The University of Mississippi Athletics
Coach McRoberts Press Conference: 11.24
11/24/2014 | Volleyball
Ole Miss head coach Steven McRoberts met with members of the media Monday to discuss last week's matches and preview the final regular season matches. The Rebels will conclude the regular season at home with Georgia Wednesday at 6 p.m., followed by Texas A&M Friday at 4 p.m.
Opening statement…
"I want to thank everybody for the publicity, your papers, your websites, twitter and everything for our program and for our season. It has been a fun year. We are going to see how this week goes. I thought we were way out, but the RPI and selection committee can be a funny thing. I still feel as though we are on the outside looking in. We are going to need some help. But, if we can get a couple of wins this week, then who knows. I don't know exactly what the committee is going to be looking for and how far our RPI can jump up. A win over A&M, who is top 20 in the RPI, would really help us.
We were coming off of three straight losses before our home weekend this past weekend. We had a tough loss at Missouri in five. I really felt like we let than win get away from us. That was one I really thought ended our chances. You wonder how your team is going to react when you are coming back home and about to play the No. 6 team in the country, Florida. Florida is big and physical and I knew it was going to be a challenge. I was really pleased with the way our team fought. The first two sets we were in the 20's with them. Then in the third set, Florida had two match points on us and we fought them off. We came back and won [that set]. They really are the benchmark for the conference. Every team that plays Florida can judge their own play by how well you play against them. I was really pleased with our effort this late in the season, against a team like that.
We came back and played Alabama on Sunday. This is a team we had beaten in five at their place. They are a team that will be in the NCAA Tournament. They are in the mid-20's in RPI. I believe they were sitting at fourth in the conference before our match. I knew Alabama was going to come in angry after we beat them in Tuscaloosa. That is still their only loss on their home floor this season. We came out playing really well. We took the first two sets. I was really hoping we could finish it off in the third set. It felt like the momentum was starting to swing their way. The wheels came off in the fourth set and they killed us. But, these young ladies regrouped really well and game back to win in the fifth set 15-11.
We have had multiple players break records this season. Aubrey Edie has broken the single season assist record. Nakeyta Clair has broken the single season kills record. Melanie Crow has been hot on her heels on that, too. I think Melanie will probably finish second behind Nakeyta in kills for the season. Lexi Thompson should finish in the top five also. Melanie Crow also broke the record for aces in a season. We still have two matches to go and we still have a lot to play for. We have a chance to move up to sixth in the conference. You never know. If we get a little bit of help and the RPI plays in our favor, we could get that at-large bid. I do think it is a long shot. I think if we are at the end of year one, and we are talking about a possible NCAA Tournament, it has been a success. One of the things we talked about last week is that, we are still working hard to get better every day. That is all we are asking of our team. We knew that this was going to be a tough stretch at the end. I think that this team showed yesterday that they still have a lot of fight and energy left in them."
On whether he has changed the culture of the program…
"I would like to hope so. As you come in, you can get an idea from other people and how your team is acting, what the culture used to be like. But, you do not know everything. You do not know all of the ins and outs. That is one thing that I sure hope that we have done. If we are not playing in the NCAA Tournament at the end of the season, year one we can look back and say that there were some successes along the way. I do not want to put all of our eggs into one basket because sometimes, funny things can happen. But, that is our goal. We are still talking about it being a possibility. We want the team to be focused on that. I told them that this is why we want energy in the last few weeks. As we move this program forward, we are thinking that hopefully we will be playing into December, not that we will be done playing by Thanksgiving every year."
