.png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
The University of Mississippi Athletics
Steven McRoberts Weekly Press Conference
10/17/2016 | Volleyball
Ole Miss volleyball head coach Steven McRoberts met with members of the media on Monday as part of his weekly press conference. Coach McRoberts discussed the Rebels' recent road trip to Tennessee and Kentucky and the return of Kathryn Cather.
Opening statementรขโฌยฆ
"We're in a tough stretch right now in the season. Out of our first seven matches, we've played the top four teams in the league. The frustrating thing is I feel like that's probably the four best matches we've played in the conference, but it just so happened to come against the four best teams in the league and we fell short in each."
On Tennessee and Kentuckyรขโฌยฆ
"This past week, on Friday, we were still without Kathryn Cather (right side) who, arguably, is offensively playing as well as anybody in the conference. Tennessee has improved from last year. Especially on the offensive side of the ball. It was an emotional start to the match. I have to give the Tennessee players credit. The coach had called me before to see if it would be okay as they announced each player, to come over and hand me a rose in honor of Ty Laporte. I thought that was a very classy, very sweet thing for them to do. It was an emotional thing for our team of course, but in the grand scheme of things, it's important for healing. If we were to look outside of ourselves for other teams to be able to offer their respects in a gesture like that. We didn't play well there. We've played there twice since I've been here and played awful both times.
I'll say one thing about this team: they haven't stopped with their energy; they haven't stopped in their preparation; there's not any quit. It's fun to go to the gym every day and practice. We came back Saturday, and I was expecting this somber mood in practice. We had a really good practice. We were able to get Kat back for the Kentucky match. She played really well. It's nice that our team's healthy again. It was just a really good volleyball match. We were right there in every single set. Lost in three. Kind of the same story as the Missouri match. Those teams are at the top of the league, undefeated."
On this weekรขโฌยฆ
"We have a quick bounce-back match this Wednesday, with Auburn here. It's a late match, 8 o'clock on ESPNU. We turn around and play Alabama on Sunday at 1:30. Hopefully we can get a win or two and start getting some confidence back."
On importance of having Kathryn (Cather) backรขโฌยฆ
"We had to plug in a couple of freshmen when she was gone, and this isn't to discredit them, but one of them was not even in the position we've been training her in. Both of them averaged less than a kill per set over the three matches and their hitting percentage wasn't much over .100 if it was. When you plug Kat back in, you're getting four kills a set and she's second in the league hitting over .400. It makes it easier on Lexie and Kate when they have her on the other side. The middle on the other team can't double block without respecting both pins. It's huge for us, obviously., especially when you finish two matches and as you're shaking the coach's hand on the other side, they say, 'I hope you get Kat back soon.'"
