BATON ROUGE — Head coach Fran Flory along with setter Sam Dabbs and middle blocker Lauren DeGirolamo represented the LSU volleyball program Wednesday at media day on the fifth floor of the Athletic Administration Building. A transcript of the quotes is below.
LSU Volleyball Media Day
August 12, 2009
HEAD COACH FRAN FLORY
Opening Statement …
“We have an unbelievably talented group of seniors; I’ll be very, very sad at this time next year talking to you after they are no longer in the LSU uniform and have moved on to bigger and better things. The preparation of this team, mostly due to their leadership through the spring and summer, is probably the best of any team I’ve had in 20 years of coaching. They committed to being here this summer. I don’t mandate that our kids are here this summer, but we had everyone, including our incoming freshman, here for summer school through the month of July. They had open gym and played a couple times a week if not more than that. Walking into the gym yesterday, we put them through a practice that our staff had never put a team through ? midseason, preseason, postseason, ever ? in full anticipation that we wouldn’t finish that practice. Practice was scheduled to end at 11:00 a.m. and they finished the entire practice at 10:58. I was very, very impressed. They graded their practice and they all said C or D, some said D minus. They weren’t really satisfied with that, but I gave them a B because I thought they did well, but their technique wasn’t great. But certainly a tremendous start followed by another great practice in the afternoon and another one this morning. They actually spent about four hours in the gym this morning, which is long, but they stayed focused and I think this is a very special group of players. I have with me Sam Dabbs, a senior setter, and Lauren DeGirolamo, our senior middle blocker. We lost Lauren halfway through last season to ACL surgery. She is back, ready to go and we anticipate she will be a huge part of our success this year. The other two seniors [Brittnee Cooper and Marina Skender] are going to be very important, especially Cooper. She had another stint, second year in a row that she played on the A2 team, which is a national team one step below the actual national team, where collegiate players train as a precursor to joining the national team when they finish their eligibility. She is going to be a wonderful candidate for SEC Player of the Year. We’re going to have to do some very creative things with our setting for Sam to create a lot of opportunities because she’s going to face three blockers every time she goes to swing because teams know how valuable she is to our offense.
On replacing Kyna Washington and Elena Martinez …
“We lost two great seniors from last year in Kyna Washington and Elena Martinez, but we feel like we have people that can fill those spots. The team is ready and certainly prepared to do that. Brittney Johnson has done a great job preparing through the summer and will have a great junior year and will probably split some setting and hitting duties. Lauren Waclawczyk, we call her “Sunshine”, will probably be our libero in Elena’s spot. I think we have a great group of talented kids.
On the schedule and the SEC …
“The schedule is something we need to have a talented group of kids in order to withstand. We will play our opening match against Stanford at Notre Dame, and Stanford was a Final Four participant [last season]. We come back home and play Nebraska, another Final Four participant. We probably have the toughest schedule in the conference, if not the country, and if it’s not the toughest it’s certainly one of the toughest. So there’s a lot of great volleyball to watch and certainly our kids are pointed towards those matches, but we also understand the other matches are more important. The SEC is wide open. Florida has had some attrition through the year, they lost a couple of players. Kentucky lost some key seniors. South Carolina is going to be the surprise team in the league if you ask me.
“I told our kids in the opening meeting that I’m tired of talking about winning the SEC West. I have four trophies downstairs in my office and it’s great, but I want to be worried about where I’m going to put the SEC Championship trophy. That’s our goal and this group of seniors is very focused to make sure we reach that goal before they leave here. Postseason, we’d love to have an opportunity to host, not sure if that’s going to happen. It seems that the NCAA feels that we are in Texas or on the West coast because we’ve gone their alternating every other year between Austin and California. So I would guess we’d go to Austin this year, which is O.K with us. We’ll be ready for whatever it takes.”
On the roles of Brittney Johnson and Tania Schatow …
“Johnson is as fit and as fast as she’s ever been and her efforts in the last two summers have been tremendous. I would say that she will initially play on the right side for us, with an opportunity to set in some situations similar to what she did last year. If you ask her she going to tell you she wants to hit. It’s a whole lot easier to hit than it is to set. She is very prepared and she will be a key for us.”
“Tania has done a great job of preparing. I can see her playing right side. We moved her in the spring and got her some reps on the outside. Angela Bensend, one of our returning setters on the outside had shoulder surgery in the offseason so she wasn’t available through the spring so Tania filled that role and she did a nice job by the end of the spring. It was a role she had never played before so there was definitely a learning curve. She’s done a nice job through the spring and summer developing some shots and some ability to put the ball on the floor for us.”
On Brittnee Cooper‘s experience on the A2 team …
“Brittnee walked into the gym this fall with a lot of confidence. She knows she had an opportunity above many other players in the country in terms of competing and playing at the highest level. The number one change I think she’s going to bring is her passing and defense, which we never even considered allowing her to play on the back row before. If we can afford to get her on the court back row, then she can be an offensive weapon in the back court as well. I can’t tell you what that will do for our offense. The confidence level she brought in the gym I think is the biggest impact that experience had on her.”
LSU MIDDLE BLOCKER LAUREN DEGIROLAMO
On her recovery from last year’s season-ending ACL surgery…
“It’s good. It happened back in October so I’ve had a bit of time to rehab and get back. I’m just excited to be out on the court again practicing and it feels really good.”
On the goals for this season…
“We’re all glad that we’ve been able to win the SEC West the past four years, but we want to build on that. We want to move into winning the SEC and going further in the NCAA Tournament.”
On teammate Brittnee Cooper‘s leadership style…
“I would say Brittnee is more of a lead-by-example kind of player. If something happens, she’ll definitely speak up and lead this team in that aspect. She’s more of a quiet leader who really gets everybody excited with her kills, her blocks and the emotion she brings out on the court.”
On the benefits of playing a tough schedule…
“I think anytime you play against quality opponents, especially teams that have been in the Final Four, it can only make you better. No matter what the outcome of the match is, you’re forced to play at a higher level when you’re playing top programs. I think that our tough schedule is really going to benefit us when we get into SEC play.”
LSU SETTER SAM DABBS
On what the team’s biggest focus will be over the next two weeks…
“We really want to work on our ball control. We’re a very experienced team. We have four new freshmen who understand the game and understand what we want to do as a team. I think our main concern is our ball control because we want to run a faster offense this year, and we want to be a powerhouse at the net so our ball control is our key to being successful.”
On how the team improved over the summer…
“Being here over the summer helps with team chemistry. Playing volleyball and doing open gym really helps us get into the rhythm of having that new player next to you, or just playing the game and having fun.”
On the senior leadership of this year’s team…
“For the four seniors, some of us are vocal and some of us are showing it by how we play. I think that what we’re doing well this year is that we’re communicating a lot more to the younger players. We’re holding everyone accountable.”
On facing top-ranked opponents Stanford and Nebraska…
“It’s a huge opportunity because when you play Final Four teams like they are, that helps you realize where your weaknesses are. They can make great plays, and they can make great shots happen. We might not be ready for that, but when we go into SEC play, I think we’ll be prepared for everything. It’s a learning step, but we’re going in there to win, too. We’re holding nothing back for those matches.”