Morrison previews upcoming road trips to South Carolina and Alabama

Key notes from Jamie Morrison interview

• Our team has had a sense of urgency. We try to create that at practice. Every time I ask for it, they give it to me. They know when they need to create a sense of urgency, and they go to finish it. They have responded every single time I’ve asked.
   
• The brain is not programmed to be focused for two and a half hours. It is to look to the past and the future. To learn from stuff and to find threats. We have to train our brains to be here and be present in the moment. It is not just advice for the 18 to 22-year-old players, but also to the 45-year-old coaches at times to take a breath at times. Not every team responds to that, and I am just really proud that our team has.
   
• I think we won in some different ways. We talked in the Missouri match. They are a team that gets the ball up continuously and sends up free balls. In the past, that has frustrated us. It happened to a T, but we never got frustrated. It might take us five times to get a kill, but it wasn’t our normal, efficient pass-set-kill team. We didn’t let that be our identity. We wanted a different way that night. I remember looking at the scoreboard. We hit .207 and they hit .047. We knew we were going to have to win that way. Then, in the Vanderbilt matchup, the parallel between the two, we have been working on our service game. We were able to make them uncomfortable the entire night. We took advantage of those opportunities, we followed the game plan, and then our offense took off in that match.
   
• We were on the phone with the people who were calling the match. They were talking about Logan Lednicky, then Ifenna Cos-Okpalla the next two weeks, then Kyndal Stowers a couple of weeks before and before that, Emily Hellmuth. We have multiple ways to kill you. That is the sign of a really good volleyball team. If you are going to take something away or someone has a bad night, there is somebody to pick it up. Ten stuff blocks in one match for Cos-Okpalla. Blocking is the thing that will make someone elite. She is really good at that.
   
• It was cool to see A&M’s running game going all of a sudden. If you can get both things going, it is hard to take them away. Volleyball is very similar. If you can have a lot of offensive options and can pass in a way that you can run your offense, then you can be really dangerous. We are in that spot right now, and both teams are headed in the right direction.
   
• You want to build a team with that goal in mind. Some of it is personnel-driven, some is development-driven. I always say talent takes time. Some of it, you need time to get everyone to be well-rounded, to have a lot of offensive range and develop your ability to pass in order to run your offense. You can start with the end in mind, but as you are getting into it, we have done a good job of understanding where our team is. Year 1 was getting into the NCAA Tournament. Year 2, can we make the small push? Now, we see how good we can be. What is our full potential of the people we have in the gym right now? It depends on the year and who you have.
   
• A mentor I have had is Julio Velasco, who coaches the women’s Italian team. He said you should have a movie of what your team should look like at the end of the year. The movie will be different every year, but you need to inch towards that. The DFW weekend, we went away from that. But ever since, we have been on the right track. We are not there yet, but this is a really good team that we can be.
   
• Maddie Waak is No. 1 in assists per set. I was surprised, not because I didn’t think she could do it, but because I didn’t know the statistic. There were all of these lists of top-10 and top-five setters. She wasn’t on them. She can dish the rock at a really high level. She has developed her game really well. I think she is one of our best servers on the team. It may have been her best defensive game weekend. She is a well-rounded player, but the ability to run the offense and to have all of these options... I give a lot of credit to Jeff Fiorenza, our assistant coach. They’ve tag-teamed on it. They have done a really good job at identifying holes in the game and making sure they pick people apart.
   
• South Carolina has some arms. They had a good record in non-conference. I give their coach credit. They are playing good volleyball. They have some good size for blocking. We have to make sure we are dialed into the game plan.
   
• It is happening. This is amazing. We are, kind of, there. Our program got many Emails after the game, saying they hadn’t gone to a volleyball game before. That is pride. It took a lot of work, and it will take a lot more work. I am honored that people come and see the beauty, the fun, the game and the environment.
   
• On October 8, we play No. 3 Kentucky. We set a record for attendance in the state of Texas. Texas didn’t like that, and they set the record back. We play them at the end of the month. I used to like the color orange, but that is fading away.