#6 Louisville Volleyball Recap #3 Wisconsin UPSET!!!

all right thanks uh for being here at 12:30 so hopefully these questions are quick but you know first of all just thanks to the ABCA for making this happen again um I thought they did an amazing job with this event it was first class they had all the bells and whistles so it really had a feel of a final four um with everything going on and even though the the play was ugly at times I thought it was you know just really awesome to be in this environment and something we can look back on in [Music] December little bit past your btime coach yes uh ending it then the way you guys did after some cramps towards the end how nice it to just get this one done in books and I assume maybe a bit of a rest yeah it was a fantastic job by our team of just staying steady and really confident throughout that whole match and it did feel like there was a lot going on and a lot of um different you know we were getting interviewed before the game the warm-up was really short it was super late so a lot of distractions where we we could have let those really affect us and we didn't um and then to get out there at four CU these guys are saying it might not have been very good if we would have went game five just with I felt like our players were dropping like flies and hopefully that's a late thing not a ongoing thing well even this early in the year obviously it went over a top five teams big accomplishment but it a nice knowing as a coach that you kind of have this your back pocket Now you kind of go into this regular season saying like hey this is a bar we of course you know and you know I told the team after the game there's so much we can improve on and we were in a totally new system um than anybody's everever done in this any of these guys have ever done in our program and um we had new players and different roles and thought we adjusted very quickly and we were quick Learners and nobody got rattled and um just feels like we have a lot of room to grow which is is the most exciting part to your point on being able to wrap this up in four you I think notably of the two Pittsburgh matches last year were up 20 and then eventually sorry to bring that up but um that you know last year team for whatever reason seem to lack a Killer Instinct can you speak specifically to how this team is different in what we saw tonight well I think we're a year older so that helps and then we can you know look back at last year and we we learned from that like I said already we're quick Learners and um this team wants to write a different story than last year's team we have a big goal of to not lose game threes and so we did that tonight it got close in game three so pretty proud of us to win that one and um I just think this team again we're older we've really challenged these two right here to be better in big moments and in different parts of their games and to see that accomplished on night one against Wisconsin who's a fabulous team and program um they set the bar high and again very excited to see what else we can do yeah this one's for Anna and charity Wisconsin's coach you mentioned multiple times he was impressed with your your G toughness for an opposing coach to say that about your grp after one game you want that to be a hmark call card this te moving forward yeah I think that's just kind of how Lille volleyball has worked I mean we obvious obviously aren't the most physical team yeah we have some players but we work on the grit and the mental toughness cuz if we can come together as a team and I think volleyball is a really big team sport and if you have that culture and that's kind of what we Thrive upon is that culture and that we call ourselves a unit um so I think if we have that that's just going to help us really push and kind of finish those games so yeah and I think that's what's different about this year's team is we're extremely gritty um we never give up no matter how many points we're down you know we're not going to stop fighting and we're not the test team but you know for me personally High it doesn't matter it's it's how big that you play um so and how high thank you you finished this isn't working can you talk about the atmosphere tonight's game and what you expect from fans this season potentially in December during like playing the board I thought it was really good even to start the night for the Nebraska Kentucky game and it sort of fizzled out I thought a little bit um I think the the time didn't help but I expect our fans you know and we're at a more reasonable time to be a little rowdier but you know having people show up and stay that late is a big Testament to like card Nation believing in this team and wanting to stick around to watch it so I'm I mean I'm very excited for the future games and it's one match and um I know this place will be rocking for the players I assume you guys are tired you look really tired was it hard to stay dialed in like that last half hour um yes it was very hard but um you know I try not to let people see that I try not to show it um I try to stay mentally tough I try to talk to Anna and let her know that hey you know we're going to get through this together it's me and you um but no yeah it definitely was a challenge but it just really like shows how mentally tough that we are can you talk about like Sophia's match today and like her contribution being new to the team yeah she she was great I thought she you know she's a fifth year senior so we're relying on her for some experience and even though she's new to our program I thought she did a really nice job of like managing some of the sets she got she was with our freshman Setter who we knew was probably you know going to have some moments that weren't great um but we want to let her work through that and I thought Sophia just stayed really steady and it it never wavered her confidence in NIS so and I was proud of her and again like that's somebody we feel like we can get the ball to when when we need a kill and she's going to do it so it's like just imagine when the setter really get in the flow and we have a little more time together yeah this one for any of you guys Rec had big moments as a freshman and her first game in is sophomore and felt like she was coming up with big points and big plays just what is it about her do you think that maybe steps up in those kind of moments I think R reys is a very special player I mean even last year she came in and had some Sparks and really just kind of got the crowd going got us going and she just comes in and does what she needs to in those big moments and she has gotten so much more physical this year been really working on her blocking and really just putting balls away for us and I think she'll be a really big part of our team this season Reese plays with a lot of Joy so when she comes on the court that um permeates throughout our our team which is something that we need these two guys they play with joy but they're pretty serious it's fun to have balances up she does need to be part of this to have it here then to win and to knock off a team a program like that what does this do for your National I mean coach was in here and he said he kind of gave a recruiting pitch for you because he was talking about your team and all that what does this do na Al kind of for your uh for this program you know I think it just continues to um cement that you know we're a great program and you know we might not be a sweatshirt school or a team that can look back 25 years ago and say we were playing for national championships but we're here now and we attract players that fit our style and that want to be great and that's who we're going to continue um to get in our program so you know it's it's pretty amazing what we've done in the last eight years and um I think we just keep setting the bar higher and higher pretty awesome uh Danny John was in here earlier said you took him to church H BS today and I think you may enjoyed that more than being Kentucky uh what was that experience like or me to kind of have him here part taking part of this event well first of all I had to call a favor from rad to get us to the backside but I was like hey let's do this I feel like Karma will be on our side so we did it and you know John loves horses and um so he he really wanted to go to the backside so we spent about an hour um with somebody just showing us the ropes so I've been back there a few times I always think it's awesome so it's cool he got to experience that going back to the late ending of this match I mean this is a Showcase Event for the sport it ends after midnight in front of a mostly Empty Arena can you speak to the challenges sorry can you speak to the challenges kind of still facing the growth of the sport especially in the television agent you know I I'm curious what the viewership will be like you know cuz it was on a Tuesday night and I think that'll say a lot too um and you know I think this event was set up late and the runway was short to get everything organized and the thing is we're going to learn from this and this will be probably 10 times better next year and I don't think it's a matter of getting people in the stands it's going to be better and better just from this being the first time it's been here it's been an event for the last 10 years um but you know I think the more media attention we get I think the it's more like promoting the sport um that's all going to help because people want to watch it then you go John he was in here and forgive me if he said this before called what you've done here the biggest turnaround in college volleyball the greatest turn I should say when he says that what does that mean to you considering how much you yeah of course John's a mentor so I have your Mentor say you know great things about you and the job you've done um means a whole lot you know but there's some other programs you know I get reminded every year a couple times a year what our neighbors just north um Pittsburgh's done too and there's some programs that have done some pretty incredible things so of course we're really proud of we what we've done but we know there's other schools that are are striving to do it and are doing it um but again you know when you're somebody that you've looked up to and played under and coached under says that it it does mean a lot and I just feel like we have more we can do you know and so it's like mixed I feel blessed what we've done but certainly not satisfied anything else [Music] this is the program's first win against Wisconsin since 1985 so we talk about racing the bar and like more what is that crazy I didn't even know that I just remember we lost to them in the final four in a game that we F like we could have won in 2021 with maybe our our best team ever you know this team is probably going to rival that team um so again it's just another notch it's like okay we can hang with these teams and we can beat them and we can expect to be in these big matches year after year thank you everybody thank you um a lot 10 eight and a half