UCF Volleyball Coach Matt Botsford Breaks Down Knights' First Big 12 Wins

You know, the story for these last few weeks for us in examining matches that we've been really competitive in, one, both from this season and last season, much of the difference has come in terms of how we've defended. And sometimes that is through blocking, sometimes it is the floor defense, oftentimes the combination of those things. But that is what has been missing thus far in the Big 12. And so in Houston, we started to see some of that come back. It's been a point of emphasis in training. and then tonight and this afternoon another example where defense could carry us through some rough patches and I think being able to lean on that and the girls getting confidence in their ability to disrupt other teams on that side of the ball put us in position so really pleased with that what's it been like having Michaela adjusting to take on that full-time job I mean she's she's a confident young player which I absolutely love she's used to winning her whole high school career And so there was no question that it was going to be a faster transition for her because she also experienced this last season towards the end. So I think the players understand that it is immediate. The expectations haven't changed. And she is such a different setter from Abby in both unique and really positive ways, but she provides some different problems for the opponent. And so when she can take advantage of that, we all take advantage of it. The Houston match presented a familiar situation for you guys. You don't go up two sets, the opponent comes back, but close fifth set. That time around, though, you finished it. How big was it for you to finish that match after considering everything that's come before it? Talking about tonight? Yeah. In that fourth set, when I think it was, I don't know, 11-11 or something along those lines, the conversation we had collectively was both teams were starting to play cleaner and expecting that this was very likely going to be 22-21, 23-22, just nobody be able to get separation and we have to get more comfortable in those moments and I think right now we've lacked a little bit of that there was some edge there I thought Natasha was great from that perspective, McKayla and then of course Sasha's impact on the match but she goes up there and she can change and pull the emotion to our side of the court with some of the things that she's able to do from a blocker and attacker but yeah they need to be in the fire but they need to be able to come out on top to use that experience for the future so I do think that fifth set against Houston played a big role in being comfortable at the end of that fourth set during the second set you could see like a little bit of hesitation too much too much what do you say as a coach to kind of get them fired up you know I'm still trying to find the right thing to say but you know to me we had a I think a 15-11 lead in that set and even with that it looked as though they were waiting for something to go wrong and that is a problem and then they got things back on track but I think we just have to play a certain way and you've got to be able to endure the ups and downs at the execution level but emotionally you're invested the same way from zero to 25 so I think we've made some progress on that but you're right and you weren't the only one that saw that we as a staff saw that and we're trying to get down to the bottom of why because I do think it puts you at a disadvantage even if we were to win that set I think it gives belief to the other side of the court that you're having an impact I think it affects the people around you and so we've got to be better in those moments you talked about floor defense three three players getting double digit digs today just take elaborate a little bit about what you saw there um we'll have to see who they were i would know that Lexi, Alexa, Ava and Michaela yeah um well let me start by talking about Ava Houston match now this match this is what we've grown accustomed to and again the attacking numbers look great but she has been outstanding defensively the last two matches out the back row so that is progress for us and it has a big influence on the team so I love that Michaela again provides different things back there her foot speed and her ability to read she's going to get a lot of those junk balls up she did a good job with that tonight so yeah we've got we need people to lead the way and everybody to step up on the defensive end and they did that this afternoon you've got all underclassmen in like those specialized positions now for the second time in your tenure what kind of challenges can that present and then what adjustments do you see that as well well some of the end game scenarios there were plenty of experienced players out there and we made some silly plays and even there at the end we made up for it with a big block and some other things but we had a lot of opportunities to make things easier for us we had the same thing in set five against Houston we didn't make it easier on us however when it mattered most we were able to make a play so right now regardless of their freshman or their senior we need to be more in tune with what the correct volleyball play is based on the situation and i don't think that we did that as well as we could have. Do you have any updates now that we're a little bit more on on Abby and Sarah? No updates. I think both we're waiting for more information. This is going to be more than a short-term thing. So knowing that the real question will become if they're available at what does that timeline look like but it's certainly not the next week. So we're going to have to wait for more information from medical and talking with them and see where that. More than short term for both of them? Yes. I'm sorry, but Texas Tech coming up on Friday, what is the biggest takeaway from this match that you want the team to carry into that next game, and what areas are you guys going to really work on? I want a team and a group of players that have an ability to play with an edge, and I know that's hard to define, but it is something visually you can see. As you pointed out when it was absent, I think we have to be comfortable playing with that edge. Again, whether you're down five or up 15 or the score is tied and I thought in that fourth set I saw more of that and a little bit more enthusiasm for what was happening and that tends to then bleed out into some of the defensive effort it can have an impact on a crowd which it did so the more we can play like that and I should say even more important is the more we can train like that the easier it is to call upon it when it's needed. You've got two wins under your belt now in Big 12 play. It was a pretty good crowd today as well. Do you think that the team kind of needed that? They definitely needed it. There's no doubt. The staff needed it. The players needed it. You need something to support your own belief and they do believe in themselves but of course your confidence is going to be shaken and that's the toughest part for you as a coach. You know what they're capable of and so we were aware of what they were navigating so yeah a couple wins like that can make a big difference in keeping their spirits up and it allows us as coaches to continue to push hard where you don't feel like you're digging a deeper hole but I've been really pleased with their mental response to these tough moments and so we're getting a little bit of payoff from that here over the last few matches. West Virginia got the advantage on the block tonight just how big was it for you guys to get a win like this one where you didn't have the advantage on the block? Yeah, and interestingly enough, a lot of those blocks for West Virginia were one-on-one blocks. And so they're great plays that those blockers made. But I look at it kind of from a reverse, is that I thought Michaela got our hitters in some really positive spots, and they missed. And we tell our hitters, you know, if you've got a look you're comfortable with, you go. And if you miss, you miss. They have to make a play. West Virginia's blockers made those plays today. So I'm not too concerned about it. I do think we improved a little bit more with some of the block touches that aren't going to show up here, making it easier for the people behind the block. But yeah, whatever is required, we're going to lean on it. But it is the collection of block to defend. And even though block numbers here don't say it, the floor defense showed me a different story. So I feel pretty confident where we're at. 11 aces for you guys today. And that's a bright spot on something that's here. Yeah, Lexi served great. Natasha, almost every time she went back there, at least got us a point. And I know she had some misses, but she didn't come away empty-handed. If we earn a point back there each time, we're going to feel pretty good about it. With the serving, again, the misses weren't problematic. The timing of the misses, I think we had two misses after timeout. I think in that fourth set, we missed two or maybe three in the short span when it was towards endgame. And those are the things I referenced earlier. Those make it very difficult to take advantage of the other positives that were happening. West Virginia was in a tough service pattern, and we would bail them out with a miss serve. So that's the volleyball stuff we've got to improve. Long road trip ahead, how do you keep this new momentum going? Now that you've got two wins under, how do you keep that momentum going on the road trip? Well, right now, the rest is going to be important because that was pretty rough getting to Houston. I think our players probably got back to their rooms at 3 a.m., and then we had practice at noon, and then you have this turnaround. So one match next weekend, hopefully we get a chance physically to feel a little bit better, and then that's going to have an impact on the church. Thank you, guys. Appreciate you being here.