Quote the Horns: Nov. 10
Nov. 10, 2009
The No. 2 Texas Longhorns play host to Texas Tech on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at Gregory Gymnasium. First serve is set for 6:30 p.m. Central. Head Coach Jerritt Elliott On how losing affects the team: As a coach, you are always talking preparation, what the routines are and how to go about that. It’s very challenging. With the travel schedule that we have had, and with the amount of games we have played, the challenge becomes whether or not the team is prepared to play and rise to a certain level on a nightly basis. Playing that quality of a team on the road allows our team to be able to take something out of that. On preparing for Texas Tech: We have changed our line-up. The line-up that we have now is going to have a little bit more balance and we used it against Missouri. Our staff and our players have so much experience that these changes take a little time to get use to, but our players are able to make that adjustment pretty quickly. We are running a modified 6-2. Ashley will be passing and hitting. There will be a few more passing options and it gives us the ability to balance the right side of the net. We moved Juliann [Faucette] over to the right side as well. We now potentially have two first-team All-Americans who are hitting on the right side of the net, along with two great left-side hitters in Destinee [Hooker] and Amber [Roberson]. This allows us to utilize our middles a little bit more and keep them more balanced and more successful in front of the setter.
On the purpose of the new adjustment: It is to balance the net more. We didn’t play well at certain points in the Iowa State match. We switched Juliann and that is how we won game four. I think we just became too predictable on the left side. You have to have balance and there is no other team that has two dominant right-side hitters like we potentially have. We have always wanted to make this adjustment and now the team is healthy enough to actually try. On making a change like this so late in the season: As a coaching staff, you always want to put your best foot forward and make the adjustment to try and win a championship. If we are not good enough, we want to use our expertise and our knowledge to help us obtain more balance. We knew that if we didn’t have a good night with Juliann and Destinee, it was going to be a tough time and we have known this for quite some time. That is why we tinkered with Juliann on the right, knowing that we could use this line-up once everyone got healthy. Senior Setter Ashley Engle On the good of losing: Losing is not something I take well, nor does the rest of my team or the coaching staff. No one really likes to lose. But when it does happen, if we just dwell on it, it can become a disease and it can continue to happen. If we take it and turn it around, go back into the gym and just work harder, it can be a positive. On what the team is working on for Texas Tech: Specifically, we are continuing to work on us. I think there are a lot of things defensively and we are running some new things offensively- new positions and players switching around. So I think more than anything we need to focus on us and get into a rhythm for that match. On importance of winning the rest of their games: I think it’s extremely important for us. We need to win out and knowing that, it increases the pressure of being undefeated. We know that we have to remain undefeated for the rest of the Big 12, but I think it is good for us to have that pressure.
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