On Tuesday, Aug. 15, gophersports.com sat down with head coach Mike Hebert, junior middle blocker Jessy Jones and sophomore setter Rachel Hartmann to talk about how fall practice was going and the 2006 season. Some of the topics covered included the European Tour, which has helped add to Minnesota's confidence heading into the season, and the switch from the 6-2 alignment to the 5-1 formation heading into the season.

Mike Hebert

(On how fall practice has gone to this point so far)
“Like most teams at this point, nobody has done much wrong. We are excited and learning a great deal. The has been a lot of good discipline in the gym. So far so good.”

(On going back to the 5-1 system and how it has gone so far)
“The moving back to the 5-1 is going about at a good pace. The two main issues are Kelly Bowman has to become a primary passer for us in the system, and Rachel Hartmann has to run the offense from all six rotations. A couple things have to happen for this to be a good decision. The first is Rachel has to get better fundamentally with her delivery, her footwork to the ball and her action. She is coming along well on all of those things. Rachel also has to become a leader on the court. She is by nature a quiet person. Rachel needs to be much more demonstrative in play-calling and communication in between points to her teammates on the court. All in all those things are all coming along pretty well. Everyone on our team has already played a 5-1 system here so the system is not anything new.”

(On experience as a team)
“There is no question we are way ahead of where we were last year in the first week. We can do things now and start at pa oint where we can assume that they know the system. The two new kids are learning very quick, because everyone else knows what is going on. I think the confidence level of the players in the gym is helped by the fact that whatever we ask them to do they have probably done before. That makes a big difference, which helps a great deal.

(On Jessy Jones)
“I will be shocked if Jessy Jones does not have a breakout year. The way she played in the spring and on the European Tour, and the way she is playing now is significantly higher then she has done in the past. Primarily in her offense, but even in her blocking. Her move to the outside to form a double block against pin hitters, her speed and her confidence all continue to get better. Just the general court awareness and savvy has shot her straight to the top of the charts. Jessy is really a different player then she has been the last two years.

(On Jessy picking up the system after first two years)
“Jessy arrived here as a great athlete with some volleyball skill, and very little volleyball awareness in terms of how to play within a system and how to understand flow of the game and traffic patterns on the court. She would find herself in the wrong place or doing the wrong thing for a situation. Now she is turning into a veteran player, and all those questions are answered. Now she move on to more sophisticated things like developing a particular shot pattern to go with a particular set, or how she can juke hitters with a blocking move and arrive by surprise at a certain place in the net. Before, she was just hoping to get there. The game used to pass her by in terms of speed, and she was struggling to catch up at times. Now Jessy is starting to dictate speed of play and areas are hers to be in control of at the net.”

Rachel Hartmann

(On adjusting to being the primary setter)
“I am excited about the opportunity. I have to add in the frontrow aspect of the game heading into this year, which gives me more opportunities to score and also gets me back into blocking. It will also be different being in the whole match and remaining focused on our offense for all of the rotations. It is good to have Kelly Bowman still here to have an experienced setter at this level to help me out with the transition. It is definitely different, because I will be in every rotation setting all the time and always needing to know what is working and what is not, as opposed to last year when I had three rotations to worry about.”

(On how she feels about becoming the primary setter in the 5-1 as a sophomore)
“I am excited to make this transition now. It is my second season and I am ready for it, but it is also good to have Kelly (Bowman) to help me make transition as an experienced setter. It also will help a lot to have Kelly on the court with me, because not only does she have experience at setter but she is great player. I am excited to play all the way around. I feel like I will be able to contribute more this year then I did as a freshman.”

(Extra experience with Europe and spring)
“Spring and summer helped me the most in my development as a setter. I had time to work on every little aspect of the game. Being able to go to Europe and practice in the 5-1 before preseason helped a ton with getting everyone else on the team and myself on the same page. The spring and summer work I did definitely helped me get a lot of extra repetitions in, which I think puts me further ahead going into the fall.”

(On playing all the around, instead of the backrow as she did in the 6-2 last year)
“There is going to be more to think about. It is not just playing defense, setting and serve receive like last year. Now it will be blocking and being able to attack. I am really excited about that change, because I feel I will be able to be into the game more.”

(On bringing 12 players back from last year’s team)
“It was great, because last year we came in and started from scratch. We just had to try to get used to playing with each other. We had so much time this spring and in Europe to play together and get used to each other. I think first day of preseason we were so much further ahead then last year. As a whole, it puts us a step ahead of last year and now we just need play with each other a little more and keep going at it as we enter the season.”

(On tradition of great Minnesota setters)
“There definitely has been a lot of great setters in this program. I got a chance to work with Lindsey Berg this past summer, and she was awesome and helped me out so much. I really enjoyed working with her. Getting to play as a freshman helped me heading into this year. It gave me bits of experience at a time to help me get ready for this season. Kelly (Bowman) also helped me out a lot last year. That is why I am excited to start while she is still here and can help me through the transition.”

(On working with Lindsey Berg)
“She came in and worked with our team. I watched Lindsey and tried to learn from her. She is the kind of setter who plays with things herself and makes up different moves as she goes. When Lindsey would play, I watched her and tried to learn from here.”

Jessy Jones

(On the confidence that she gained individually and that the team gained during the European Tour):
“Honestly I thought that the team came together really well in Europe, and a big part was that we were all out there just to have a great time. It was so exciting to be in Europe. We were playing in places like Slovenia and Prague, and it gets to the point where your mind is not insanely focused on volleyball. A big part of it for me is I was healthy and we were just out there to play, and things started coming together. There were times on the trip where it even surprised me with some of the things we were capable of doing. Personally for me, there were times I went up and hit the ball and thought hey the coaches were right I can do that. It was a great learning experience, that I am so grateful for.”

(On the effect the extra playing time Europe had on the team)
“Well the thing about last year is we didn’t really have team chemistry. I think throughout the spring a group of girls this big has to get along well to be able to play on a court together, and that is what happened we all evolved as great friends. You could just tell in Europe. In the spring there were still some kinks to work out, but in Europe we were all on the same page. You could tell by watching us play. We moved well together and it looked like we had been playing together for years. It was amazing to watch, and was even fun when I was off the court just watching.”

(On the effect of having 12 letterwinners returning to the program)
“It is a great, because all the hard work is finally paying off. Most of us were all here in the summer, waking up at 6:30 a.m., going to lift, going to workout and playing beach volleyball. I think that playing beach volleyball in the offseason was a huge help for our team. No one has really done that consistently on our team, except Malama Peniata, and that is probably one of the main reasons she is such a great all-around player. A lot of us did it this offseason, and I think it helps your defense and knowing how to read certain situations. You can tell how hard everyone worked in the summer and it is paying off now, because we are not playing catch up. We are starting where we left off, which helps out a lot.”

(On gaining experience and understanding the team’s system)
“Honestly coming in here from high school I never knew how much of a mental game volleyball. I think about the mentally in two aspects. One aspect is what you are saying to yourself while you are playing, and the other is what you are thinking about while you are playing your opponent. I think David Boos has been a big help to us in terms of thinking and picking up things about the other team while we are playing. I never really thought strategically before I got here, it was just go up and hit the ball hard. Now it is such a mind game. There are reasons you see us hit the ball where there is no block, because we were thinking they weren’t going to have one there. It is so great to have David (Boos), now Scott Swanson and Mike (Hebert) who are complete geniuses when it comes to volleyball. It is great to have them on our side, and always know what we need to do to succeed.”

(On picking things up easier after being in the program for two years)
“Just having years of experience with our coaches, you learn how they teach and how they talk. You learn how to learn from them. So now I now what they are thinking most of them time and understand it better, and that is an awesome feeling to have. It is all second nature. Now I don’t really have to think to think about what they are talking about. It is a lot easier to react and make the adjustment when the tell us what we should do to succeed in a match.”

(On improved team chemistry)
“It is great how we can move as a unit and be on the same page this year. Everyone is on the same page, whereas last year that was not the case. When we got together in some matches last year you could see it, like in the Michigan State and Nebraska matches. It just did not happen as much. Now the times we are not together stand out more then the times we are, which is the opposite of last year. Team chemistry is the biggest change from last year.”

(On this year’s group of middle blockers)
“It is great, because when we are practicing with one another me and Meredith (Nelson) are complete opposite players. So when she does something great it is probably my weakness and vice versa. We learn so well from each other. She is just a great all-around player. Meredith is that force that knows what she needs to be doing, and is always smiling and keeping everyone in a good mood, but yet is still working hard 24-7. This is a great group to be around, because we are experienced and we know what needs to be done, but we are not stressed. We know there are simple things we can learn from one another, and that is a great feeling to have.”