Oct. 8, 2012

Ole Miss Head Coach Joe Getzin:

Opening statement…
“We had a tough weekend. We went up against two of the better teams in the conference. We lost 3-0 to Kentucky, who is probably one of the best performing teams at this point in the season. We turned around on Sunday and went into four sets with Arkansas. Both times we did some good things. We’re just not sustaining at a high enough level for a long enough period of time. Statistically, we’re hitting above average of what we have been all year. The opponents are just putting up better numbers than we are. We must continue to improve upon execution at a higher level for a longer period of time. When you’re playing good teams, that’s what makes the difference. Now we’ll go on the road and face 7-0 Florida in the O’Connell Center, which is always a tough place for us to play because it’s such a different venue than what the Gillom Center is. They’re playing very well. They beat Kentucky on Sunday and Arkansas on Friday night. We’ve got our work cut out for us there. Then we will head up to take on Georgia. It is a match that can be categorized as a must-win if we want to keep postseason play alive.

“Performance wise, Kara Morgan, a junior outside hitter, continues to do an excellent job for us. She’s in the top 10 in the SEC in kills per game and (top 15) in hitting percentage in games. To get some production out of her has been a really pleasant surprise for us and we’re excited about that.”

On playing Florida and Georgia this weekend…
“For Florida, it’s more about execution at a higher level against the better team. We don’t face that kind of competition in our own gym. Sometimes the coaches have to step in and put eight people out instead of six, just so their assignments are less. We try to create some situations like that where it is a little bit tougher to execute. We just keep demanding a higher level of execution. At Georgia, it comes down to serve and pass. That’s something we can be really good at, but at times we struggle. We need to clean that up.”

On slowing down Florida’s top two players in hitting percentage…
“It all starts with your serve. The tougher that you serve, the more time you have for your defense to set up. One of their kids is extremely good. Hopefully we will get the matchup where we can put our best blocker out on her and make her hit away from us a little bit. A lot of teams have that game plan. She’s pretty tough to defend.”