Nov. 12, 2012

Ole Miss head volleyball coach Joe Getzin spoke with the media Monday afternoon about the Rebels' last weekend of matches against Tennessee and No. 16 Florida, and their upcoming weekend against Mississippi State and Arkansas.

Video of press conference

Ole Miss Head Volleyball Coach Joe Getzin

Opening statement…
“We took two on the chin this last week. We lost to Tennessee, who was the best team we’ve played, on Friday evening. We just did not perform. We didn’t step up to the challenge in front of us. They played extremely well. We got it handed to us a little bit. The kids did a really good job of coming back and meeting the challenge of a good Florida team, a team that is in first place in the league. We played them very competitively and came up a little bit short. I was proud of the team’s competitiveness and the fight that they showed on Sunday. At some point, that is what it becomes about and you continue to build for the future. We were 22-22 in both of the first two sets and had opportunities to push them further. We just didn’t make plays at the end.

“Moving forward, we have Mississippi State on Friday night at their place. While they’re not doing well, it is never as easy as that because they’re Mississippi State. They always have a good crowd for us. With their coach being from State, he’ll have them revved up and ready to play well. We have to continue to build on that and what we can accomplish this weekend. Then we go to Arkansas on Sunday. They’re a team that we can do some damage against if we play like we did this past Sunday.”

On the importance of the Ole Miss-Mississippi State rivalry…
“Being from the state of Mississippi, we feel like we’re the flagship for the state. We want to carry ourselves that way. Not having Mississippians, it’s not as intense on a personal level as it would be with football or basketball. Neither of the teams have Mississippians.”

On what the team plans to do differently against Arkansas the second time around…
“We played them well for a couple of the sets here. The biggest thing is getting the right matchups. Our freshmen middles are as good as anyone in the league. Even Florida couldn’t stop our middles. If we can handle our first contacts and get our balls to the middles, we can cause them defensive problems. After that, we just need a player or two to step up. We match up well with them and it should be an exciting match.”