Head Coach Liz Kritza's Comments Following Wednesday's Practice
Aug 27, 2008 | Women's Volleyball
Aug. 27, 2008
On the season-opening tournament at BYU
"We are excited and I think the team is ready to play somebody other than themselves or the staff. You can tell in practice when plays seem almost too easy to them or they are making focus-type mistakes. They are looking forward to competing. We have done a lot of drilling and we have done a lot of scrimmaging, but there is nothing like game experience. They are definitely ready to play and I think they are excited about the challenge they have ahead of them this weekend."
On the Wave's tough early-season schedule
"We have talked about it enough that they understand what opportunity lies in front of them. They realize that we give them this opportunity with the schedule, but it is up to them to come up with the results they want. For them, it is playing volleyball at a high level. By this time, they realize this is a comfortable level for them. It is not over-performing. It is using their individual skills to put forth our best team system. If we execute our team system, I think we will fare well against all of the opponents this weekend."
On the pressure of taking the court with such lofty aspirations
"It is definitely a different position for all of us to be in. But as coaches, we decided that it is our job to continue to challenge them and not allow them to feel that they have proven themselves, because they haven't. Once they feel that way, then the improvement is going to stop. All of the great opportunities, all of the upsets and all of the milestones we can reach this year are going to be a product of hard work and playing at a consistent level every day. If we go out there and say `we are going to have our best season yet and we want to go out and pull upsets,' it is not likely to happen. But if we go out there and say, `we need to play at a certain level, hold ourselves to it, and be diligent every single day,' then it will happen. That is how programs take that next step and we are ready to do just that."
