Among other things, interesting questions on the Wisconsin loss (he doesn't seem too disappointed), the performance of Koch and sub-par performance of Hudson (not in the game you think) and being with the same coaching staff for 20 years.
Dave Shondell VB Press Conference 10/10/2022
Dave’s Opening Statement:
It was a really productive week despite the loss to Wisconsin
A: 90% that is are we passing the ball to our target area for our setters to get the ball to the middles.
A: There is no bigger block in America
A: This is an Indiana team that is plenty good and playing with a lot of purpose
A: Having Schermerhorn’s personality on the floor, and that experience - that made a big difference.
A: I don’t think so - It’s whoever can play that position the best.
A: Well they bet us in every statistical category. Sometimes it’s do they beat you by a lot of points in one set. But that wasn’t the case as the sets were very even.
A: Yeah, I thought she had a good week and is starting to feel very comfortable with who she is on the floor and in a role where the expectations are higher.
A: … her high school team and club teams set her every ball and so it’s not like she is not used to being the go-to player.
A: (Smiles) We ignore each other faults as well as we can and move forward
Dave Shondell VB Press Conference 10/10/2022
Dave’s Opening Statement:
It was a really productive week despite the loss to Wisconsin
- We worked hard on identifying some things that we needed to improve on and worked hard on those things
- I thought we played really well against Wisconsin - especially our D against a team that can be “ominous”
- They were as good if not better than anyone we played against this season, allowing that the Louisville game was only the 6th day of the season
- Wisconsin is a handful and I think you will continue to see them get better and look like a FF team
- We had our opportunities. In the 4th set twice we had set points which would have sent it to a 5th set but we couldn’t get it done.
- The crowd at the end of the 4th set was electric - “I don’t think I’ve heard it any louder”
- We are almost 100% healthy - just a couple people who are not all the way there yet
A: 90% that is are we passing the ball to our target area for our setters to get the ball to the middles.
- Wisconsin was having the same issues. Their middles are pretty dominant players but they did not have great matches against us
- Their middles didn’t get the ball as much as normal because we did some things to disrupt their game
- Serve/Receive for every team in the country is a focal point
- I know we work on it constantly
- We have two very good middles - more than two but two that play regularly
- We need to find more ways to get Hannah Clayton the ball - she is working her tail off and making a lot of progress - as well as Raven.
A: There is no bigger block in America
- Hudson, Chinn and Ellis were looking at a 6’9” right side player or the best athlete in the gym that night who was 6’3” Robinson
- There middles, if we’re out of system, were 6’4” and 6’3”. It wasn’t easy money for anyone.
- But again we had two set points in set 4 to turn it into a 5 set match against a team that I think is really, really good so we did a lot of things well
A: This is an Indiana team that is plenty good and playing with a lot of purpose
- There middles, if we’re out of system, were 6’4” and 6’3”. It wasn’t easy oney for anyone.
- But again we had two set points in set 4 to turn it into a 5 set match against a team that I think is really, really good so we did a lot of things well
- We’ll assume they will be at full strength on Friday
- IU is always one of the better serving teams and can make their opponents look normal in receive
A: Having Schermerhorn’s personality on the floor, and that experience - that made a big difference.
- She was considerably better on Saturday than she was on Wednesday and she will be considerably better on this coming Friday that she was last week.
- We watched a lot of tape this morning on defensive tendencies and she had been out of it for awhile and sometimes it takes awhile to get back into a groove
- Ali Hornung - she’s been great all year. I thought both our middle backs, Ali and Eva Hudson, were really, really good
- We’ve been talking to Eva about some things she needs to improve on and she listens. She made some strides during the Wisconsin game I thought.
- Our right back players are duking it out but both doing well.
- I thought “Brownie” had a tough match against Wisconsin but we went with her and Ava (Torrance) and give them an opportunity to play. And Ava will be ready to go on Friday also
A: I don’t think so - It’s whoever can play that position the best.
- The advantage of a former outside hitter is that they have more knowledge of what hitters are trying to do
- I like the length - Schermerhorn is almost 5’10” with long arms and Hornung is 5’9” and both are very athletic
- You want a libero who can cover ground
- I’ve said before, Schermerhorn makes more played in front of her than any libero we’ve had at Purdue.
- She lost some of that with the injury but she gained ground on Saturday and I expect her to be 100% by this weekend.
A: Well they bet us in every statistical category. Sometimes it’s do they beat you by a lot of points in one set. But that wasn’t the case as the sets were very even.
- Proabably it was the fact that we were at home and the people playing expected to win.
- It was a knock-down, drag-out and I think Iowa is probably the surprise team of this league.
- They’d had the 3rd coaching change in the last couple of years and pulled in some transfers yet put a team together
- This last weekend is an example of what the rest of the season will be like. It doesn’t matter if you are playing a national champion or someone who wasn’t expected to make the NCAA Tournament - every weekend will be like that.
A: Yeah, I thought she had a good week and is starting to feel very comfortable with who she is on the floor and in a role where the expectations are higher.
- She has a great arm. We have to figure how to get her the ball and let her figure out how she is going to score points.
- You can have a great arm but you’ve got to figure out where the points can be scored and the time and the situation and she’s making really good progress in that area
- We don’t beat Iowa without her playing the way she played.
A: … her high school team and club teams set her every ball and so it’s not like she is not used to being the go-to player.
- But this is the Big Ten and there are nights when you will struggle because other teams will sell-out on you which Wisconsin did
- They knew what shots she was going to hit and how to black her and how to defend her in the back court
- I thought she played a great match on Saturday against Wisconsin. She did everything we could ask her to to
- Her blocks were effective
- She got caught 1:1 on against both Smrek & Robinson - wonderful athletes - and more than held her own
- She hit really, really good shots and limited her errors and played really good D
- Serve/receive held up
- She came off probably a sub-par match against Iowa and played “maybe as well as she could play” against Wisconsin
A: (Smiles) We ignore each other faults as well as we can and move forward
- The love for Purdue. The love for what we are trying to accomplish here with our volleyball program
- Both John and Kat, especially early on, got bombarded early on to go coach as a head coach
- Both of them really enjoy what their role is here at Purdue
- They love our players and it would be really hard for us to walk away from any of them for what they sacrificed to be here
- John, Kat and I are all really different people and we have our strengths and weaknesses. We try to help each other.
- At times it’s kind of a seamless operation at times…. and at other times it doesn’t quite seem like that (smiles again)
- We know what our jobs are and we do them pretty well
- But we have to do better. We are in a league with the best coaching staffs in the country
