Rice Tournament Champions

Thanks to Russ Ross for capturing the excitement of our weekend.

It is amazing how one day can totally change your mood.  The coaching staff sat in the lobby on Friday night after our 5 set loss  to UTSA wondering where did we go wrong, what could we have done, do we switch from our 6-2 to a 5-1, what subs could we have put in.  It was one of those conversations where everyone knew there was no easy answer and hindsight is 20-20, but that's what coaches do, we run through the whole game and figure out what we could have changed to make it better.

One of our goals for the Saturday was to get our SWAG back.  This word means alot to our players and it is the feeling that no one in the gym can stop them and they are all focused and the intangibles are at the highest level.  That was our goal on Saturday, the girls to bring the SWAG and let the coaches bring the X's and O's.

The girls brought their SWAG and much more on Saturday.  Our leaders stepped up and became go-to players and we could see the fire in their eyes.  We went on to sweep Texas Tech in 3, about 12 hours after we were sitting in the lobby discussing the in's and out's of our loss to UTSA.  Then 7 hours later, we were serving the first ball for the championship.  With a win against Rice in 3 or 4, we were tournament champions, with a win in 5, it was going to go to points and set records, a place we didn't want to go.  With a loss, we finished the tournament a very disappointing 1-2.

The girls answered the call and we swept a very tough Rice team.  Rice has a very quick transition attack with their middles and we challenged our middle blockers to find them fast and take away their easy shot and we did just that.  We challenged Allegra Wells to block their best attacker (AVCA All-American) and the first 2 of her swings, Allegra put up a huge block and the tone was set.

Coach Getzin continues to preach to this team, how hard winning is.  He always tells them anyone can lose, but only some teams win.  Morgan Springer told us this really sank in this weekend, she stated the Rice match was one of the hardest matches she ever played in, it was a higher level of focus and determination.  To her, winning was really, really hard, but also very fun!

What a great weekend for the Ole Miss Rebels.  We overcame obstacles, re-evaluated our goals, and watched our go-to players become leaders!  So proud of all 14 of our players for this weekend! 

As Bill and I sat there Saturday night looking at Joe, thinking about our Friday night conversations, we all laughed.  Head coaches always know best, he stayed calm in our adversity of our loss and stuck to his guns of keeping our rotations the same and knowing our team can come back and win.  That's why he is the head coach!

First Weekend!!!

We leave tomorrow night to travel to Houston, TX for our first weekend!  The girls are looking forward to it and so is the staff.  You can follow us through the weekend on Live Stats. Here are the links for everything you need to follow our journey:

Friday, August 27th
4:30PM  v. UTSA

Live Audio

Live Stats

Saturday, August 28th

10:30AM v. Texas Tech

Live Stats

7:30PM v. Rice

Live Stats

PRESEASON COMPLETE!!!

Yesterday marked the end of preseason and the excitement is in the air.  We got through with very minor injuries (Allegra sprained her ankle, Emily got the wind knocked out of her by Allegra's butt, Kellie's toes turned black, then got infected and are now peeling and we have a bet when she will lose her toenail, Craven had an MRI on her knee to discover that it is just a bone bruise) and of course the usual soreness that all athletes have.

The work the players did this summer really paid off and we played more 6 v 6 than ever.  We spent tons of time speeding up our offense, finding middles in transition, putting in our defense and new blocking system and of course, what we feel we need to succeed, tons of ball control and serving.

Because of adding new players, we knew we were going to have to do some off-court mental training and team building as well.  Andrea Getzin came in the first day and did some awesome team building, we did mental training in perfectionism, communication, rules, role playing, buying-in, and making our own Characteristics of a Championship Team.  We also had Iron Chef nights, which the coaching staff blew away, and we had some fun dinners at Kabuki (Japanese hibachi grill) and Yacona Steakhouse (YUM!!!!).  

We believe our players are champions, but talk is cheap and we believe we are set to prove that!

Iron Chef Competition Heats Up!

Emily Kvitle helping Miranda get the perfect taste for her loaded mashed potatoes.

The pumpkin bars decorated as a sand volleyball court.

This year the team has decided to have a little cooking contest.  The team split into 5 groups.  Each group is given a budget of $175.00.  They must cook for the entire team and the coaching staff.  They must prepare an entree and a dessert and provide drinks.  After the meal, each person casts their votes on the following criteria:  presentation, taste of entree, taste of dessert, creativity of dish, and of course, we are given bonus points to the team that cooks the cheapest meal.  Group 1 was Emily, Anderson, and Allegra.  Group 2 was Miranda, Craven, Amanda, and Kara.  Group 3 is Regina, Cunningham, and Goss and they are set to cook tomorrow night.  Group 4 is Morgan, Veach, Brenea, and Kiley and they will cook on the 20th.  The last group is the staff and we will cook on the 21st.  We have had an Hawaiian theme and a Christmas theme so far with entrees consisting of Italian Beef Sandwiches, Beans, Chicken, Smashed Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole and desserts of Christmas cookies and a Pumpkin Bread with icing!  The food is great and the teams are having fun! 

ALUMNI WEEKEND!!!!

Alumni Weekend is all scheduled and ready!  We are excited to invite our Alumni back to share the beginning of our SEC schedule on September 17-19th.  If you are an alum and have not received an invitation in the mail or through Evite, please contact Shannon Wells, Assistant Volleyball Coach, at sewells@olemiss.edu to get more information. 

Here are the events planned:
Friday, September 17th:
7:00PM Volleyball match versus Alabama (Alums announced between sets 2 and 3)
9:30PM or after match:  Alumni Social Time on the Square  

Saturday, September 18th:
9:00AM  Join UMAA in Starnes for football pre-game *drinks and food provided
9:30AM  Join the volleyball team tailgating in the Grove before football kicks off
11:00AM  Football game versus Vanderbilt

Sunday, September 19th:
10:00AM Brunch at the Inn at Ole Miss *Join the team for their pre-game meal
1:00PM  Volleyball match versus Mississippi State *on CSS, affiliate of ESPN

We look forward to hosting you for a great weekend!

First off day of Preseason!

The team has been working extremely hard, we have had 7 intense sessions of training so far, so they are enjoying their well-deserved day off today.  So far in practice we have covered all of our basic key words for every skill.  Our key words are short phrases we can tell the girls to fix something in their technique.  This allows us to give quick feedback to them.  For example, when we are passing our words our posture, square, block, step, hold.  Our players know what each of these words mean and when we give them a word, they know how to fix their technique to gain better product.

We have also covered all of our offensive sets, serving zones,  out-of-system attacking, our neutral blocking system and our purple and red defense.   It has been alot of information for our newcomers and a great review for our returners.  Overall, the team is doing great.  Yesterday we finished with 2 great sessions during the day, with the teams going after it.  It is really fun to watch 6 v 6!

Today was a short lift, followed by a swim workout and now to mental training.  Our mental training today covers dealing with perfectionism, how it affects each player, and how that affects the team and getting to our goal of winning the SEC West.

To follow us each session, please follow us on our Twitter page:  www.twitter.com/olemissvb.

Instant Positive Response I.P.R.

Our new program we implemented this year is called I.P.R.  It is our mission this year to remain positive at all times.  Volleyball is a game of failures and the team that handles their mistake or failure the best will win the match. Our goal this year is not only to limit our errors, mistakes, and/or failures, but to deal with them the best when they occur.  When we see opponents who are frustrated, we like to jump on the opportunity to keep that player down or possibly make the whole team frustrated.

Each player was given a wristband that says Ole Miss Rebels on them.  Everyone started off with them on their left wrist.  Each time an athlete says something negative or complains, they have to switch their band to the other hand and their day starts over.  If someone else hears you complain, they snap their band, letting you know that they heard the complaint or negativity, and the person who was negative must switch their band.  The goal is to be positive for 15 days straight.  Each time you switch your band, a new 24 hours starts over again.

Along with staying positive, our players have come up with their own Instant Positive Response.  Basically, when the outcome doesn't go our way, instead of pouting and becoming frustrated, each player takes a deep breathe, says their I.P.R. and we move on.  We have had some very interesting I.P.R. and some we can't put on the blog, but examples of I.P.R. would be, Get 'er done!, It's Worth It!, You can do it!, etc...

I.P.R. has worked great so far.  The team is having fun catching each other being negative (which usually leads to a laugh and a "Gotcha!" and the team is being very honest when they become negative as well.  It is amazing how negative we are on ourselves.  The team, coaching staff, managers, athletic trainers, and strength coaches are all in on it!

Who will be the first one to 15 straight days?  You will have to keep checking the blog to find out!

Christmas Day...Ole Miss Style!!!!

It's Christmas time in Oxford, MS!!!  Today the girls got a first glimpse of their new Nike gear!  Follow their adventure into the locker room to check out their new gear.  I'll take blame and didn't charge the batteries to film the whole adventure, but enjoy the beginning of our fun holiday!

Summer Season at Ole Miss

"The more we sweat in peace, the less we bleed in war." 

This is probably the best way to describe the Ole Miss Volleyball team's summer schedule.  Determined to get back on top of the SEC, the ladies made a commitment to stay this summer and put themselves to work to get better on and off the court. 

The NCAA allows athletes to stay at their university during the summer and have workouts with their strength and conditioning coach.  Unfortunately, during this time, the coaching staff is not allowed to have any time to train their athletes, we can't even watch them play.  This means the team is on their own from the end of April to the first day of preseason in early August.  For a team, that is striving to win championships, this time is crucial. 

We are lucky that our team has a great core of leaders that kept the team working hard all summer long.  Jami Clinton, our strength coach, had our players working 5x a week with weights and conditioning.  The girls favorite:  STADIUMS!!!!   You see the picture, now imagine climbing all the steps, I told you it was a favorite!

The summer heat can be pretty demanding in Mississippi so our players not only made the commitment to work every day, they also made the commitment to start the day at 6:30AM.  All summer long, our athletes committed themselves to getting better off-the-court and they started their day at 6:30AM.

On top of work in the weight room, our athletes also committed themselves to open gyms.  Due to NCAA rules we are not allowed to watch the open gyms but we did received great feedback from our players who all said they felt as if they really improved this summer.

The highlight of the summer would have to be senior,  Miranda Kitts, who almost broke a tear, as she touched 10' on the vertec for the first time in her career.  A little hard work will always pay off.

Our girls definitely did a ton of sweating during our peace time, and now it is time to see how much bleeding we do as we face the SEC!  Preseason starts Sunday!  GO REBS!

Shannon Wells added to Ole Miss Volleyball Staff

Shannon Wells has been named an Assistant Volleyball Coach at Ole Miss. She comes to Ole Miss after three seasons as an assistant coach at Winthrop University, two years at Morehead State, and one year at her alma mater, University of Southern Indiana. She is filling the coaching position previously held by Molly Alvey, who left to become the head coach at Houston.

Wells spent one year under Alvey as an Assistant Coach at the University of Southern Indiana we she helped coach the squad to a 15-1 record in 2004 and the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) regular season title. The squad also claimed the Tournament title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament. She then went onto Morehead State where she as Assistant Coach alongside former Ole Miss Assistant Coach Kris Grunwald where she helped the squad improve from a 6-26 record to a 21-13 record.

Wells will be fully involved with every aspect of the program with her biggest attribute in the recruiting field.

"I have always wanted to be an assistant at the highest level possible where there was a sense of family and competitiveness and I believe Ole Miss is that place," Wells states. "From the very first time I stepped on campus, I knew this is where I belonged. We have a great young team that has the fight to win and Bill Egbert and Joe Getzin are two amazing people that will not only be great mentors but longtime friends."

"We're very excited to have Shannon Wells join our staff here at Ole Miss," Getzin said. "She's one of the exciting young coaches in our game and will bring a great energy and recruiting experience with her to this staff. She's a complete coach and we can give her a lot of responsibility and fully trust that she will do a great job."