DuBose doesn’t see Aggie hitters letting up
This article is a continuation of Wednesday’s Statesman conversation with volleyball head coach Grayson DuBose about his team’s record-setting season.
Utah Statesman (US): What were your expectations heading into the WAC Tournament?
Grayson DuBose (GD): We knew we’d have to win it to make the NCAA Tourney. That opportunity shows itself if you’re fortunate enough to win the first two games. People keep coming up and saying “oh, Hawaii, Hawaii,” but we need to remember that we were down 13-10 (in a game going to 15) in that fifth game (of the WAC semifinal) against New Mexico State. In our league, everyone’s a pretty good volleyball team. Better than everybody thinks, for sure. So really, two points was the difference between us winning and losing the tournament at one point, so that’s really cool. That spoke a lot for the opportunity we took to show some resiliency.
I always think we have a chance. I’m kind of like that guy on Dumb and Dumber, who thinks they have a chance. You have to believe you have a chance, that “anything can happen on any given Sunday.” We put some pressure on (Hawaii), and they weren’t able to respond. I mean, they didn’t even lose a set in the WAC! We were under stress all year, so we knew how to respond in those situations.
US: What were your hopes heading into the NCAA Tournament?
GD: We wanted to compete well. The draw is what it is, so you can’t do anything about that stuff. We weren’t able to execute quite in the manner that we had the week before. But, it was a great experience. I mean, they were the Pac-10 champs. That’s not such a bad conference. At the end of the day, that’s a cool thing to say you were able to do. I mean, only 19 percent of all (Div. 1) teams in the country have the opportunity to do that (play in the NCAA Tournament) in a given year.
US: Did the team look at reaching the NCAA Tournament as a bonus, or as something they could actually win?
GD: (Reaching the NCAA Tournament) was a goal right from the beginning. At the beginning of the year, we thought that was what we could do. We needed to still do our work throughout the WAC tournament. We still didn’t expect to sit back once we made (the NCAAs). We are striving for sustained excellence, though. Coach Morrill is a great example of that. You want to talk about sustained excellence, this guy’s done it for a long time. Hopefully I attribute to that a little bit.
US: What did the seniors mean to the program?
GD: As wonderful as they were at playing volleyball, they’re even better people. They’ve beaten some nice teams over the course of their careers. They’ve been a fun group. You can’t say you always enjoying being around certain people, but I can honestly say that about this group.
US: What is your expectation for next season and the program going forward, and what does making the NCAAs do for it?
CD: We were able to accomplish our goals, and that’s a cool thing to be able to do. People around the state are starting to notice what we’re doing. We have a wonderful place here, with a supportive student body. I really appreciate them. It’s not 10,000 strong, but they heckle and I’m proud that they support USU athletics in general. I’ve had opposing coaches tell me how difficult it is to play here, and that’s an attribute to the students. We have a great university here, and we take that to our recruits. It helps to tell them that this year, we were 3-1 against in-state teams, including having beaten BYU. Our only loss was to UVU, which we were up two sets to zip and should have never let slip away. Josselyn (White) got that injury and … ugh.
We were the only team in the state to go to the NCAAs this year. We’ve beaten BYU the last two years, beat Utah at Utah, and Weber. You sell that stuff throughout your program. But the university sells itself. Cache Valley sells itself. I don’t know if I could put (the importance of this seasons’ success) into words, but it’s kind of a big deal.
– rhett.wilkinson@aggiemail.usu.edu