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| Andrew Palileo |
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Cougar Chats presented by:
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Join WSU Volleyball Head Coach Andrew Palileo in a live chat Wednesday, September 30th at 10:15 am PT.
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| Moderator: Good morning Cougar fans and thank you for visiting WSUCougars.com and today's online chat with Washington State Volleyball Head Coach Andrew Palileo. The Cougars are off to one of their best starts in school history at 12-1 and open the home portion of their Pac-10 schedule this weekend against No. 18 Arizona, Friday and Arizona State, Saturday. Both matches begin a 7 p.m. For volleyball ticket information click HERE.
Also, this weekend's matches mark the beginning of a new feature at WSUCougars.com, which is the live broadcast of select events on the website. For more information on the webcasts, including how to sign-up and a schedule of events, click HERE.
Coach, thank you for joining us today. |
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Andrew Palileo: It's great to be back chatting with our fans, supporters, and friends. I look forward to answering your questions as it relates to the start of our season. |
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| Moderator: We have a lot of questions to answer so let's get right to it. |
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| Phillip (Pullman): I think Oceana Bush and Kelly Hyder are great defensive players and they are playing with a lot of passion. I think Kelly Hyder should retain the libero position and you can use Oceana as a defensive specialist who can terminate the ball from the back row (like how Stanford used to utilize Cassidy Lichtman before she took over setting duties), giving Renee more offensive options and giving our opponents one more person to worry about. |
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Andrew Palileo: Phillip, I think you make a good observation. The coaching staff took all of fall camp and the early part of preseason to make the decision to go with Oceana. We didn't think it would be worth it to lose Oceana for three rotations for the two kills she might get for us as a DS. I think Kelly has played mentally tougher in her three rotations that she does play. |
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| Mela, Honolulu: Aloha, Coach Palileo
Congratulations on a terrific start this season.
Just wanted to know how the recruiting of players from Hawaii is going.
Continued success this season. Imua! |
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Andrew Palileo: Mela, Aloha to my home state! As a new coaching staff, the volleyball recruiting process is several years out. We are currently recruiting kids for the 2011-12 recruiting class. I will be in Hawaii two or three times this year looking at those prospective student-athletes. But I hope to bring several local kids in the next few years. Mahalo! |
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| Evan (Portland): Assuming that the Cougs' start has instilled a lot of self-confidence in the squad, how far can that take us? Can a supremely confident team play over its head and win games it hasn't in past years? |
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Andrew Palileo: Evan, the players' confidence has definitely grown with the strong start to our season. But I attribute that confidence, as well to the confidence they have in each other, as players who can play at this level right now. Some of the issues as a new staff last season was having players that didn't believe in each other, but this season it's been about doing things the right way and playing at a level that matches their commitment and work ethic. |
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| Manuel (American Samoa): Who are the kids on this year's team who have made the most significant individual improvements in the past 12 months? Keep it going...GO COUGS! |
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Andrew Palileo: Manuel, Talooofa! I hope things are going well. I heard about the tsunami that hit the islands yesterday and hope that the recovery goes well. We've had several kids make big gains this past year but I think two players that have made the most gains are Cassie and Renee. If you look at their numbers, they have improved tremendously, but improved within our team concept and system. It helps to have depth and players that can challenge each other in practices to match the level of play during our Pac-10 matches. |
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| Cindy (Iowa City, IA): Has the early success this year had an impact on your recruiting efforts? And can you share a little bit of your philosophy as it relates to recruiting efforts? |
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Andrew Palileo: Cindy, the success has definitely helped in our current recruiting efforts with our student-athletes. They have responded and are excited about the opportunities here at Washington State. In recruiting, it has been my philosophy to recruit the best in-state players that can play at this level and fill in our needs from throughout the country. Currently, we have five players from the state of Washington who have significantly impacted our turnaround this season. I believe that there are players here in Washington that will continue to help our program in the coming years. |
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| Aaron (St. Bonifacius, MN): What areas have been the most challenging for you, personally, in transitioning from SDSU to Pac-10 volleyball and WSU? |
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Andrew Palileo: Aaron, Wow! St. Bonifacius, Minnesota bring back a lot of memories for me...good memories! Attending Crown College and working in Waconia High School in their Athletic Department started it all for me back in the late 1980's. The biggest challenges is always going to be recruiting and the challenge, then, is to train our players to the level that the Pac-10 requires on an annual basis. Everything is relative to the level that you're at. I think that we will get Washington State to be competitive on an annual basis. |
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| Greg (Pullman): Is Rachel Todorovich back to 100% after injuring her ankle against Oregon? |
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Andrew Palileo: Greg, Rachel is feeling better and she was able to practice on Monday. I think she will be ready to go this weekend. She did a good job coming back versus Oregon and I think she showed some toughness, especially for a freshman. That is what has made her successful thus far this season. |
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| Moderator: Okay that's all the time we have today. Coach, thank you for joining us once again. |
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Andrew Palileo: I want to invite all of those who can to come to our matches this weekend. I think it will be two very tough matches, but very exciting matches. The girls are fun to watch, but also very competitive, passionate, and committed to getting WSU back into the NCAA Tournament. |
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| Moderator: Thank you to everyone for your questions. Remember, to get all the information about WSU Athletics, go no further than wsucougars.com, the official website of Cougar Athletics. |
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