I had time today (a holiday, whoopee - when you are retired the days are all pretty much the same) to transcribe Dave's press conference. You can listen to it on Facebook or Twitter (but FB is better because you can rewind and pause) but I like to see it printed out so I can refer to it. (Okay, I am anal-retentive as are most physicians.)
Dave Shondell Press Conference 9/5/2022
Dave Shondell Press Conference 9/5/2022
- Dave’s Statement
- Played a terrific match against Utah and pretty good against Bradley
- We were a little bit flat against Milwaukee but need to give Milwaukee credit
- We are 6-0 and not many people thought we would be in that position before the season started
- Biggest challenge of our non-conf will be Friday when we go to Louisville
- Watched match yesterday when they lost of Ohio State. Ohio State played really really well (winning 3-1)
- Louisville beat us last year at Xavier 3-0
- This last weekend will be the last time we play 2 matches on the same day due to NCAA changing the max games from 28 to 32
- If you want to get 10 non-conf matches then you have to do 2 in a couple of days but now we won’t have to
- Q: You mentioned blocking is this team’s strong point. How does that encourage you?
- A block is a huge momentum changer
- Raven had a huge block against Milwaukee down the stretch
- It helps you game plan knowing that if your coaches get their people in the right spot they are going to block balls
- The pressure on the coaching staff is to understand who we’re playing and their tendencies
- I think we can get a lot better. In watching film this AM, I am encouraged where we are
- Hannah Clayton - we didn’t know we were getting that kind of offensive player to be honest
- Hannah is hitting over 0.400 and looks like she could continue to do that
- All these guys are really playing their first matches at their positions
- Meg Renner has started 6 matches in her career
- Schermerhiorn has started 6 matches as a libero in her career
- And so on down the line
- Our blocking will get better with experience
- Our pin blocking will get better and playing against Louisville who has great hitters it will need to
- Q: How are you encouraged by the improvement in Raven Colvin?
- She is such an intense competitor that she will continue to improve throughout her career
- She has been blessed with incredible athletic ability - a great jump, a great arm and terrific speed
- What she has to improve on is hitting behind the setter and we are working on that with her every day
- We are working on the one foot takeoff with her which has not been her thing
- Raven has always done the two foot takeoff in front of the setter and is really good at it
- But people will start to load up on her and if they do she will see 4 hands in front of her a lot
- Her demeanor - she brings this air of confidence which she didn’t have so much last year
- That’s important with a new group to have someone who knows what’s going on and hold others accountable
- Q: Talk about Eva Hudson and how much she has contributed
- I thought she was really unheralded coming in - I don’t know why people didn’t see what we did
- We hit the jackpot because she is a “do-everything” type player
- She may have left the floor when I put the wrong lineup in but that’s about the only time
- She is such a “group type of person” - kind of a Robbie Hummel
- She can do everything - she makes other people better
- She is playing at a higher level than even I anticipated
- She got comfortable very quickly but there is more she can do
- She is magical in the way she can tool a block
- Very few college women see the block very well but she can just naturally see the block
- She’s big and physical enough to block but she needs to improve her defense - that is the one area she will improve
- Every other part of her game is as much as you could dream of for a freshman
- Q: Earlier this season you said you were trying to figure out your best lineup. Have you done that?
- We are in a pretty good place with it. We have real good competition on it.
- The lineup we start most of the time has Ellis looking in from the sidelines and she is not thrilled with that, as she should not be
- But it gives us someone good coming off the bench and she comes in with fire and enthusiasm
- The two middles (Colvin & Clayton) have played so well that Lourdès, our 3rd middle - who has made great progress, is going to have to continue to make great progress to make the lineup
- I would guess that Raven and Hannah have two of the best hitting % in the league
- At setter Renner has made a lot of progress in the last 10 days and has kind of secured that because she is 6’1” and Grace is only 5’7” which gives Meg a real advantage
- But we can still run two setters if we want to
- In the back court we are pretty solid but we are running both Ava Torrance and Emily Brown in one of those spots to keep them feeling good about what they are doing
- We are in a good spot right now moving forward
- Q; You mentioned last week that Schermerhiorn had a chance to be the best libero you ever had. Why?
- Well how many digs has she had - 22 with an avg of 4.59/set. That’s second in the league
- She is a really great athlete. She hits every box
- Again, she has only played 6 matches as a libero
- She was an outside hitter when she came here, then played DS here for 3 years and now as a senior is a libero
- She has been waiting for this opportunity and is taking full advantage of it
- She has great speed and anticipates well
- She can play balls with her forearms or use her hands really, really well
- She has become the leader of the team and on the floor
- She is everything you could want and she will be getting a lot, lot better as she gets experience
- Q: With Chinn, Koch and Ellis you have been rotating those 3. Would you prefer to have someone take charge there or continue to play the hot hand?
- Both (smiles)
- I would love to see someone take complete control of those positions and hit 0.300
- But its okay to find out who will be good on a particular night
- We have to have 2 of those 3 - or all 3 - playing well for us. But look at the numbers - we are not there yet
- Q: Looking at film is there anything you are keying on to be better
- Well everything. But our middles in front of the setter are pretty good and Hannah is really good behind but Raven has to continue to improve
- I think “setting” made a big jump in the last 1 1/2 wks but it has to continue to get better
- The best thing we are doing right now is handling the ball - our 4 def players and passers are doing a terrific job
- They’ve allowed us to be in the situation we are in right now - Schermerhorn, Torrance, Brown & Hornung
- They are so good and that makes it easier for our setters
- The connection between the setters and the hitters needs to improve but that is going to take time because they are new
- Defensively we are doing well but against Louisville we are going to really need to defend their outside hitters
- That will all carry over into B1G play
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