front of 10,000 people a couple of weeks ago is unbelievable. I know the atmosphere in Nebraska is very similar, and Hawaii has done a lot for our program. It’s a great recruiting tool. It’s a great experience to be able to play teams at that level.

On the change in rankings this week:

What I was told was that Hawaii hadn’t beaten a top-10 team, and that was why they had dropped. Looking at Nebraska’s roster and knowing some of the players on the team, I think the committee did a good job. I think Nebraska deserves to be the No. 1 seed. I wasn’t surprised, and I think the committee did a good job on that.

On Nevada’s place in the tournament:

We were just excited to get in. We had a very bad loss on Friday night of Thanksgiving weekend that I thought was going to keep us from getting in. We were a bubble team, and although I think we are a strong enough team to be included in the NCAA Tournament, I thought that loss was going to hinder us from actually getting into the tournament. At that point I didn’t really care where we were, I was just very pleased to get into the tournament.

On playing the five-game matches against Hawaii:

Those were certainly very tough losses. The loss to Hawaii at home during our regular season ? the 15-13 in the fifth loss was probably the toughest to endure. It was one where we just came so close to compete at the top level and not being able to actually win it. That was a very frustrating week. We had our opportunity in game four. The score was 30-all, I think, at some point, and we were up 2-1. We are learning how to win, and we just need to take that next step and beat a top-25 team, and that’s the only thing we’ve really not been able to do this year.

On gaining confidence from playing Hawaii three times:

I think it definitely helps ? and not just playing Hawaii, but playing them in the atmosphere that we’ve played in. All three times ? both times at our place and the one time at theirs ? it was a sold-out venue. The crowd was crazy. Even here at our WAC Championships, they brought about 700 or 800. It was about 50-50 with fans, even in our own facility they had so many people come over from the island. The experience alone is going to help us when we come out to Lincoln this week ? being able to play at that level and in front of that kind of crowd.

On Salaia Salave`a:

We recruited her from the volleyball festival. She’s from American Samoa and grew up in Samoa. She’s probably the most athletic player I’ve ever coached. She was not a very good volleyball player when she got here, and she’s really turning into a fine player. She does some pretty fun things on the court because of her athleticism. She still has a little way to go in terms of her technique, and you’ll see her make some errors more often than she should for the level she is at. A lot of times our emotions thrive on how she plays.

On the upcoming game with Wichita State:

I have not seen Wichita play. The tape has not yet arrived here in Reno, so we have not gotten a chance to see them. What we do know is that Chris Lamb is very well respected in the volleyball community. He does some different things on his offense and defense. Fortunately, we have a pretty good idea of what he does based upon my assistant’s experience coaching with him a number of years ago.

 

 

 

Nebraska Head Coach John Cook

On the No. 1 ranking:

The only thing I think about that is it’s a reflection that we’ve probably been the most consistent team over the last 11 weeks, and it’s probably reflected by how we went undefeated in the Big 12. Of all the conference champions, we were the only ones to go undefeated out of any of those major conferences.

I think, if anything, it gives us confidence that we’re pretty good. People see us as pretty good, but Hawaii has had more first place votes. There have been five teams ranked No. 1 this year, so I’m not sure how significant it is. In regards to the NCAA Tournament, I don’t think it really matters what you’re seeded, depending on what draw you receive. We are excited to be home the first and second rounds, and I think we’re in a great regional in Louisville if we can get there. That’s our focus right now.

On other teams’ preparation:

I think it takes teams a while to adjust playing to us, but all these teams are going to have a chance to prepare. If they have the people to replicate us in practice, they certainly have time to prepare.

On Nebraska’s strengths:

I think our size and how hard we hit the ball? those are two areas that probably teams have the most trouble dealing with. We lead the nation in blocking, and you have to have size to do that, and you have to be athletic. I was looking at the stats today, and to put it in perspective, [Melissa] Elmer has more blocks than the entire Iowa State team. Everybody has their own ways of winning, and we’re just trying to take advantage of what our strengths are.

On Melissa Elmer:

Melissa is one of the premier middles in the country. She leads the nation in blocking. She has worked extremely hard to get in that position, so everything she receives is well-deserved because there’s nobody who outworks her. I think the other thing is that she’s taken on a leadership role on this team. We are very young. We only have one senior. [Elmer] was elected the captain, and I think she’s been a quiet leader, but she certainly competes hard on the court. I think she makes big plays when our team needs it.

On Freshmen Tracy Stalls and Sarah Pavan:

I think both Tracy and Sarah have enough experience to know how to play in big matches. We certainly have been in a lot of big matches up to this point, so I think they’ll have a lot of confidence. I think those two look forward to playing in big matches against good teams. If you look at Pavan’s stats, they’re better against the best teams ? the ranked teams ? than they are against the unranked teams. And the same with Tracy ? her best matches have all been, with the exception of Iowa State, her best matches have been against better opponents. I think they look forward to playing good teams.

On Dani Busboom and Christina Houghtelling:

Those girls went through this last year, and last year we took some lumps, but it’s paid off for us this year. We played a lot of freshmen last year, and those girls have a lot of games under their belts for sophomores now. I look back at the 2000 season ? we had three sophomores, two of whom played a lot as freshmen. Pilakowski didn’t play, and we had three seniors out there. You have to have your younger players with experience to win this thing. We’re certainly in a good position there with that sophomore class.

On Sarah Pavan:

She’s one of the premier hitters in the country. I don’t think what people realize is that she gets those 20 kills and not a whole lot of attempts. I think she’s only been over 50 attempts once. If you look at some of the other outside hitters we’re going to play against, they’re getting 60, 70, 80 swings in a four- or five- game match. That’s what makes Sarah’s stats so impressive. She’s not getting a whole lot of swings, but she’s still being very efficient and productive.

On talking to Pavan about her game:

We’re always talking to them. That’s coaching; you’re always coaching every day. As a freshman, every player goes through slumps. I think even sportscasters can have bad nights, bad weeks. It’s just human nature, but I think Sarah has realized what she can do and what our team needs, and she’s embraced that and certainly stepped it up a notch, which is great for our team.

On Christina Houghtelling:

We’ve switched her to a new position, which has been really challenging for her, but Chris is such a great competitor. She’s the key. She can really balance out Pavan and make us a tougher team to defend. Chris’ competitiveness is what she really brings to our team. She loves to compete and is a big-time pressure player.

On the three teams in the first and second rounds:

Just after watching tape, everybody has good hitters. You have to stress them with your serve. That has been a big emphasis. It’s getting better for us because we’ve worked really hard on it. Going into the tournament, you’re living on the edge serving. You have to serve tough, and you have to get it in. The better job we can do with that, the more it gives our blocking defense a chance to have an impact on the match. That will be a big focus every day from here on out.

On serving:
It’s been getting better every week. We’ve really been stressing that with our team, the importance of that. Now they have the confidence in it, so that’s a good sign. Again, with serving, you want to be aggressive, but you have to be low-error. It is a fine line, but we’ve worked really hard on it, and it needs to pay off for us.

On the 2004 team compared to the 2000 national championship team:
They were completely different teams. I think if this team played the 2000 team, this team would win 3-0. I just think we’re physically more talented, but that team in 2000 had a magic to them. This team is discovering that. This team started in a completely different team, whereas that team went to China. They were together. We were picked really low in the preseason. This team already had a lot of expectations. We’re really proud of Elmer; she’s had expectation, and she’s lived up to them. Pavan has had expectations, and she’s lived up to them. It’s the same with Stalls. Busboom is another player who was much maligned early and has really become a great setter. This team is in much more an evolving phase. This group continues to get better and better, and we’re really confident that they’re going to play great in this tournament.

On Dani Busboom:
When you’re a setter, you have to be a gunslinger because you’re going to make some bad plays, and you have to have a short memory. She’s as good as we’ve had here in regards to that. Dani is as athletic as any setter in the country. She knows that. She can make plays that other setters cannot make. She has just gotten better and better as the season has gone on. Again, she’s a young setter, and last year she struggled in the regional. But that experience has paid off for her now, and she’s just becoming one of the premier setters in the country, in our opinion.

What we liked about Dani ? she’s an in-state kid. She’s a great athlete. I think she could have played Division I in softball, basketball or volleyball. We told her a couple of years ago that if you want to make it here, you’d better do it as a setter. I saw her time and time again in the state tournaments making big plays. I think she just thrives as an athlete and a competitor. She just has a great understanding of sports. She’d probably make a great coach someday.

On the possibility of meeting defending national champion USC:
There are only four letters on our minds right now, and that’s I-O-N-A. Iona. That’s all our focus is right now.

On what he knows about Iona:
We haven’t gotten a tape on them yet. It’s coming today, so we haven’t looked at anything on them.