Coach McRoberts Press Conference: 09.22

Sept. 22, 2014

Ole Miss head coach Steven McRoberts met with members of the media Monday to discuss last weekend's Rebel Classic win and start of SEC play this weekend. The Rebels travel to face South Carolina Friday at 6 p.m. CT followed by No. 10 Florida on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CT.

Opening statementâ€¦
"I want to congratulate Coach (Matt) Mott, too, on beating (Mississippi) State this weekend and getting off to a great start in SEC play. I'll be honest, when we did our scheduling, we're at where we thought we would be at with the schedule that we've had. I knew that there were a few tests in there. Memphis was definitely that. We were actually even down a match point there and came back and won. I thought there were going to be a few teams on the schedule, that because of their history, were going to be little bit better than they are this year. Maybe they'll come on and do like they've done in the past when they get into conference play. I was very confident that we would have a legit opportunity to be 14-0. I'm proud of our team that we took care of business and we did that."

On the Rebel Classicâ€¦
"Last Friday against Samford, I thought that we played the best match that we've played all year. Samford has been to the NCAAs a few times in recent history. They're typically at the top of their conference. I was proud of the way the team responded. It was one of the matches where we talked about how good Samford was and what they could do. From the film session on our team was focused. They played very, very well. Everything was clicking that night. Our offense broke the school record for hitting percentage (.431). Our defense was all over the place with their cat-like reflexes on the block. There was nothing Samford could do that evening to beat us. As a coaching staff, we said, 'If we play like that, we'll be very competitive in the SEC.' That was good to see.

"We came back on Saturday and had a doubleheader with Lamar and Jackson State. We played a little bit flat. Lamar is just kind of in a funk right now and didn't give us much of a match. We turned around and played Jackson State. I felt like our team really had kind of a lollygagging attitude instead of shellacking a team like Jackson State. We won the first set easy. One of the tough things mentally with volleyball is when you beat a team really bad, it's hard to convince the team that you're 0-0 again. We won 25-12. How do you get them refocused and not walking out on the court thinking you have a 13-point lead? Jackson State gets off to a 4-1, 5-1 head start. It goes back and forth. We never get anything going. We were the only team in the tournament that hadn't lost a match. Jackson State, along with Lamar, were the two teams that hadn't won a match. You have to think from a mental standpoint, they're thinking they're on our home floor thinking they're going to get creamed and they beat us 25-23 in the second set. I haven't looked up how many sets that Jackson State has won this year, but it hasn't been a lot. All the sudden, we bring a team mentality and confidence into it and they're thinking, 'so you're saying there's a chance.' They're believing. The second set seems to be an issue for us from a mental standpoint. We've done a good job as a team when we come out in the third being more focused. We won in the fourth set 25-5. That's really rare. There was a disappointment that we even dropped a set to a team that we can hold to five points.

"Aubrey Edie was the tournament MVP. She's a sophomore and having a great year. Going into the weekend, she was ranked No. 5 in the nation in assists. Both of our middle blockers, Ty Laporte and Nakeyta Clair were named all-tournament."

On starting SEC playâ€¦
"Our team is No. 1 in the conference right now in hitting percentage. Lexie Thompson was named the SEC Freshman of the Week. It's about to really get ramped up this week. We go to South Carolina and Florida. Everything we're going to do this week is to prepare for South Carolina. Those who understand volleyball understand how good Florida is. They're a top-10 program. They've been top-10 for 15 years or so. It's going to be a tough start for us. South Carolina is a lot like us in a building process. They're going into the match with a couple of losses. It's going to be an SEC Network game. There will be a lot of hype around it. We're looking forward to the challenge."

On Samford as an SEC-quality opponentâ€¦
"They could be. They could be a bottom half team. In the past, they've been probably more mid. This year they may be down it seems like a bit. I haven't played them in the past, I just know their history. Memphis has beaten Tennessee at Tennessee and Mississippi State at Mississippi State. They went five sets with Alabama. That's another one where you say, with the type of year they're having, they would be."

RebelsCalendar

Players Mentioned

Nakeyta Clair

Aubrey Edie

Ty Laporte

The University of Mississippi Athletics