Volleyball Media Day Quotes and Notes

BOULDER - The 2018 volleyball season will start on Friday, August 24, when the team travels to Laramie, Wyo. for the Rumble in the Rockies.

The Buffs return several key players from the 2017 team that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time in 20 year and finished the campaign with a 24-10 record. Two of those player, seniors Alexa Smith and Naghede Abu, along with head coach Jesse Mahoney, were on hand at Colorado's Annual Fall Olympic Sports Media Day and answered questions from the media.

Below is a transcript from the press conference.

Head coach Jesse Mahoney opening statement
We are excited. We are ready to go. We begin practice this upcoming Wednesday, so it has been a long time since our last match in December. I am really excited about the team this year and where we are heading into the season. We return four starters, including three seniors. We have a returning All-American in Alexa (Smith), we have our single season block leader in Naghede (Abu) and we have the regional freshmen of the year in Brynna DeLuzio, so we really feel like we have a nice upperclassmen group that is going to lead the team this season.

Schedule wise I really like how that shakes out as well. We have some really nice RPI opponents to begin the season. We go to Wyoming, which is going to be a really good test for us. We will head to the University of Washington although we will not play them, but we will play Illinois for the third time in three years and then Iowa. Our first home tournament is going to be a really good one with North Carolina, Georgia and Oklahoma, and then we host Colorado State. We really feel like those first four weekends will prepare us for what is going to be a really good, as always, Pac-12 Conference this year. I think we have six teams in the top 25 to start the season so, like I said, we get going on Wednesday and I will probably, hopefully, be in a better mood after the first week of practice. But, I am excited about where we are and where we are headed this season.

On handling the expectations of the season
We haven't addressed expectations a whole lot and we really don't in our program very often. We don't talk about how good we are supposed to be or going to be; we talk about what we're going to do today in practice and the team that were playing on the weekend. So, I agree it is nice to have the group of players that we have coming back; on top of that we really like the underclassmen that we have. We have four freshmen and then we add two players that redshirted last year in Dani Price and Anyse Smith, so we feel like we have even a little bit more firepower. That being said, every year is different and the mesh of players is different and I think last year, especially the second half of the season, we gelled as a team and got better and were playing our best volleyball at the end of the year and we're going to have to find a way to do that again with a new group, some of the same players but every year is a new mix. I think we are optimistic, and we are all excited because of the success we had last year, but we understand that nothing is going to be given to us, we have to go out there and play again.

On Brynna DeLuzio building off her freshman success
I think Brynna is immensely talented as a player and had as good a freshmen season as I can remember in a long time. I can only expect that she will be better. I think her spring was really good and not just from a volleyball standpoint but from a growing and becoming a little bit more of a leader and a little bit more of a vocal player. I don't think she, as a freshmen, felt it was her place to speak up in certain situations, but I expect that she will feel like she can do that this year. I think she has got a real confidence to her that I think our other players really feed off of as well.

On training at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs
I really like going to the training center, I have done it six years in a row now. It is an opportunity for our team. We are there for three sessions a day, two on the floor, one film. We really don't have time to think about anything else except volleyball, so it's an opportunity to get rid of any sort of noise and just focus on one thing. I think if we did that for the whole year, we would go crazy, but it is a really nice jump start to our season and it allows our players to have some opportunities to bond as well and our freshmen get an opportunity to mix with everybody. On top of that you're at world class facilities and you're having lunch across from Olympians and that can be really inspiring as well.

On the incoming freshmen
We have four incoming freshmen and I talked about the two red shirts freshmen from last year. The two red shirt freshmen, Danielle Price and Anyse Smith, both have an opportunity to play right away. Having spent a year in the system and I think they are going to be comfortable enough to compete from day one. Dani plays middle and she's 6'3"/6' 4", long, lean, plays very high and can score very well. Anyse Smith is a really dynamic athlete. She is 5'9"/5' 10" and touches 10'4"/10'5", and probably hits as hard as anyone in our gym. I am excited about those two players having an opportunity to compete after waiting a year.

As far as true freshmen, Allie Moger from Dallas (a middle blocker) has a lot of potential. She has some tele tendonitis, so she will be delayed. We probably won't start jumping her until the second week. I think she has a lot of potential to play in the middle or the right very early. Jenna Ewert is a fantastic setter from Northern California. I think it will be interesting to see where she fits in; we have a fantastic setter as well who is a sophomore, but Jenna will have an opportunity to compete as well. Zoe Neverdowski and Taylor deProsse both are most likely going to play defensive specialists for us; both really talented young kids. Zoe has got a fantastic serve, I can see her coming in and seeing time as a serving specialist. On top of that, we have some kids that are rising juniors that maybe haven't played a whole lot yet: Justine Spann and Lauren Dorrell. I think they are going to have opportunities, so we are going to really need them to compete right away from day one. We have a lot of seniors and a lot of upperclassmen but we have a lot of young kids that I am excited to see what they can do and what kind of roles they can fill for us.

On the schedule, especially at the end of the season with six out of eight matches on the road
We do our best not look too far ahead, but we are aware of what the end of our season looks like. Every team is a better team at home and so we have to make the most of our opportunities at home and we have to make sure we get good wins and good wins over teams that are possibly rated higher than us and then the end of our season when were tired mentally and physically we have to find a way to push through that and go on the road at UCLA and at Utah and those type of things and do something special. Because we know we are going to need to do that whether we are fighting for a conference championship or fighting to get to the NCAA championship or fighting for a seed; we know we have to beat some really good teams to do that. There are differences in what type of load we put on our players on a home week and an away week and if it's back-to-back-to-back away weeks what we do in practice and what we talk about are a little different, so we will address those things. That being said, there is nothing that these two (Alexa Smith and Naghede Abu) haven't seen and haven't prepared for. They are going to be up to the task.

Senior outside hitter Alexa Smith
On being a senior leader
I think our senior leadership this year is going to be great. Between me, Naghede and Gabby, I think we all have a different way of leading. Some of us are more vocal and some of us are more lead by example. I think the way our team is gelling right now, our chemistry is great and everyone really respects each other. We have to set the standard as the seniors I think, but I think our team holds itself to a high enough standard that they are all going to follow in the right footsteps.

On if making the Sweet 16 last season makes her hungrier this season to go further
Absolutely, I mean every year you want to make it far in the tournament, but I think especially it being our senior season, we want to go as far as we can and that is the ultimate goal.

On training at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs
I think going off what Jesse said, it's just a great time for all of us to spend time together and just really focus on volleyball. We don't have to worry about school at that time of year and can really focus on volleyball. And like he said, last year we were in the cool tub with an Olympian and after that we saw him in the Olympics. So just a really cool atmosphere where you interact with people like that and feel inspired.

On reflecting on her All-American season and the opportunity to do something special again this season
Within the midst of being super busy and everything, I definitely do sit back. I think especially going into my senior year, it has gone by so fast, but I am really taking in every moment right now. Coming back in July, I think us seniors really made a point of getting the most out of every rep in the weight room and open gym and I really want to carry that into the season as well. Especially being my last season. I think one thing that really resonates with me is I am so proud to represent my home state and I am so thankful to be here and to be able to wear that name across my chest, it really does mean a lot to be here. I'm really excited for this last season.

On which team your looking forward to playing most
I wouldn't say there is a specific match, every night in the Pac-12 is going to be a fight and I think that is the most fun part about playing in this conference. Colorado State for sure I think is going to be a fun one. It's always a fun rivalry game and the fact that we get to play on our home floor this year will be especially exciting.

Senior middle blocker Naghede Abu
On if making the Sweet 16 last season makes her hungrier this season to go further
I think last year it ended on a very sour note for us with the loss against Nebraska. I feel like everyone on the team felt like they could have done a little bit more to make the loss not as bad. This season our mentality is to just go after it and see how far we can get.

On talking to the team about goals
I think if anybody, I have been very vocal with my teammates about what we hope to achieve. While we don't necessarily have a set goal, one of the things we do a good job of stressing is just to make sure you're getting better every day. So, when you go into the gym and you get corrected on a mistake make sure the next day when you go in the gym make sure you don't get corrected on the same mistake. So, that is just our mentality going in and if we are getting better every day and doing our best to be the best we possibly can be, then no one can really beat us. We are unstoppable at that point.

On which team your looking forward to playing most
For me, I just always enjoy going back to Southern California, so the USC and the UCLA games. I grew up in Southern California, so just getting to play against them is fun. I have a lot of friends that go there so it is kind of like a mini friendly rivalry I guess, so I always look forward to doing that, and playing in front of friends and family.

Players Mentioned

Naghede Abu

Brynna DeLuzio

Lauren Dorrell

Jenna Ewert

Allie Moger

Zoe Neverdowski

Danielle Price

Alexa Smith

Anyse Smith

Justine Spann

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