NCAA Men's Volleyball Press Conference
May 3, 2002 Hawaii Coach Mike Wilton with players Eyal Zimet and Delano Thomas Opening statement from Coach Mike Wilton: That was a tough match last night. I've had a chance to review some film and it seemed like we had a little control in game one and maybe out to seventeen or twenty something in game two and then number six came in from there and hit a couple of interesting serves. It got them going a little bit. Their crowd was just waiting for something to yell about and that was it. The match was on after that and somehow we survived and here we are today. Is there a psychological barrier with Pepperdine? Coach Wilton: I don't think so. I know that the first two times that we played them, they were hard fought games but Pepperdine certainly won the statistical battle decisively. Their spiker efficiency was in the high .300s I think the first night and I think .460 something the second night and we hit in the low to mid .200s and they scored out of serving much higher rate than we and they scored all of received at a much higher rate. The third time that we played them, serving and scoring ratios were very close and both teams hit 21 percent out of 22 percent. So it was pretty even. I just felt that their peaks and valleys were less pronounced than ours were. There is an improvement there and hopefully we can make another jump in the improvement category. But make no mistake, Pepperdine has proven to be a very consistent team. I think that their setter is a very steady influence and he is very dependable. His location is almost always excellent and they have five good hitters out on the court and they serve real tough. So with all of those factors, that makes them a real steady and well-composed team. We got them in a lot of trouble in game one the last time we played them. We were on fire but they came back real hard and they were on fire in game two. What are you going to do about the setter situation? Coach Wilton: If we need to make a change, we'll do it. It's worked for us all year long. Still go with Kimo Tuay? Coach Wilton: It's a change of venue that makes the same for both teams in terms of where we play. Home court advantage? I think home court advantage is a very real thing. And certainly Pep is a tough place to play mainly because they are always a real good team. How do you think the crowd will be? Coach Wilton: My guess is that there is going to be way fewer people here Saturday than there was last night. I hope I'm wrong, but that's just my guess. Talk about Eyal Zimet Coach Wilton: He adds a lot with his serve. He adds a lot with his blocking and he adds a lot with his offense. He doesn't block as many balls as Dejan does. He is still a work in progress with blocking, but he's made a lot of strides. We watched the tape of him playing in January the other day and compared to where he is now, it's night and day. It's really improved a lot. What has helped you this season? Delano Thomas: Every day I practice with some of the best hitters in the country. You've got to get better. Talk about the magnitude of the match tomorrow (Saturday) night Delano Thomas: I try not to think about it. I get goosebumps and my stomach turns with butterflies. I try hard not to think about it; it's just another game. That's the way you have to approach it. What about you, coach? Do you get butterflies? Coach Wilton: For every game. All of that exists of course because it is a championship match. But if you cut away through everything, it's a volleyball game. And the team that best comes to grips with that, is the team that is probably going to play the best. If you focus on all of the other stuff, it's stuff that is not really important. It's a volleyball match-that's what is important. The team that best focuses on the task at hand is going to play the best. Pepperdine Coach Marv Dunphy with players Fred Winters, Pono Kahale and Beau Daniels Opening statement from Coach Marv Dunphy: We are here to play Hawaii for the championship and try to win our fifth championship. I think it will be a good match. They are a real good, experienced team. They are well coached and receive/serve well. I think they control the ball well. We've had good matches with them and we are looking for another good match tomorrow night. It's hard to beat them four times. Do you think they are due? Coach Dunphy: Not really. I don't think the fact that we have beaten them three times is a weight on my shoulders or the team's shoulders. It's just one match for the national championship. Do you think it's a weight on Hawaii's shoulders? Coach Dunphy: I don't think so. You've had a problem with slow start in the last couple of matches. Comment on that. Coach Dunphy: I give credit to Ball State. I think that they played very well and we had a couple of opportunities to turn some points which we didn't and I think that is just the way the ball bounces. I don't know if it was just a slow start. We've been playing some good teams. I'd prefer to win them all but sometimes that doesn't happen. Comment on serving. Coach Dunphy: The teams that we play now are good side out teams and if we serve free balls, it's just going to make it tough on our block defense. So we like to serve aggressively. I think throughout our league and throughout this year, we've probably been one of the more aggressive teams with serving. Hopefully that will continue. How much do you guys feed off the fans? Beau Daniels: I think our fans are good. I think they help a lot. I think what really feeds us is each other on the court. Lance is a big emotional player. I think a lot of it has to be with the players on the court. You are a senior and one of the leaders on this team fighting for a national championship against Hawaii. Is there any added fuel to the fire for you personally, being from Hawaii? Pono Kahale: I don't know. It's going to be kind of fun to play against a home team. But I go to Pepperdine now and I'm a Wave so I'm rooting for us 100 percent and it's going to be even better to beat Hawaii in the Finals. I'm looking forward to that. Do you realize how much is riding on this back home. Pono Kahale: It will be good. If we win, I can go home with bragging rights. Does it help with finals being over? Beau Daniels: I think it makes a big difference that everybody is out of school and can focus on volleyball. Some of the other teams have to focus on volleyball and school still. We can just relax after a game. Yes, I think it helps. Beau Daniels asked about nerves. I don't think it was nerves. I think Ball State came out gunning for the top seed in the tournament. I think every team comes out the first couple of plays, they are really fired up to go and the thing is if they can ride that out then maybe they'll get a few extra points, but most of the time we do alright and turn it around for ourselves. Coach, what would another championship mean to you? I think every team has its own identity. I coach and teach at Pepperdine and work with young people and we always want to be as good as we can be. For my career, I think my career is gong okay. I like working at Pepperdine and this match won't make or break it. We've had a good year and we are competing for a national championship. My personal goal is to have a real good program where we always compete at the highest level. From my standpoint, it is absolutely not about me; it's for the student-athletes. They've trained well and we have some more volleyball to play and we are looking forward to it. Talk about Fred Winter's development Last year, Jeff Stork (asst. coach) worked with Fred quite a bit on all parts of his game, especially passing and I think that we can get into a debate over which guy on the team improved the most from last year to this year, but I think Fred would be right in that mix. Clint Olson has also improved much. He can pass some pretty good serves. Are you aware of what you are going for tomorrow? Beau Daniels: Thinking ahead, you are playing for the championship and you do your best and say it's another game and we have to approach it just like another game. Relax and focus on what you need to focus on so that you can do the same thing that you've done all season. Is this team one of your best teams? Coach Dunphy: It's really hard to compare teams. I think maybe down the line looking back, this would be one of the steadier teams.
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