Lady Vols volleyball Abby Ekeler media Aug 28, 2024

Abby what do you think some of the benefits are of starting off with such a tough opponent in Penn State I think that it'll just be a good test for our team obviously this going to be one of the best teams we'll play all season and so I think from an early point on we'll be able to see where we stand with one of the best teams in the country and we think we're right up there with them and that we should beat them and so I think that will just be a confidence boost getting to play such a great team really early on in the season what um what differences do you see in this year's team losing so many veterans last year I guess you know what's the difference and what do you feel like maybe this group strength is as a whole I think one of the biggest differences since we are a young team is just everyone is really eager to get better um last year it's kind of like you know what type of players you're going to get out there they're really mature they're really old in experienced and now you just have a bunch of new people who are wanting to prove themselves every day at practice and get as good as they possibly can and so I think that's really cool to see because you see everyone just putting their best foot out there every single day to try to um like make the team as best as they can how much this last year's run helped you guys going into this year I think just giving us the confidence that that is what our program is about and we we know we have a championship program and so being able to go out there and show the rest of the country that we are about that and that we are going to carry it on this season and so last season was great but trying to use that momentum to carry us forward this year what do you think that group last year what resonated you most how they conducted their business they kind ofbe transfers to you take away from how they did things last year yeah I think the demeanor that the veterans last year carried thems with is something that people who got to experience the team with them are going to take this year just holding themselves to a high standard being confident but still calm and just I don't know they just had such a great demeanor about themselves and I think everyone is trying to bring that into this year as well is your dad going to be able to stop by on Friday even though they play on Saturday and if so how much does that mean to you knowing that kickoff is in less than 24 hours from that I know I'm sure he will he will definitely make his way here whether or not I know he'll probably have to be at the hotel or what not but I know he will probably sneak out at some point to get here and I don't it means a lot to me because I know he's going to be worried about the game the following day but I know on Friday his priority is going to be cheering on the lady balls and so I'm just really excited because I know he will show up and he will show out and be ready to support us Caroline is one of your guys' only returning starters really just what have you seen from her in terms of being able to lead this new group and you know what has she I guess been able to do to help kind of bring everyone together and Le the way yeah she has a lot of experience for now uh red shirt sophomore and I think she just is trying to instill and practice what maybe she went through during games trying to just make the environment as maybe chaotic or just game likee as possible because we have a bunch of people who haven't been out there or just new to the program and so she's just trying to use her experience from being on the court in um like facilitating that and practice to get everyone prepared she talks a lot about like people are feeling stressed or overwhelmed in practice she likes to point out that that's how it's going to feel in games and she doesn't want people to get the false sense of reality that you're going to always be calm out there she tries to explain like okay you're stressed you're overwhelmed perfect that's exactly what it's going to be like when you're on the court and so I think her experience is really helpful where do you feel like you've grown the most between last season and this season and your bring to the team I think I I have such great relationships on the team and so I think I help people maybe feel more confident in themselves I really believe in everyone on the team and sometimes it is important to hear it from someone other than you and so I know I bring that I bring some experience of just being around some amazing players in the program and so I'm excited I think this is the best I've been playing since my time here and so I'm just excited to see what the season brings you guys had a couple chances to go on the court last year just what did you take from that and and what you guys are doing well right now and maybe where you guys have progress yet to yeah it was really fun to be able to one just our orange and white skirm just to like get back in Food City Center and play in front of fans again but against lip scum it was really awesome to finally play against some other people than what we have on our team and I don't know just things like getting like passing against different servers or just seeing a different system than what we see every day in practice was really important I think it exposes a lot that we have to work on but it also kind of maybe gave us some confidence that like okay we do this well and we did it well against another team so we're going to continue to hone that in for Penn State on Friday