Indiana University Athletics
Coach's Corner with Sherry Dunbar
4/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
April 25, 2007
Indiana volleyball head coach Sherry Dunbar sat down with IUHOOSIERS.com to discuss her thoughts on the spring season as the Hoosiers wrap up the semester.
On Indiana's spring tournament:
One of our big goals for the weekend was to end on a positive note. I think it was a tough spring for the girls. It was a tough transition, with the amount of work we put on them, and they responded. I think ending on a positive note will give them motivation to really continue their preparation for the fall. I think that is what the spring season is all about. If you only prepare in the spring and take the summer off, we're going to be right back to square one. I think that just gave them a little extra motivation, ending on a positive note and going 4-0. Whether we played great or not wasn't really the thing, but to win and have them feeling good about themselves and the hard work they put in, I thought was really important.
Overall, I thought Saturday was a good day for our program. Going 4-0, playing at home for the last event of the spring, having a lot of people come in and out and seeing the team play, having our banquet on Saturday night, I think was a very positive experience. We had some alumni and seniors come back for it and I think overall everyone just enjoyed it. It was a lot about recognizing the seniors and a lot about the future. I think it was just a cap on the tournament in a positive way.
On the play of the team:
Lauren (Ditteon) had another good day. The second half of the spring has been really good for her. I thought she started the tournament really well, and then when we got to about the middle section, she started to make a little bit of a decline. I told her before the Western Kentucky match - `I need you to step up, and as you get tired, you still have to swing for points, you still have to be a leader, you still have to play great defense.' And she really did. She came through and played really hard at the end. I thought she was a big reason why we were successful. We got beat by Western Kentucky last weekend in Indianapolis, and it was a pretty easy win for them. I thought playing them again at the end of the day, at home, just turning things around and them being able to see, in even a week's time, the progress that they made. That they came out with a positive attitude, and they wanted to compete. That is what we are trying to teach them, is how to compete. Them seeing that change, just in a week's time, I thought was really important. For them to say `hey, we just showed up and decided we were going to win, and we were going to play hard, and we were going to do these things, and it made a big difference.' I thought we were just really aggressive, offensively. We still struggled on defense, and that is going to be a constant struggle right now, to get them to do it. That has got to be an emphasis for them to work on over the summer, but at least they were competing, and when they had to get a dig, they would get a dig. They were serving pretty tough and they were just really aggressive offensively. I thought that was good.
On what the team will need to do over the summer:
We are doing individual meetings this week, so I have sat down and gone through everything I want them to concentrate on. Whether it be passing, where I think they just have to get more comfortable with themselves and have some confidence with themselves, and just doing a ton of reps of the different skills we have worked on throughout the spring. Taking a day, where they just play doubles and have fun with it, but playing a lot. Another day, where they really do some skill work in the gym on their own and put together things that we have been working on in the spring. Another day, where they really concentrate on serving because serving is such an individual confidence type of skill, and they just serve a ton of balls. Everyday, pass, because I think to be successful in the Big Ten you really have to pass, so you have three options every time you go up to swing. They just have to feel really comfortable with the techniques we are using with them and getting quality reps all the time. They are allowed to work out with Josh (Eidson), our strength coach. He is going to push them hard, but I think they know that because they've been pushed hard all spring with him. He has the same motivation as they do - he wants to make them better, he wants to help them reach these goals. I think they know that, so they are going to work hard for him. It's all about motivation right now and them seeing the future, what they want to do with the program, and them holding each other accountable for doing certain things because we can't. They have to be the leaders this summer and I think they are prepared to do that. I think they are prepared after what they saw what happened this spring. If they do these things, that things do get better, that hard work does pay off. I think that them working out hard over the summer is going to make a huge difference in our program. It is not going to change overnight, but we are going to make strives like we did this spring. In turn, they are going to be the great role models for these six players coming in. Those players are going to see the hard work that they are doing, they are going to see the accountability that is expected of them in playing for our program. I told them to be in contact with these incoming players, let them know that you have to work out over the summer and you have to be ready to come in and help us. This is not a time for you to take off. Them motivating the incoming players is going to be important.
