September 3, 2024 • 10 mins
UND Head Volleyball Coach Jesse Tupac recaps the loss to UC Irvine and New Mexico and about the win at Tulane. It's free tickets this weekend. UND is playing SLUE, Northern Iowa, and West Virginia this weekend.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
And welcome back here to Hawk Talk downtown Grand Forks
at the five oh six bub and all across the
Fighting Hawks radio network. Here tonight we transition into University
of North Dakota Volleyball at home coming up this weekend.
But before we get there, they started their weekend officially
here in Grand Forks, and or I should say officially
(00:26):
started it in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They're coming back to
Grand Forks this past weekend. Opened it up against UC Irvine,
New Mexico, which is a perennial, very solid program, and
then wrapped it up against Tulane, which they pocketed a
win after going toe to toe at the Lobos. The
previous night head coach, Jesse Tupac from you Andy Volleyball
joined the program.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah, glad to have you back. And we'd like to
congratulate North Dakota senior middle blocker Yarlene di Los Santos
Lugo as she is the Summit League defensive peak performer
of the week.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Way to go, yar Alene, who Harolen, as the team
would say, Harolne absolutely slayed this weekend.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yeah, well you're using the lingo. I'm glad you're coming
along for the ride. You got it in there. We'll
try to use the word slade more often in our
broadcast from here on out. Well, you know, overall weekend
was you your team pushed just about everybody you put
in there basically pushed, it sounds like, and you know,
really could have maybe came out with a slightly different
(01:31):
record when it was all said and done. So you
got to feel like you learned a lot and came
away with a lot of insight after Week one.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Definitely, you know, there was a there's a bit of
a not necessarily adversity, but just some challenges. And we
played two matches on Friday, and both matches started late,
and it was the first match that we played we
were forty five minutes behind schedule. The second match we
played for an hour and a half behind schedule. And
then that match against New Mexico Friday night, which was
an awesome environment. It was their primetime match. They had
(02:00):
for eight hundred people in the gym, The band was there,
the cheers there, they had a huge student section. And
then that match goes the distance. We go five sets,
we go extra points in the second, third, and fourth,
going twenty seven to twenty five, twenty seven, twenty five,
and twenty twenty six. And New Mexico is a very
good team and they have been a very good team
for a very long time. And as for us to
come into their gym with a huge crowd and to
(02:20):
play that competitive match the first week end of the
season was really really cool. Honestly until we played two
late the next day. You know, we were talking as
a staff that was probably the best collecti volleyball that
we've played in the three years that I've been here.
Oh wow. And then to see the energy in the
in the gym and the environment there, I mean, at
the end of the match, the celebration that came from
New Mexico was as if they had just made their
(02:43):
conference tournament. And to have that amount of intensity and
urgency in a first week in competition was awesome for us.
To set us up for the next the rest of
the year.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, and to have the wherewithal As you mentioned on
a quick turnaround, you certainly do have some veteran leaders
that can help refocus and resettle the ship, but it
really takes the younger players kind of maturing a little bit,
probably sometimes sooner than they're ready for because there's a
simple matter of handling, eating right, getting rehydrated and all
(03:15):
those things. And I think sometimes young players don't necessarily
get into the buy in until they're truly tested and
get thrown into the fire. And it seems like they responded.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
One hundred percent. We had every reason to not be
the team that showed up the way that we did
Saturday morning against Tulane. They played the earlier match, they
got more sleep, they got more recovery, they got a
better breakfast than we did, and then we showed up
and honestly had a pretty dominant performance against Tulane. And
to see that from our senior leadership, but also see
(03:45):
that from we had two true freshmen playing on the weekend.
And I have to give a shout at Kla Cooper
along with Katie Revere with both all tournament team in
New Mexico. But yeah, Klahudabed is good of an opening
weekend as a true freshman has had in my entire
career in the last fifteen years of coaching college volleyball,
and we saw a similar growth in progression from Essa Washington.
She started off against Uziervine and she had negative of
two hundred. Then she played against New Mexico and she
(04:07):
had about ninety, and then we played two lane and
sheet over five hundred, and so her growth from match
to match to match in a very short period of
time was unbelievable. On top of the fact that Cala
was also tearing it up on both sides of the ball.
And so when you have the upperclassmen leadership that we
had and these two true freshmen that come in and
play at a pretty unreal level for their first time
playing college level, it was really promising to see what
(04:28):
we can do for the rest of the year.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah, you mentioned Kla Cooper from Lehigh, Utah, So that's
untraditional recruiting ground, I guess. I mean, we've certainly had
our shares of Canadians, so that's not as shocking when
you have a Canadian on the roster, But when you
have somebody from Utah and then you have somebody from
I think Georgia, two youngsters, that's non traditional recruiting areas.
(04:51):
Typically for the fan that really follows you and d volleyball,
that's that's unique.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, they're coming from parts of the country that we
don't normally see, but they're they're drawn to the support
that we have from our administration, the support that we
have from our school, the sport that we have in
our community. When they come in on their visits and
they see the Betty and they see the crowds that
show up to our games, and they see the fact
that we're walking down the street and people are recognizing
us and saying hello and like good luck this weekend,
(05:16):
I mean, it really resonates a lot with our team.
It means so much to them that we have the
sport that we do well.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
This weekend here is what I call the free weekend.
If you haven't found you in D volleyball for a while,
you're not going to be charged a ticket at the door.
It's a free admission weekend. So you might as well
take advantage of checking out some you and D volleyball
on Friday or even Saturday morning or Sunday morning, take
advantage and discover you in D volleyball. And you're not
(05:44):
just bringing in like any Joe Schmos, as we say
in the business. You're bringing in some very credible programs
to really continue to season your team. With Southern Illinois Edwardsville,
you've played them in recent years, Northern Iowa has been
just a juggernaut, and the Missouri Valley typically is right
in the mix of everything, and West Virginia out of
(06:04):
the big twelve, they're not messing around. So you've scheduled
very interestingly here to test your program right right out
of the gates.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, you know, I think we knew that we were
going to be better this year than we have been
in the past, and so we wanted to make sure
that our non conference slate reflected that and was giving
our team adequate challenge. And whether that's Weekend one where Irvine,
two Lane, New Mexico and ourselves, nobody left that weekend unscathed.
Everybody came out with a win, everybody came out with
loss because all four of those teams are really competitive,
(06:32):
and we see the same thing with Siue with you
and I with West Virginia. Next week, we've got Belmont
in West Illinois, and then we got after that, we
go to Green Bay and we played Chicago State played
Green Bay and we play in Minnesota, who just beat Texas,
who's number one in the country last night, and so
we put ourselves in a position it's like, all right,
let's go out let's challenge ourselves, let's push ourselves, and
let's be ready for conference play.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
What are some of the little details that as a
team now as you get back into Grand Forks in
a few days of prep, that you're just saying, hey,
we these are we had some really good things that
we saw. Where can we sharpen and where's the focus
line here? Without giving everything away, what are some of
the areas that you're looking to sharpen with these ladies
here before they hit the weekend.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah, great question, you know, and just maybe it's giving
some insight. I had film with Cala this morning after
she had such an amazing weekend, and she walks into
film and the first thing she says is, I know
I had a great weekend, but there's things I can do.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Better and pretty good pressure. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah, when you're coming in with that perspective, it makes
it really exciting, you know. And so for us, we
know that we passed and served at an incredible rate.
We know that we had about as good of an
offensive matches we've ever had against Tulane. But there's things
that we can clean up in transition. There's things that
we can handle with certain simple plays and free ball
plays that we can be a little crisper on, a
little cleaner on, and then our ability to stay together
(07:47):
in different moments. The battle against New Mexico was gnarly
in a really cool environment, and so being able to
stay steady through those moments and not ride the roller
coaster wave that is the volleyball match. It's really important
for us, and so our ability to show up as
we want to and how we want to play it
is going to be crucial as we move forward.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Well, it is a weekend where as I talk about
the periphial fan, will you get a night opportunity to
maybe come and see you without having to dig in
their pocket and check it out and see what it's
all about. It's kind of like what Bubba had said earlier.
Let's fill up the Betty or let's get a lot
of fans in there and let the energy help out
the team a little bit in the days ahead, because
(08:25):
they're scheduled at really accessible times here with everything else happening.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah, we got six pm on Friday night, We've got
eleven am Saturday and Sunday, so you've got a lot
of different chances to come watch us. Before you play
Montana on Saturday for football, or you watch soccer on Thursday.
Like a lot of chances to watch you in the
sports this weekend.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Well, it's a part of it and for the fan base,
you can just go from one sport to the next.
You go from soccer to volleyball on Friday, volleyball to
football on Saturday again with some more volleyball on Sunday.
Coach Tupac, thanks for dropping in on this one after
your road trip and we look forward to seeing you
and your team at the Betty here this weekend. Thanks
for this, thanks for having me all right, head coach
Jesse Tupac, you indie volleyball everybody. It is a huge
(09:08):
weekend ahead here for University of North Kota Athletics at home.
Tell you what as we just mentioned, soccer on Friday,
volleyball on Friday, volleyball on Saturday morning, football on Saturday night,
volleyball again on Sunday, and again, get those tickets for
you indie football. I was just looking. There's not many left,
so get in there, get your tickets, be a part
(09:28):
of a great atmosphere on Saturday night at the Alier Center.
As University of North Dakota Football takes on the Montana
Grizz at six o'clock, so make sure you're there to
be a part of the atmosphere. Check out volleyball, check
out soccer. This weekend, it's going to be a big
weekend happening at all the venues here in Grand Forks
and on the campus of the University of North Dakota.
(09:50):
Once again, we're at the five oh six Pub inside
Hugos Puremarket downtown Grand Forks. Hugos is the official grocer
of University of North Dakota Athletics, and well, we're gonna
just tell you this. We hope that you continue to
come out and join us and discover this show throughout
the season. Here all season long, we'll be talking to
the undie coaches live right here as part of Hawk Talk.
If you missed tonight's conversations, go to the iHeartRadio app
(10:11):
search hawk Talk for the podcasting area and you can
go listen back to any of the conversations that you
missed here tonight. I'm Paul Ralston. For all our guests,
for all the people that came out and had some
fun with us, We'll see you next week. We'll see
it at the Alaris on Saturday for a big weekend
of U and D football.
And welcome back here to Hawk Talk downtown Grand Forks
at the five oh six bub and all across the
Fighting Hawks radio network. Here tonight we transition into University
of North Dakota Volleyball at home coming up this weekend.
But before we get there, they started their weekend officially
here in Grand Forks, and or I should say officially
(00:26):
started it in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They're coming back to
Grand Forks this past weekend. Opened it up against UC Irvine,
New Mexico, which is a perennial, very solid program, and
then wrapped it up against Tulane, which they pocketed a
win after going toe to toe at the Lobos. The
previous night head coach, Jesse Tupac from you Andy Volleyball
joined the program.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah, glad to have you back. And we'd like to
congratulate North Dakota senior middle blocker Yarlene di Los Santos
Lugo as she is the Summit League defensive peak performer
of the week.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Way to go, yar Alene, who Harolen, as the team
would say, Harolne absolutely slayed this weekend.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yeah, well you're using the lingo. I'm glad you're coming
along for the ride. You got it in there. We'll
try to use the word slade more often in our
broadcast from here on out. Well, you know, overall weekend
was you your team pushed just about everybody you put
in there basically pushed, it sounds like, and you know,
really could have maybe came out with a slightly different
(01:31):
record when it was all said and done. So you
got to feel like you learned a lot and came
away with a lot of insight after Week one.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Definitely, you know, there was a there's a bit of
a not necessarily adversity, but just some challenges. And we
played two matches on Friday, and both matches started late,
and it was the first match that we played we
were forty five minutes behind schedule. The second match we
played for an hour and a half behind schedule. And
then that match against New Mexico Friday night, which was
an awesome environment. It was their primetime match. They had
(02:00):
for eight hundred people in the gym, The band was there,
the cheers there, they had a huge student section. And
then that match goes the distance. We go five sets,
we go extra points in the second, third, and fourth,
going twenty seven to twenty five, twenty seven, twenty five,
and twenty twenty six. And New Mexico is a very
good team and they have been a very good team
for a very long time. And as for us to
come into their gym with a huge crowd and to
(02:20):
play that competitive match the first week end of the
season was really really cool. Honestly until we played two
late the next day. You know, we were talking as
a staff that was probably the best collecti volleyball that
we've played in the three years that I've been here.
Oh wow. And then to see the energy in the
in the gym and the environment there, I mean, at
the end of the match, the celebration that came from
New Mexico was as if they had just made their
(02:43):
conference tournament. And to have that amount of intensity and
urgency in a first week in competition was awesome for us.
To set us up for the next the rest of
the year.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Yeah, and to have the wherewithal As you mentioned on
a quick turnaround, you certainly do have some veteran leaders
that can help refocus and resettle the ship, but it
really takes the younger players kind of maturing a little bit,
probably sometimes sooner than they're ready for because there's a
simple matter of handling, eating right, getting rehydrated and all
(03:15):
those things. And I think sometimes young players don't necessarily
get into the buy in until they're truly tested and
get thrown into the fire. And it seems like they responded.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
One hundred percent. We had every reason to not be
the team that showed up the way that we did
Saturday morning against Tulane. They played the earlier match, they
got more sleep, they got more recovery, they got a
better breakfast than we did, and then we showed up
and honestly had a pretty dominant performance against Tulane. And
to see that from our senior leadership, but also see
(03:45):
that from we had two true freshmen playing on the weekend.
And I have to give a shout at Kla Cooper
along with Katie Revere with both all tournament team in
New Mexico. But yeah, Klahudabed is good of an opening
weekend as a true freshman has had in my entire
career in the last fifteen years of coaching college volleyball,
and we saw a similar growth in progression from Essa Washington.
She started off against Uziervine and she had negative of
two hundred. Then she played against New Mexico and she
(04:07):
had about ninety, and then we played two lane and
sheet over five hundred, and so her growth from match
to match to match in a very short period of
time was unbelievable. On top of the fact that Cala
was also tearing it up on both sides of the ball.
And so when you have the upperclassmen leadership that we
had and these two true freshmen that come in and
play at a pretty unreal level for their first time
playing college level, it was really promising to see what
(04:28):
we can do for the rest of the year.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Yeah, you mentioned Kla Cooper from Lehigh, Utah, So that's
untraditional recruiting ground, I guess. I mean, we've certainly had
our shares of Canadians, so that's not as shocking when
you have a Canadian on the roster, But when you
have somebody from Utah and then you have somebody from
I think Georgia, two youngsters, that's non traditional recruiting areas.
(04:51):
Typically for the fan that really follows you and d volleyball,
that's that's unique.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yeah, they're coming from parts of the country that we
don't normally see, but they're they're drawn to the support
that we have from our administration, the support that we
have from our school, the sport that we have in
our community. When they come in on their visits and
they see the Betty and they see the crowds that
show up to our games, and they see the fact
that we're walking down the street and people are recognizing
us and saying hello and like good luck this weekend,
(05:16):
I mean, it really resonates a lot with our team.
It means so much to them that we have the
sport that we do well.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
This weekend here is what I call the free weekend.
If you haven't found you in D volleyball for a while,
you're not going to be charged a ticket at the door.
It's a free admission weekend. So you might as well
take advantage of checking out some you and D volleyball
on Friday or even Saturday morning or Sunday morning, take
advantage and discover you in D volleyball. And you're not
(05:44):
just bringing in like any Joe Schmos, as we say
in the business. You're bringing in some very credible programs
to really continue to season your team. With Southern Illinois Edwardsville,
you've played them in recent years, Northern Iowa has been
just a juggernaut, and the Missouri Valley typically is right
in the mix of everything, and West Virginia out of
(06:04):
the big twelve, they're not messing around. So you've scheduled
very interestingly here to test your program right right out
of the gates.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Yeah, you know, I think we knew that we were
going to be better this year than we have been
in the past, and so we wanted to make sure
that our non conference slate reflected that and was giving
our team adequate challenge. And whether that's Weekend one where Irvine,
two Lane, New Mexico and ourselves, nobody left that weekend unscathed.
Everybody came out with a win, everybody came out with
loss because all four of those teams are really competitive,
(06:32):
and we see the same thing with Siue with you
and I with West Virginia. Next week, we've got Belmont
in West Illinois, and then we got after that, we
go to Green Bay and we played Chicago State played
Green Bay and we play in Minnesota, who just beat Texas,
who's number one in the country last night, and so
we put ourselves in a position it's like, all right,
let's go out let's challenge ourselves, let's push ourselves, and
let's be ready for conference play.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
What are some of the little details that as a
team now as you get back into Grand Forks in
a few days of prep, that you're just saying, hey,
we these are we had some really good things that
we saw. Where can we sharpen and where's the focus
line here? Without giving everything away, what are some of
the areas that you're looking to sharpen with these ladies
here before they hit the weekend.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah, great question, you know, and just maybe it's giving
some insight. I had film with Cala this morning after
she had such an amazing weekend, and she walks into
film and the first thing she says is, I know
I had a great weekend, but there's things I can do.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Better and pretty good pressure. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Yeah, when you're coming in with that perspective, it makes
it really exciting, you know. And so for us, we
know that we passed and served at an incredible rate.
We know that we had about as good of an
offensive matches we've ever had against Tulane. But there's things
that we can clean up in transition. There's things that
we can handle with certain simple plays and free ball
plays that we can be a little crisper on, a
little cleaner on, and then our ability to stay together
(07:47):
in different moments. The battle against New Mexico was gnarly
in a really cool environment, and so being able to
stay steady through those moments and not ride the roller
coaster wave that is the volleyball match. It's really important
for us, and so our ability to show up as
we want to and how we want to play it
is going to be crucial as we move forward.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Well, it is a weekend where as I talk about
the periphial fan, will you get a night opportunity to
maybe come and see you without having to dig in
their pocket and check it out and see what it's
all about. It's kind of like what Bubba had said earlier.
Let's fill up the Betty or let's get a lot
of fans in there and let the energy help out
the team a little bit in the days ahead, because
(08:25):
they're scheduled at really accessible times here with everything else happening.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah, we got six pm on Friday night, We've got
eleven am Saturday and Sunday, so you've got a lot
of different chances to come watch us. Before you play
Montana on Saturday for football, or you watch soccer on Thursday.
Like a lot of chances to watch you in the
sports this weekend.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Well, it's a part of it and for the fan base,
you can just go from one sport to the next.
You go from soccer to volleyball on Friday, volleyball to
football on Saturday again with some more volleyball on Sunday.
Coach Tupac, thanks for dropping in on this one after
your road trip and we look forward to seeing you
and your team at the Betty here this weekend. Thanks
for this, thanks for having me all right, head coach
Jesse Tupac, you indie volleyball everybody. It is a huge
(09:08):
weekend ahead here for University of North Kota Athletics at home.
Tell you what as we just mentioned, soccer on Friday,
volleyball on Friday, volleyball on Saturday morning, football on Saturday night,
volleyball again on Sunday, and again, get those tickets for
you indie football. I was just looking. There's not many left,
so get in there, get your tickets, be a part
(09:28):
of a great atmosphere on Saturday night at the Alier Center.
As University of North Dakota Football takes on the Montana
Grizz at six o'clock, so make sure you're there to
be a part of the atmosphere. Check out volleyball, check
out soccer. This weekend, it's going to be a big
weekend happening at all the venues here in Grand Forks
and on the campus of the University of North Dakota.
(09:50):
Once again, we're at the five oh six Pub inside
Hugos Puremarket downtown Grand Forks. Hugos is the official grocer
of University of North Dakota Athletics, and well, we're gonna
just tell you this. We hope that you continue to
come out and join us and discover this show throughout
the season. Here all season long, we'll be talking to
the undie coaches live right here as part of Hawk Talk.
If you missed tonight's conversations, go to the iHeartRadio app
(10:11):
search hawk Talk for the podcasting area and you can
go listen back to any of the conversations that you
missed here tonight. I'm Paul Ralston. For all our guests,
for all the people that came out and had some
fun with us, We'll see you next week. We'll see
it at the Alaris on Saturday for a big weekend
of U and D football.
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