Sept. 30, 2003
WACO, Texas - Two of Baylor's head coaches spoke to the media at Tuesday's press luncheon. Below are excerpts from their comments.
Head Volleyball Coach Brian Hosfeld:
On last week:
"We are coming off a week with some highs and some lows, with the good win over No. 9 Kansas State and the unfortunate loss against Kansas, who is an excellent team. It's just the way we lost. We had four or five match points that we just couldn't get the ball to the right person. That's an unfortunate area that we haven't developed yet, the personality that actually has the killer instinct and wants to score the last point. The kid that we relied on in that position is now wearing the wrong color jersey for us, and that is Stevie Nicholas. Maybe we can work with the NCAA and they can give one swing a game with the libero; then we might be able to start winning some of these matches we are consistently in but just not finishing the way we need to finish."
On this week's upcoming games:
"As far as going into Oklahoma, I don't think there's a match left on our schedule that's not important for us to be able to come out and play very well and put ourselves in a position to win and actually win, when we start talking about the NCAA Tournament. Oklahoma is going to be very important. It's fortunate for us now that we are home for a couple of weeks, and our one trip that we are on the road is down at UT next week, so we get a little less time on the road. Hopefully we can get our legs underneath us and be ready to go for the rest of this first round."
On his team's younger players:
"We have seen the younger players develop, but they haven't been consistent enough. Kelly Spriggs was instrumental in our win over Kansas State. She had 20 kills on 49 swings or something like that. We took a step backwards with both our outside hitters against Kansas. We didn't hit over .100, so it's just a matter of consistency. Andrea Vakulya is a freshman; we moved her over to the right side of the court, and she was instrumental as well in the win versus Kansas State. She finished for us, scoring the last couple of points. Against Kansas she rotated the back row and we couldn't get her the ball."
Head Football Coach Guy Morriss:
On what was accomplished during the off week:
"We got a chance to look at some of our younger players. Some of our redshirts, some of our walkons, we scrimmaged them some last time and spent some time getting to know those guys a little better and see how they are developing and coming along. We went out and did some recruiting. The coaches were out Monday and Tuesday and out again on Friday, back on the road. We watched several high school games Friday night and then took Saturday off and came back in on Sunday, and we're back on a normal week right now. It was a good week."
On starting Big 12 play this week:
"It will give us a chance as a new staff to get acquainted with the Big 12 up close and personal. I think our kids our excited to play on TV. We are expecting a big crowd. I think they are just happy to get to play around 11:30 instead of sitting around that hotel all day; I know I am. We are excited and looking forward to it. We need to have a good week of work and tee it up and get after it."
On getting back to game action after the bye week:
"Well, we are anxious to play. We as coaches are anxious to get on the field every week. I don't think there is anything new about that. Things step up another notch since we are in league play, and that's the fun part about it: to compete against the best in the country. I am sure by Saturday the internal clocks will be grinding, so to speak. We are just going to go out and practice and try to get our kids to focus and get them to play hard and see what happens."
On the team's level of practice:
"Yeah I thought last week we worked them Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, and those were probably the three best back-to-back-to-back practices we had since we have been here. The intenstity was very good. The tempo was good. The enthusiam was up. Maybe just the two days off did something for them. And then we came back Sunday and had another good workout Sunday afternoon. Maybe we are starting to wake up or turn the corner a little bit. But I felt a difference in the football team. Now we have to start over today and put three good practices together this week. And take it to the field on Saturday. That's where I am hoping to do a better job, to prepare hard during the week and reap the benefits of it on Saturday."
On playing the defending North Division champ, Colorado:
"Yeah, I am hearing all this stuff about 'they are beat up' and 'they are down' and 'they are this' and they are that.' And you're right; in 2001 they were the conference champ and last year they won the Big 12 North. Their program is established and they have great depth, and so we are going to have a fight on our hands either way. I know the tailback is probably not going to play and the quarterback may not play. They do a great job and they are very talented. Again we are just anxious to find our where we are, kind of like a measuring stick, and go down the road."
