University of Tennessee Athletics
Media Monday: Rob Patrick, Nov. 21
November 21, 2011 | Volleyball
Nov. 21, 2011
Lady Vol head volleyball coach Rob Patrick spoke with the media at the Football Media Luncheon on Nov. 21.
(Opening statement)
"It was an exciting weekend for us. We're in a tight race for the SEC Championship coming into this weekend and we had two very, very tough teams, Arkansas, who was playing arguably as good as anybody in the conference coming in as they won five or their last six. They took Florida to five sets the last time they played them, so we really had to prepare for both matches. Arkansas and LSU are still playing for a Western Division Championship, so they have a lot to play for and I was very proud of how our team came out and prepared. They prepared in a championship manner. They were really able to play one point at a time and never looked forward to anything but the next point. When we played Arkansas, we just played Arkansas. When we played LSU, we just played LS U and didn't think of anything else. We played some really good, all-around volleyball in both matches."
(On the Wednesday match versus Kentucky)
"Wednesday we play Kentucky and if you look at the stats, you are going to see two teams that are basically at the top of the conference in hitting percentage, kills per game, blocks and most of the statistical categories. On paper it should be a close match, and the last time we played at their place, it ended up being that way. A five-set, really close match. We're excited to be able to play them here at home. We have been playing very well at home. We have great fans that come out and support us. They are loud, they're able to carry us through maybe some rough spots in a match and when we do get some momentum, they're able to carry it and extend that momentum for two or three points for us. We're excited about playing a quality opponent like Kentucky. A very well coached team, a very physical team. They're basically leading the conference in blocks because they are a physical, big team. They have a lot of experience on the court, much more than we have on the court. They have some seniors, some juniors setting the team and they're also playing at a very high level. Our work is cut out for us on Wednesday. We get to play for the outright title and that means a lot to our players. After we beat LSU, we celebrated like we just won a match, not that we won a conference championship because our players really want to win the conference outright. They also want to get a little revenge on Kentucky. Kentucky is a great opponent and we respect them, our players respect them. They want to go out and be able to compete and beat a Kentucky team that took us down at their place."
(On some standout players)
"If you start looking at our team and players, it all starts with Kelsey Robinson. She is a captain; she's only a sophomore as the players voted her a captain. She has done a fantastic job of leading this team both on the court and off the court. She is somebody that is a catalyst for us in all phases of the game. She is one of the best all-around players in the entire country. Another player who is really coming on strong right now is Tiffany Baker. She's a freshman outside hitter who was battling a little bit of injuries at the beginning of the year and she was somebody that had to get comfortable with our offense. We run a different offense than she's used to and she's somebody also getting comfortable in a new position. She was a middle hitter for most of her career and came in here and started playing as an outside hitter after only playing that position for basically one season in high school. She is really coming into her own and we are able to use some of the things she can do to open up our offense. DeeDee Harrison is really opening up things for us as a middle hitter. Offensively, we were able to hit for pretty high percentages this weekend because of teams having to watch her in the middle and it opens up things for our outside and right side hitters. Leslie Cikra has been a recipient of a lot of those sets and is hitting at a very, very high percentage. She is hitting .331 on the season, which is like a baseball hitting percentage. If you are hitting over .300, that is a huge number. Usually only your middle hitters will hit over .300 and we have our right side hitter and an outside hitter in conference play hitting over .300. Our offense has been pretty effective and it's going to be a challenge with Kentucky's block. Mary Pollmiller makes it all go. She`s done a fantastic job of running our offense, dishing the ball to the right people. Ellen Mullins, our libero, is leading us in digs and we are able to transition from our defense to our offense very quickly with the way Mary runs the offense. We're playing at a pretty high level right now and hopefully we can keep that going."
