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Annie Bennett - Cross Country
Tony da Luz - Women's Soccer
Heather Kahl Holmes - Volleyball
Chad Skorupka - Women's Tennis
Jay Vidovich - Men's Soccer
Jeff Zinn - Men's Tennis
Main Fall Sport Media Day Page
Jennifer Averill - Field Hockey
On goals for the season...
"Our goals for the 2008 season are no different than the years prior to this. We are looking to reclaim the ACC championship and hopefully during the process of the season we'll put ourselves in a position to do so. Our NCAA performance is a by-product of what we do in the ACC and in non-conference competition. If we do a good job in those two areas the NCAAs take care of themselves.
This year you are probably going to see us trying to be a little more patient. Last year it was old traditional Wake Hockey. You just do whatever it takes to get the win. We play a prettier game than that. Our speed of execution just needs to increase a little bit more. We need to do a better job of capitalizing on our opportunities."
On the opening portion of the schedule...
"When the preseason poll comes out you'll see Iowa and Michigan in the top ten. Those will be great home openers for us, to see exactly where we are in this particular stage of the season. Our match against Carolina is Sept 5, it's an evening game. It's going to be a great match up against a solid opponent. The game against Duke is always a barn-burner and Maryland comes two weeks after that. At the very beginning of the season we have a high amount of great games at home."
On the team's freshmen...
"We have eight freshmen that are coming in. Dara Downs is going to redshirt for us due to an injury. But then we've got some great depth that's added to our forward line with Kerry Ergen and Faith Adams. They are two really solid incoming freshmen. From there we also have Addie Knott who can play in our forward line and in our mid field. Cristen Atchison is going to see some action in our backfield. She's a really strong player and as her confidence grows she'll get more playing time. Kaitlin Piosa has shown that she's incredibly tough and is really versatile. She had a great showing at the Carolina scrimmage. Lauren Greenwald is struggling right now with injury. If she's healthy she'll play and if not we'll look for a medical redshirt. Goalkeeper Julia Young has really shown a tremendous amount of growth in the past two and a half weeks."
On the recent scrimmage against North Carolina...
"There were moments of brilliance. I go back to our patterns and the fluidity, we are ahead of where we were last year. What highlighted it for us was our speed of execution and our decision making. We really need to have more pressure in practice scenarios so that we are giving our kids more preparation for being able to experience that type of pressure and making quality decisions given that situation. We didn't make the best of decisions with our distributions. We are going to work on that this week so we can have more consistent play when we match up against Iowa."
Other notes for the season...
"We've moved Michelle Kasold higher up the field. Her excellence has been to really create scoring opportunities for this team. We are also more seasoned in the backfield. We are playing with more poise. Also, our fan base is growing and our kids love to play in front of big crowds. We are hoping to see the community get more involved and in return you are going to see the players and the coaching staff be more involved and branching out doing things with in the community so we can have a mutual relationship."
Annie Bennett - Cross Country
On the upcoming women's cross country season...
"I'm excited about the women's team because we have a lot of depth this year. Last year, we had a lot of young kids, but they weren't ready for the Division I level that we excel to be at. This year, those young ladies have stepped up. They understand that level and they're ready. My freshmen coming in are ready to contribute and their expectations are really high. Add in a couple of my veterans and I really believe we're going to have an incredible amount of depth and an incredible amount of success [this season]."
On the upcoming men's cross country season...
"The 2008 men's cross country team is really exciting because we have five, new kids who we need to contribute immediately, and they understand that. They've been very coachable and excited about it. I think the most important thing is having people understand the expectations for them and being excited to try and fulfill those. Some of the strengths this team has are the energy coming in from the freshman and sophomore classes and their willingness to be as good as they can be."
On the development and strengths of Wake Forest's cross country program...
"What I've really seen is the growth of young people who are willing to take the risk of coming to Wake, both academically and athletically. They're buying into the mission that I have here - I want this to be a top ten in the nation program. This is a program that at times we're there and at times we're not, but that's where our aspirations are. Everything about success starts with believing and dreaming. Then, it's getting the athletes to understand that it's easy to talk success but we also have to be willing to do the work that it takes to be successful. We have to live the lifestyle, live the training and live the injury prevention."
Tony da Luz - Women's Soccer
On the 2008 team...
"We have really strong leadership. We have a great senior group and a great junior group. It should be a team that is going to be ready for the high pressure games. They've been through a lot of games over the years. I'm expecting good things."
On opening the season with a strong start after defeating Utah 1-0 in the season opener...
"It all goes back to preparation back in the spring and into the summer. The kids did a really good job in the summer working together. We're further ahead now than we ever have been from an attacking standpoint. We'll just keep playing and see how the season goes."
On Megan Jessee and Tim Santoro joining the coaching staff...
"Skip (Thorp) and Meghan Cox were here for a long time and the players were very comfortable with them. It's taken a week or two for the kids to get comfortable with the new coaches. They're doing really well. Megan is doing a great job with the goalkeepers and Tim is doing a great job with the forwards. We're through the transition part of it. The relationships between the new coaches and players are building."
On the ACC...
"Some of the teams that were in the bottom last year are much better this year. They recruited well and should be more competitive, so it will make the league even more difficult from top to bottom. Florida State and North Carolina will both be very good. Boston College recruited well. It will be great if we can be there at the end of the season with a chance to win the championship."
Heather Kahl Holmes - Volleyball
On her expectations for the 2008 season...
"Right now, our expectations are to stay as healthy as we can and to compete at the highest level. After last year, I will probably never try to predict what a season is going to turn out to be because you never know what's around the corner. We want to take it one day at a time and to remain as healthy and prepared as possible."
On graduate student Natalie Mullikin...
"Having Natalie is like having another coach on the court, which is a great thing. This will be her fourth season with us and it's pretty amazing when I don't even have to stop a drill to say something because she is already making the correction and helping out. I just sit back and watch her grow as a leader and as a teammate. It's been pretty amazing. She does a lot of things, not necessarily volleyball wise, that are so important to our team dynamics. She makes my job easier."
On how big of an impact she expects the freshmen to have this season...
"Hopefully, not too big. Playing four freshmen last year was exciting and challenging at the same time. It can be overwhelming for a freshman. You have 17 and 18 year olds on the court against 21 and 22 year olds. That age difference can be difficult. So what I hope is we remain healthy and when they are called upon, they will be ready to compete. They are all talented enough to be out there and I hope that we don't have to play as many as we did last year. They are practicing really hard and competing really hard, however, which is great to see. They are putting a challenge on the upperclassmen."
On her biggest concern this season...
"I think for us this year, it's to stay healthy. We have the talent but if we start to lose some of the upperclassmen, we have to dig deep into the freshmen and we don't like to put them in that situation. You want to gradually work them into the matches and let them earn that experience. We are doing a good job of staying healthy so far; we've only had a couple of bumps and bruises but nothing that has set anybody back. We have a good medical staff and a great strength and conditioning coach that helps to keep the girls healthy. I think that's the key. We've got six returning starters and now all we have to do is keep them healthy and keep them on track."
On the scoring change this season, going from 30 to 25 points to win a set...
"I was hesitant at first with the change because I think our sport is ever changing and change isn't always for the better. Until I was able to coach it and be around it, and I think the Olympics helped me out a bit, I actually started to enjoy it a little bit more. It shortens the game, it shortens the subs and it changes your strategy. I guess that's what we have to do as head coaches. We have to embrace the challenge. Overall, I think it will be exciting for the fans."
On whether the sport of volleyball got a boost from the Olympics this year...
"I hope so. It was absolutely amazing volleyball. I think it was great for everybody - outdoor, indoor, men and women. It was the most coverage of the sport I've seen on TV for the Olympics. Usually you only see a set and then they will flash back to something else and only come back when the game is over. It's been inspiring. I think it fired our girls up a little bit."
Chad Skorupka - Women's Tennis
On the upcoming season ...
"We are very excited to get going and start competing. After ending last season with a lot of injuries and a lot of tough, close matches we were fortunate to still make the NCAA tournament. But I wish our dual season was starting next week. I'll be starting our 13th year overall coaching division I tennis, I'm looking forward to it with as much vigor as it being my first year."
On junior Sasha Kulikova...
"Sasha will be a junior. Her record speaks for itself as far as dual match play. Her first year she played No. 6, last year she played No. 2, this year she'll fit right into that No. 1 spot. She'll be ready for the pressure to be at No.1, it won't be anything new to her. She does great in the classroom also. She'll be going to the All-American championships this fall, she'll be our only representatives there. We'll be looking for good things for Sasha this fall, to stay injury free and continue our success into the spring."
On the dual match schedule...
"We have William & Mary and Texas A&M here. We had a couple tight matches with both of them last year on the road but we didn't win, so we'll be looking for a little payback on our home courts. We'll play at Indiana and at Notre Dame in February, then we have an eight game homestand. NC State will be returning. We had a tough loss to them at the ACC Tournament, 4-3. So we're excited about getting to play them on our home court."
On new assistant coach Jon Stokke...
"John is a former All-American tennis player at Duke. He was teaching at an academy in Hilton Head, the Duke coach put me in touch with him. We really gelled together. We're really eager to get going. He wants to be a collegiate coach. From what I saw this summer, working with the players that were hear this summer, he'll be a great addition to our team."
Jay Vidovich - Men's Soccer
On the 2008 team...
"The national championship aside, our goals haven't changed from the year before. We're a team that's of enough quality to pursue a national championship. We're one of about 20 teams in the country that can really say that. We're coming in with several upperclassmen that have a lot of experience in big games. We have six or seven seniors that could be starting this year that have played in College Cups. We feel that we've brought in a lot of young players that are capable and just have to get up to the pace of playing at Wake Forest and in the ACC."
On Cody Arnoux, Sam Cronin and Marcus Tracy being named to the Hermann Trophy Watch List...
"It's exciting. When we were recruiting these three players, you couldn't buy a spot on the Hermann Trophy list. It's exciting for the program. I think they know that they have a lot of work to do to stay at that level and still be considered at the end of the year. If Marcus can regain his consistency and put more goals away like he did in the College Cup last year, he'll be one of the more dynamic forwards in the country. Sam Cronin just keeps getting better. He's a leader now as a second-year captain. He sets the tempo for us on the field. Cody went from one goal his freshman year to leading the team last year. He's an explosive goal scorer and has started that way in the preseason."
On Akira Fitzgerald replacing Brian Edwards in goal...
"We lost three quality players from last year's team in Pat Phelan, Julian Valentin and Brian Edwards. Goalkeeper is a position where you peak at around the age of 32 or 33. The main thing holding Akira (Fitzgerald) back is his lack of experience. He's worked very hard. He had a great spring. He had more opportunity to grow with the summer trip to Brazil. He's started off the season strong, with two clean sheets in the exhibition games. He's growing. He's going to show his inexperience at times. He's just trying to learn and get better everyday."
On how the team looks going into the regular season opener...
"Exhibition games are friendly matches and a chance to get a run against another opponent. We gained experience. We had an opportunity to go against someone that doesn't know us and see different looks. We have a lot of work to do in terms of what we want to do and what we want to accomplish. We're starting to get healthy. The new players are starting to catch on to how we're trying to play and the older players are getting their rhythm."
Jeff Zinn - Men's Tennis
On the non-conference season...
"Ohio State is a big one for us. Last year we were 11 in the nation when we played them and they were No. 2 in the nation. It was a great match in Columbus, Ohio. It was a great match in a great facility, there was a huge crowd. I want to have that here. We've also got a lot of Big Ten schools on our schedule. We've got also some tough away matches with some high caliber schools."
On the team's freshmen...
"We have two new freshmen, David Hopkins and Joost Vogel. David was arguably one of the top players in the south. Joost was one of the top players in the Netherlands. Quite frankly we are lucky to have those two guys. We feel really happy that they chose Wake Forest."
On Cory Parr and Steven Forman leading the team...
"They played the professional circuit this summer. They did very well and had extremely good results. When you have two All-Americans that are arguably some of the best players in college tennis it's a nice feeling. You feel good that they are at the top of the line up and can pull the team through."
On players that will step into a stronger role this season...
"Iain Atkinson will be able to play in the spring. We feel good about that. He's worked extremely had this past year to get ready for that. Jon Wolff can make great strides this next year. He did well as a freshmen, he does need more consistency in his performance. Jason Morgenstern is a junior now, he's won a lot of matches these past two years. So we have a few guys that we look to step up this year."
On new assistant coach Chris Brandi...
"Chris Brandi is a former All-American at Florida. He's a tremendous addition to the team. He has a great coaching background and his father is one of the top coaches in the country. He's grown up in tennis. For us to have him here and his knowledge of the game and his energy is great for us. It's going to be a big impact for our program."