Sept. 24, 2009

You’ve been here at Pitt for more than a year now and have a full season behind you. How was the transition to Pitt and the city of Pittsburgh, on and off the court?

“It’s been a great transition. It’s been challenging, definitely, as any transition can be, but I feel like I’ve really embraced Pittsburgh. Pitt has done the same with me. There are so many selling points here at Pitt. The commitment to the student-athlete is outstanding. It’s great to be a part of that, and it makes the day-to-day operations of the job much easier.

As far as those selling points go, what does Pitt volleyball have to offer to student-athletes?

The biggest thing we have to sell, besides the people, is the academic piece. I feel that the academic standpoint really opens doors and puts us on an elite level.

With the education we have to offer, combined with the student-athlete experience that they’re going to have, it’s great. We have the complete packages to offer our student athletes. It’s an exceptional piece. We’re recruiting at an elite level against other schools that have a lot to offer, with a lot of programs. But I think we’re developing as a program.

The team has seen some pretty big wins since you arrived last year. How do you feel you and the team are growing toward your goals?

The first season, last year, we actually had five seniors and four of them started. When four of your six leave, that’s a lot to replace. But I’m extremely pleased with how the returning players, the new players in those positions, have done. We haven’t been able to see the consistency that we want because some of the players just don’t have ‘match’ experience. A year ago at this time Imani Harper was sitting on the bench. Allyson Hodnik, who is doing a great job running our offense, was sitting on the bench. Amy Town was starting on and off, and didn’t always play all round. They don’t have that match experience that we had with the four seniors last year, and to see that kind of development in them as players, and to play at a higher level than we were at even during last year, that’s great as a coach.

We had a very difficult preseason schedule, where we played five teams ranked in the top-20 RPI. To beat one of them, that was very significant. It was fun to experience and see that competition and know that we are capable of winning at that level. We still make the occasional error, but the group has been working hard and developing quite well.

We’ve talked a lot about our entire season being in three segments, or three different seasons. We had some really good successes, now I really hope they can draw on that going into Big East play. We’re approaching the second phase, trying to win a Big East regular-season championship, and drawing upon those past experiences. That’s where I hope that competition from before comes into play.

From a leadership standpoint, our three seniors have been outstanding. All three are very different in their strengths and what they bring, but I feel they understand and know their roles well. They do a great job of bringing that every day.