Coach Kritza's Comments Following Tuesday's Practice
Nov 18, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 18, 2008
On starting fresh this weekend in the 2008 Conference USA Tournament
"This is a whole new season. The regular season is over and we are proud of our successes, but now it is time to get back to work and focus on the most important part of the season and the most important week for us so far - which is the conference tournament and going after that automatic bid to the NCAAs. Both have been goals of this program from early on. This is when we have to be the most diligent, the most focused and most prepared. If we can do that, we will fare well in the conference tournament and reach a few more of our goals. While we are pleased to have captured our first regular season Conference USA title, the time for celebration has passed and the time for ardent preparation has begun."
On if she feels the team needs to win the C-USA Tournament to earn a spot in the NCAAs
"Every team that plays in a conference that has a conference tournament has to be aware that it is the only guaranteed way to get to the NCAAs and that is the case for us this year. We are going into this thinking that we need to come up with three wins in a row and win the tournament to get that automatic bid. That is our attitude going in. We do not want history to repeat itself. We learned a lesson on relying on someone other than ourselves to achieve a goal from last year. The only way for us to keep our destiny in our hands is to win it, and that is what we plan on doing."
On how difficult it is to defeat a team three times in a season, as Tulane may have to do this weekend
"It is definitely a concern because there is a possibility that we might have to play three teams from our side of the division in the conference tournament. But if we stay focused on our level of performance and our continual improvement that helped us win the regular-season title, I think we will be able to rise to the challenge. For us, it is about performing at the level that we know we can play at and making the adjustments for each of our individual opponents. Teams are different now than they were earlier in the season. Everyone has changes. Everyone has had either line-up changes or offensive or defensive changes. Just because you beat a team twice already, that does not mean anything because any team can beat another on any given day. We look at each opponent individually and every match separately. If we take that approach, focus on putting forth our beast on our side of the net and being ready to adjust based on what is going on on the other side of the net, I think that is one of our keys to being successful this week."
On the team's overall attitude going into the postseason
"I think that they are extremely excited and I think they are as confident as I have ever seen them. But we want to be careful to balance that confidence with the idea and the knowledge that we should be playing our best volleyball at this point of the season. They are of one mind in that they want to reach these goals more than anybody. Any time that happens on a team, then you are in a good place because they are the ones out there playing. Coaches can win it as much as anybody, but when players are set on it and they are focused on it, then some special things can happen. I really think they are in that place. They have some unfinished business, they want to see the season all the way through completion and they will be highly disappointed if they did anything other than that."
On the overall health of the team headed into the C-USA Tournament
"Our overall health is good. I think we are in a good place injury wise. I think that it is important that they prepare themselves physically and mentally to play an entire tournament. It has been some time since they have played back-to-back matches, but I think that with some carefully-chosen rest for certain players over the last couple of matches, we will be in good shape physically to play three quality matches in a row this weekend."
On the importance of getting a first-round bye
"It is crucial. Four matches vs. three matches is a big deal, especially in a row. It may not matter as much on the Thursday and Friday matches. But when you get to Saturday and Sunday, I think it makes a considerable difference because your body is continually recovering after you play and you are constantly preparing for an additional opponent. However, that means there is a lot of waiting around. If you are a team that does not play until Friday and you get there on Wednesday, and you need to make sure your team is staying focused and that they are prepared to play a full 48 hours after arriving there. That will be different for us. Normally we get there the day before and we have a routine. We try to stick to that routine as much as possible because it has proven to be successful for us so far."
On how much this team has improved since failing to make the NCAA Tournament last year
"I think that this team has made great strides in the last year - since last November. They have used the disappointment of last year's incident as motivation and fuel for them to work, even when they are tired and the routine gets sort of mundane. But this will be their fourth season for most of these players playing together and the commitment and desire of them to continually improve has allowed us to win the games that we have won. They have a good connection and a good dynamic because they know each other so well. They have been playing together and teams that play together for this long are able to make adjustments. There have been points throughout the season so far where I see these players and you see the individual improvements that they make, and that helps our team overall. We have to stay on them to keep improving in those areas because for us, it is a matter of having a strong system and our players executing that as perfect as possible. They have made great strides throughout the season to get to this point and they are understanding just now how to adjust and that is one of the most important things teams can do in the postseason. Once you get to November and December, teams that can keep their performance level up and make timely adjustments, those are teams that play deep into tournaments. That is where we want to be. They understand what needs to happen and they have put in the work and the effort to be one of those teams."
