Q & A With Women's Volleyball Head Coach Phil Pisano
1. WHAT IS YOUR GENERAL THOUGHT ON HOW THE SEASON HAS STARTED AND WHERE YOUR TEAM STANDS RIGHT NOW?
I'm pleased with how
our team has meshed so far this season. We have had much more competition
in practice this season and have many players capable of performing on the
court. I'm very happy that we haven't had any issues with players being
selfish or putting themselves ahead of the group. Our closeness as a team
has been a positive factor for us in big matches and pressure situations to
this point.
2. WHO IS PERFORMING
WELL FOR THE TEAM?
Honestly, I feel that
all the players have done well so far this season. Obviously, we have asked
for a lot of leadership from our senior class and they have responded, as
has our lone junior, Deanna Ciccarelli. I'm also pleased with the
improvement over the first month of the season in our sophomores and
freshmen, as we've gotten big contributions from this group.
3. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT
OUT OF THIS UPCOMING WEEKEND?
This weekend we head
to the Gallaudet Tournament in Washington D.C. We could potentially face
two 2005 NCAA Tournament teams and overall it will be a very strong
tournament. We have shown the ability to play at a high level this season,
and we will need to put some strong performances together in order to have
success this weekend.
4. HAS ANYBODY REALLY
SURPRISED YOU WITH WHAT THEY BROUGHT BACK FROM THE OFFSEASON/PRESEASON?
It's always exciting
for the coaches and players to begin a new season. I feel our players came
in to preseason in pretty good shape, and that has helped us in getting off
to a fast start. My expectations for all of them are very high, so I
wouldn't say I've been surprised, but I'm encouraged to see that we've been
getting valuable contributions from a lot of different players, including
our freshmen.
5. WHAT IS THE
BIGGEST CHALLENGE HEADING INTO THE REMAINING PART OF THE SEASON?
Our biggest challenge
will be to not allow ourselves to be content with how we have started the
season. We want to be an elite program and to do that we must continue to
get better each day. The bulk of our conference schedule remains and we
must be prepared for the AMCC teams to be gunning for us. Beyond that, we
plan on continuing to work on things in the second half of the season that
will make us a more difficult team to play in November.
6. WHAT IS YOUR
EXPECTATION FOR THE END OF THE SEASON AND POSTSEASON?
We want to host and win the AMCC championship again this season. Doing so would put us in the NCAA Tournament, where our goal is to advance in the tournament and be a very competitive team at that level. I feel confident that if we continue to work really hard and stay focused on the big picture, we will reach our goals this year.