Jamie Morrison & Co. host first-ever top-10 match on Wednesday

Key notes from Jamie Morrison interview

• I feel great. I have been talking to our team about a happiness scale based on the ability to make small touches and improvements on every single match. With that comes really good stats. I think a lot of things are starting to build on each other. A lot of good things have been building for us. I’m hoping we see that on Wednesday.
   
• Our program is going to be about developing well-rounded volleyball players and well-rounded humans. On the volleyball side, Ifenna Cos-Okpalla's serves have become weapons. You saw that. It’s less about the five aces, to me. She served 25 times in three sets. It’s also her ability to block, not just the offense. She’s the ultimate fighter. It pushes people in that direction. I think she imparts that on people. 
   
• One of the core tendencies is core and balance. That’s one of the things that you’re seeing this year. Everyone is hitting for high efficiency, but it might not be one person in the past. It was Logan Lednicky in the past. Forty-two kills were dispersed across the team. Lednicky will have that night, at some point. Our offense doesn’t operate like that. This is the weakness. The other piece is the passing, for those who don’t know offense.
   
• I try and get eight hours of sleep a night, or I am going to have a bad day.
   
• Kentucky has two really good outside hitters who you have to contain. There are really small adjustments we can make to contain them. The emphasis is that when we are receiving, we need to score, and when we are serving, we need to score there. We just need to go to battle. I told our team that the match could go 85 different ways. We have to win every way.
   
• I think the biggest difference between football and volleyball is that we win and lose in different ways.
   
• When I took the job, I started looking back at programs that have risen. The most recent are Louisville and Kentucky. I looked at those programs and rosters. There was a lot of studying of the types of recruits they were bringing in. For us, when we started trying to build it, we tried to do it faster. I think we’ve done a good job at that, and I’m proud of it.
   
• We talk a lot about how you can learn in three different ways: Trust, history and heartbreak. Heartbreak is usually the hardest to go through and the biggest changer. I think the losses in Dallas were the biggest lesson.
   
• This season has been a difficult schedule, but we got here. My expectation is to conserve a little here. We have Wednesday and Friday matches and then Wednesday and Sunday matches.
   
• The 12th Man has been amazing. My pregame ritual is talking to the student section. I am thankful. So if you’re any type of fan, get to Reed Arena on Wednesday. Pack it. You guys make a difference. It’s the reason why I came to this school.