bleedCrimson.net Weekly Coach Jordan Interview

bleedCrimson.net: Talk about the Illini Classic.
Mike Jordan: We played two exceptional teams in Illinois and Oregon. We knew Oregon, because of the fact they made the Sweet 16 last year, returned all their starters, would be further along than everybody else. Really that was a big deal. We made typical first tournament errors and too many of them. They took care of the ball a lot better. I think they had 11 fewer attack errors, 6 fewer service errors, they just ball handled a little bit better than we did.

Illinois was the most physical team in the tournament. They did a good job at the service line and their big block really slowed us up a little bit. It forced us to hit for a lower percentage than we hoped. It was a real competitive match until the fourth game. The fourth game got away from us early. We subbed and got some people some rest so that they could be ready for North Carolina. When stuff like that happens you kind of take advantage of it. You hate to say "we're done" but at the same time I needed to sit Lindsey [Yon] and Amber [Simpson] and some of these guys down and get them some rest for the evening match against Carolina.

bleedCrimson.net will be conducting weekly interviews with Aggie head volleyball coach Mike Jordan during the 2008 season. In this interview Coach Jordan talks about the season opening tournament at Illinois, the new players and Olympic volleyball.

bleedCrimson.net: Talk a little bit about your first matchup against #11 Oregon.
Mike Jordan: In terms of a first match, that's a tough one obviously because they're so good. They made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament last year. They return all their starters from last year so obviously at this point in the season they're going to be much more prepared to play than most teams, including us. it's going to be a tough first match. But we fully expect to go out there and compete and play well and give ourselves chances to win but we're gonna learn a lot about ourselves this weekend.

bleedCrimson.net will be conducting weekly interviews with Aggie head volleyball coach Mike Jordan during the 2008 season. In this interview Coach Jordan talks about the undefeated performance at the spring tournament this past weekend in Houston, Krista Altermatt's recovery from her season-ending injury last year and the Side Out Club Spring Picnic/Alumni Match on April 26th.

bleedCrimson.net: Can you talk a little bit about this past weekend's spring tournament, you opened up against Oklahoma in the featured match on Friday night, can you talk about that match?
Mike Jordan: I thought we played reasonably well. Oklahoma's a good team, they've been in the NCAA tournament the last couple of years. They're very well coached. They were kind of short handed, they had a couple players out with injuries. So I don't think it was as good a match as it could have been, we swept them and it was kind of a blowout in some respects. But everybody got an opportunity to play and I was pretty happy with what we did defensively. We worked real hard to make plays, took care of the easy ball. I saw a lot people flying around so from that standpoint I thought it was a good effort defensively.

On the offensive side of things, we've worked hard to make our rights more versatile. I think they were both pretty good offensively, Kelli Goodan and Whitney Woods.

bleedCrimson.net will be conducting weekly interviews with Aggie head volleyball coach Mike Jordan during the 2008 season. In this interview Coach Jordan talks about the team's first spring tournament this past weekend in Tucson, his take on how the substitution rules have affected his strategy and previews the Aggies' next spring tournament in Houston on April 11th and 12th.

bleedCrimson.net: Can you talk about the spring tournament this past weekend in Tucson?
Mike Jordan: Arizona being a Pac-10 conference team has got a lot of athleticism and they're usually a very good ballclub. i think they're going to be good in the fall and certainly a good test for us. Unusual playing without Lindsey Yon and Whitney Phillips who are both capable of giving us good serve receive and experienced outside hitting. Kelli Goodan got an opportunity to play out there quite a bit, Whitney Woods played out there quite a bit, Alex Steinmetz. The point of spring is to get your players experience, teach as much as you can and I think it's great that they got to play as much as they did. I think in terms of the level of play, it's early spring and it's certainly not anywhere near the level if you're trying to win a conference championship. But at the same time the growth of our players right now, I'm pretty impressed with what I'm seeing. We've worked hard in individuals to improve and we've worked hard in the first couple of weeks of team practice to improve and I've seen a lot of that. Young players are making plays that they didn't make in the fall. I'm pretty happy with the progress so far.

bleedCrimson.net will be conducting weekly interviews with Aggie head volleyball coach Mike Jordan during the 2008 season. In this interview Coach Jordan talks about transfer Erin Birmingham, this weekend's spring tournament in Tucson and how the rules changes will affect his team's 6-2 system.

bleedCrimson.net: Can you talk about Erin Birmingham the transfer you signed out of Georgia Tech?
Mike Jordan: We're excited to have her. Erin's a fantastic athlete and probably a better person. She's six feet tall, a very good jumper. She's quick. In our system, offensively the quickness thing is a big deal. Her ability to get up and attack in transition is really important. I think she'll be very good at it. As a blocker because of her quickness and jumping ability, she'll be great at closing the block. She'll probably be one of the better closing middles we've had here ever. She might turn out to be the best with some work.

She's a great player, great student and I think is going to fit nicely in the spot vacated by Kim Oguh.

bleedCrimson.net will be conducting weekly interviews with Aggie head volleyball coach Mike Jordan during the 2008 season. We caught up with Coach Jordan as the Aggies go through offseason workouts. Coach Jordan talks about replacing his senior class, this year's recruiting class and talks about putting together their toughest schedule yet.

bleedCrimson.net: Can you talk a little bit about NCAA tournament game against LSU?
Mike Jordan: I think it was a real even matchup athletically. LSU was the second best team in the SEC this year behind Florida, who's a perennial Top 10 caliber team. They had a good year. They're quick and athletic, they have a lot of big jumpers like we do. The problem we had obviously was Krista [Altermatt] not being able to play because of the injury she suffered against Hawai'i in the conference tournament, it was really tough. That set us back quite a bit because she's our second best passer behind Krystal [Torres] and a real good outside hitter so that was tough.