Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
And we want get you back here on Hot tod
final segment here on this show one of the twenty
twenty five twenty sixth season. And are we ready for
some volleyball at the Betty Englestead Sue Center this weekend?
We sure are we welcome into the program head coach
Jesse Tupac. Have you Indie volleyball? Glad to have you
(00:21):
here again, coach. We're looking forward to a new season.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
Yeah, great to have you. I'll just say this, I'm
still learning your roster. I'm not gonna lie. I think
a lot of your fans just general public wise, are
probably like, Okay, we gotta learn some new folks. What's
interesting about this roster is some of your youngsters that
I mean are truly young. We're able to get to
school in the spring and be part of your spring
(00:47):
preparations and then get through the summer. And then also
some of your transfer some were fall transfers that got
here right at school. But it's been an interesting coming
together basically. But if you thought that everybody got here,
you know, in August, that's not exactly how it worked.
You've had some time to work with these young ladies.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Absolutely. Yeah, we've been talking about this twenty twenty five
class for a really long time since they were all committed,
and it's so exciting that they're finally here. The benefit
is that three of our five freshmen joined us in January.
They graduated high school early, and they're with us for
the entire spring. We also have five transfers that joined
us this year. Three of those five transfers were also
with us in the spring. So while we have ten
(01:26):
new faces, six of those athletes spent the entire spring
with us and competed in every single competition, in every
single practice, and they feel like they are returning players
for us, and so really it feels like there's only
four new people that were trying to acclimate to our program.
But ultimately we've got a lot of new faces that
are going to produce at a really high level and
are really excited hap them with us.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
So listen to listening to Paige Barber a little bit
yesterday one of the returners, and she said, you know,
what's been really fascinating that she's kind of enjoyed about
this whole process is that even though a lot of
these are new faces, whether they be transfers that have
played other places or new you know, because they're fresh.
(02:05):
But it's been really kind of been an injection a
little bit of it's gotten her interest a little bit
and she enjoys going out and having team activities and
team building because I'm learning new stuff all the time.
That was my takeaway from Pages Thoughts the other day,
and I think she's right on it.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Yeah, and she's really frustrated. It's harder to kill the ball, right.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
That's what she said. She said, Actually, what's been most
interesting is practice, is that she said, to find new
and unique ways. They are challenging her a veteran about
how to find ways to get the ball to the floor.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Yeah. You know, it's really cool when you know you're
bringing all of these new athletes and you've got people
like Paige and Lauren Peagani and Asy McCormick who have
been starters for multiple years for our program and there's
no guarantee that they're going to play because the level
of competition is so much higher. And wow, there's a
little bit of frustration in like, oh, I've got to
learn how to do new things and hit different shots.
But there's also an exciting to that as well. I mean,
at the end of the day, when we bring in
(02:58):
new people, you're either gonna get better you can get
beaten out. And it turns out that all of our
Resurinian players have gotten better.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
That's great, I mean. And one of the things that
was so interesting in your comments here in recent days
coming out of the Jamestown exhibition on Saturday, you had
a great turnout of student fans checking out the team
for the Ghost first go round. But one of the
things that I think you mentioned was a player like
Page Barber, who's been such a reliable player for you
(03:24):
to go to in her career, getting good swings from
the edges. You know, she's found ways to even expand
her game with some back row attacks and things of
that nature. And those are you know, we've had in
the history of you and d volleyball players that can
attack from the back row, and that's such a different
element that really puts teams a little bit more unbalanced
(03:47):
at that point.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Absolutely, we know that offenses score more when you have
more hitters at speed, and so having four hitters is
better than having three hitters, and having three hitters is
better than having two hitters, and the reality is that
pages game in pre seasons wasn't at a place where
she was ready to play six rotations getting ready to
play defense. He wasn't ready to pass for all six
rotations for three rotations, for sure. But now that she's
(04:08):
developed the other parts of her game, that allows her
to stay on the floor longer, which gives us other
opportunities to exploit the things that she was already good at,
like her ability to attack out of the background.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Well, it's really interesting. So you talk a little bit
about the regulars, and you've got your Katie's and we
should mention Katie's back as well as senior Atowisetta. And
the interesting thing about Katie is she's another one of
those players and you've had them in your time here
where you've been able to kind of work with some versatility.
Not every player comes in with that versatility. Katie Revere
(04:40):
certainly has allowed that versatility to get herself on the floor,
and then that's kind of blossomed because of it.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Absolutely she I mean, Katie started the first half of
the season last year as one of our starting opposites
as an attacker. By the end of the season, she
was our starting center We had our meeting this week
and we were talking about all the different potential places
that she playing, the roles that she could be in,
and the reality is there's four or five different positions
that she could play where she would absolutely impact our team.
So it's not if she's going to impact the team,
(05:09):
it's how she's going to impact the team. And that's
true for a lot of different athletes because they've developed
their skill sets so robustly.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
When you look at this team, mixture of youngsters and
transfers and current players. And you mentioned the push right
now and Coach Schmidt talked a lot about that as well.
In regards to earning a job, you got the work
to do and nothing is given. You got to go
out and earn it. And that's what's happening. And I
don't know that it gets all sorted in one exhibition
(05:35):
or a handful of practices, and maybe these early games here.
First of all, you get to be at the Betty
opening weekend of school. I don't know if that has
that ever.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Happened, not in my tenure. No, this is the first
time that we will be at home the first week
of school since I've been here.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
That's incredible for your players. Number one, kind of you
just get a regular routine going. But number two, the
teams you're bringing in the gaels of Saint Mary's out
in California, they're making their way here from on the
eastern part of the US out of Philadelphia, probably different styles.
And I'm been assuming you're still gonna try to figure out,
you know, let's see what this whole rotation thing looks like.
(06:11):
It doesn't have to be ready set goal start of
coning match one. It's gonna evolve a little bit here
over the next several weeks.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Absolutely, we found that through the non conference and the
preseason section that we've had thus far, that the competition
is incredibly high, and our team has shown a lot
of forty suit and their ability to come up and
show up every single day the same way. But I
gotta be honest, we don't know what our lineup is.
We've still got three days of practice.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Before we got good luck Scout in the Hawks right now, folks,
that's good luck Scout in the Hawks.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Well, what do we know about Saint Mary's coming in
That will be your first opponent.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yeah, So Saint Mary's We've got on Friday night, and
we're really excited to play them. It's a very strong
program at the WCC. They've been to a Final Four,
they've been to multiple NCBLA tournaments, and this year they
have a brand new head coach and Tyler Hildegrand. And
Tyler had been the head coach at Long b State
previously and then he took a year and went to
US is the associate head coach. It's now the head
coach of Saint Mary's and so he's got a lot
(07:04):
of experience at high level programs like USC and Nebraska.
He's also worked extensively with the national team program, especially
on the beach side of the game.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
They have a beach volleyball program at Saint Mary's. I
believe it makes sense obviously being out in California.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah, so Tyler's going to bring in a slightly different
style of play. But the convenient thing is that we
know Tyler really well. I actually coached his wife when
she was on the national team, and so, oh wow,
while it might be new for everybody else in the country,
we've got a pretty good feel for how they're going
to play. And it's more about which pieces is he
going to have in those spots that we're gonna have
to line up against.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
I had to go and check out their roster because
their men's basketball team for years has been notorious for
bringing in Australians, but he doesn't have any Australian volleyball
players yet done on his roster. So pretty California and
Western US based like you'd expect. With the Gales coming
in on Friday night, then the Temple walls tell us
a little bit about that program coming up.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, really interesting group there. So they're head coach by
Linda Hamdon Keith, who's had some really nice oppos at
NC State in Arizona State before her time at Temple.
But they've got eight freshmen and three transfers on in
their teams, so they're gonna have eleven new players that
they're trying to figure out and where they're gonna fit
and how they're gonna fit best. And I think for
us it's exciting because we also have new pieces, but
a lot of them are with us in the spring,
(08:16):
so we feel like we've got a leg up in
that space. We're gonna be able to go out and
compete really hard.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
The thing that will happen here. You're gonna get these
two matches here in Grand Forks. You'll turn around next
week you'll go to West Virginia. Of course, you played
the Mountaineers before, so maybe the programs are different. But
you'll get West Virginia, Coppin State and Liberty the following week. Correct.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, we had West Virginia last year. We beat them
in five at a great match. It was a really
fun time. Yeah, and so now we're excited to go
to their gym and try to play them in their
arena and have an elevated level of challenge for us
in that space. But the Coffin State and Liberty are
both really good programs, and so we've got them on
the road, and we are at home weekend three in
the Betty again, which is gonna be great with three
matches on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. And then we go
(09:01):
get to go out to Georgia and play Mercer West
Georgia and UT Martin, which is also gonna be a
really great tournament. And we get to go out to
Georgia on Vanessa Washington's mom's birthday, so we get to
get her home. We could see her.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Mom during the four weekend Oh, that's fantastic. That's gonna
be a wild ride too, So would you say that,
you know, the last thing, just as we get the
season started. Sometimes when you have kind of an infusion
of a lot of different, you know, players coming in,
you know, from differing areas of the country, it's almost
just as much fun for the players, but certainly just
(09:34):
as much fun for the staff to kind of see
how it all kind of meshes and comes together. It's
like an experiment.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
They're all from all over the place. They're from big cities,
they're from small towns, they're from different countries, they speak
different languages, but they all love volleyball, and they all
love U and D. And they're here to give a
show for our community.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Oh, it's gonna be a great season of U and
D volleyball. Let's get out and support the fighting Hawks
at the Betty this weekend. Here, we're ready for it.
Head coaches, good luck this weekend. Thanks for this.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Thanks, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
All right, Jesse Tupac, everybody, we're glad. Yes, show one
is in the books, folks. It's been a good one
to get our season started, and we're glad you came along.
For the ride as well, and of course you'll be
able to do so each and every week from six
to seven all across the Fighting Hawks Radio Network Number one.
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(10:23):
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Speaker 2 (10:29):
And every week.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
You're gonna be able to interact, mingle with you and
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Check it out. She's outstanding. She's here each and every
week with us. Tim Hennessy, as I mentioned, happy anniversary
to him and his wife Tamra. They are celebrating thirty
(10:52):
one years today, the longtime voice of North Dakota Hockey.
So happy anniversary, Tim. We'll see him here in a
few weeks time again. I'm Paul Ralston, so glad to
have you back with us for another exciting season ahead
to Melon her entire team here at the Bible six Pub.
We're gonna be here all season long. Every Tuesday night,
(11:12):
getting ready for big games with our coaches. It's another
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