The University of Mississippi Athletics
Coach Steven McRoberts Weekly Press Conference #9
10/22/2018 | Volleyball
Ole Miss head volleyball coach Steven McRoberts met with members of the media Monday as part of the fall sports weekly press conference... McRoberts discussed the Rebels strong weekend...
Opening Statement…
"It was a great weekend for us in our facility. I can't remember ever having as big of crowds as we had in back-to-back matches. We set the attendance record on Friday and then turned around and broke that record by 200. We have been able to have the band [The Pride of the South] three different times this year. We have really appreciated them coming over. It has really added to the atmosphere in the Gillom. It is really loud over there. I am definitely thankful for the time that they put in to come over and help us out... We got off to a really good start Friday against No. 11 Florida. We won the first set and found ourselves at 20-20 in the second set. We definitely had a couple of opportunities to win the second set to go up 2-0 but we didn't capitalize and that has kind of been the story of our season as of right now. It seems like we haven't taken advantage of opportunities to get that momentum. We still played a really solid match against Florida on Friday night. Emily Stroup, who is leading the conference in kills right now, had another monster match.. We switched offenses. We went to a 5-1 offense and now Lauren Bars (Sophomore S) is now setting our offense. Our offense had a good weekend overall and she had a double-double in that match. Then we turned around on Sunday, playing Mississippi State, both of our teams are sitting there at the bottom of the conference. It was going to be which one got the advantage to move up in the conference standings. We did not come out with our best, we lost the first set. We haven't always handled that well this season when we got off to a bad start. I think it says a lot about our team and the growth we have had to bounce back and really handled the rest of the match really well. Our passing got better through the weekend and defense was solid. Anytime we can get an SEC win, we will take it..."
On the Rebels middle blockers
"Our two middles, Bayleigh Scott had 15 kills with only one error and that is a career high for her. Nayo Warnell helped with eight kills. I think that they both had four or five blocks in the match. They both hit over .400 I believe and really just carried us yesterday. We have needed that. We have really needed some other players to step up and help out Stroup, and they did that.."
On the mood and morale after dropping the second set against Florida after being tied 20-20...
"We got off to a rough start in the third set but we came all the way back. I think that set score also ended up 25-21. There was a play right there at the end where we served at 24-21 and it looked like it hit the back line but it I was already out of challenges. So I was not able to challenge and that was a tough spot for us to be in at that point. The girls really hung in there in the third set. The fourth set we started off down 9-1. It was almost impossible to get any momentum back. I didn't feel like they ever quit but we just didn't have the fire power to come back in that set. Those first three sets is the most competitive we have been against them in my five years being here."
On the upcoming weekend
"We have two more opportunities this weekend. We play six of our next nine on the road. It is going to be a tough finish here. We have not won on the road in conference play yet but I do feel like we are playing our best volleyball of the season. Hopefully, we will get one or two from this weekend coming up. We are at Auburn and at Alabama. We lost to Auburn at home in four sets and this will be our first time to play Alabama this season."
Opening Statement…
"It was a great weekend for us in our facility. I can't remember ever having as big of crowds as we had in back-to-back matches. We set the attendance record on Friday and then turned around and broke that record by 200. We have been able to have the band [The Pride of the South] three different times this year. We have really appreciated them coming over. It has really added to the atmosphere in the Gillom. It is really loud over there. I am definitely thankful for the time that they put in to come over and help us out... We got off to a really good start Friday against No. 11 Florida. We won the first set and found ourselves at 20-20 in the second set. We definitely had a couple of opportunities to win the second set to go up 2-0 but we didn't capitalize and that has kind of been the story of our season as of right now. It seems like we haven't taken advantage of opportunities to get that momentum. We still played a really solid match against Florida on Friday night. Emily Stroup, who is leading the conference in kills right now, had another monster match.. We switched offenses. We went to a 5-1 offense and now Lauren Bars (Sophomore S) is now setting our offense. Our offense had a good weekend overall and she had a double-double in that match. Then we turned around on Sunday, playing Mississippi State, both of our teams are sitting there at the bottom of the conference. It was going to be which one got the advantage to move up in the conference standings. We did not come out with our best, we lost the first set. We haven't always handled that well this season when we got off to a bad start. I think it says a lot about our team and the growth we have had to bounce back and really handled the rest of the match really well. Our passing got better through the weekend and defense was solid. Anytime we can get an SEC win, we will take it..."
On the Rebels middle blockers
"Our two middles, Bayleigh Scott had 15 kills with only one error and that is a career high for her. Nayo Warnell helped with eight kills. I think that they both had four or five blocks in the match. They both hit over .400 I believe and really just carried us yesterday. We have needed that. We have really needed some other players to step up and help out Stroup, and they did that.."
On the mood and morale after dropping the second set against Florida after being tied 20-20...
"We got off to a rough start in the third set but we came all the way back. I think that set score also ended up 25-21. There was a play right there at the end where we served at 24-21 and it looked like it hit the back line but it I was already out of challenges. So I was not able to challenge and that was a tough spot for us to be in at that point. The girls really hung in there in the third set. The fourth set we started off down 9-1. It was almost impossible to get any momentum back. I didn't feel like they ever quit but we just didn't have the fire power to come back in that set. Those first three sets is the most competitive we have been against them in my five years being here."
On the upcoming weekend
"We have two more opportunities this weekend. We play six of our next nine on the road. It is going to be a tough finish here. We have not won on the road in conference play yet but I do feel like we are playing our best volleyball of the season. Hopefully, we will get one or two from this weekend coming up. We are at Auburn and at Alabama. We lost to Auburn at home in four sets and this will be our first time to play Alabama this season."
Players Mentioned
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