The Rutgers Volleyball Schedule with Alissa Kinkela and Taylor Humphrey comments and coach Caitlin Schweihofer quotes at the Big 10 Media Days 2023 event.

 The Rutgers volleyball schedule 2023,

• the number of newcomers this season
• the transfers
• Taylor at the USA tryouts
• player development progress
• on the impact of the assistant coaches
• building the culture

are topics discussed by Alissa Kinkela and Taylor Humphrey and coach Caitlin Schweihofer quotes during the second annual Big Ten Volleyball Media Day event on August 4-5, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois at the Big Ten Network.

Another @B1GVolleyball media day in the books ✔️
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2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣3️⃣ season 🔜
.#GoRU ⚔️ #RUVB 🏐 #OnRWay 📈 pic.twitter.com/AKR8hjToIf

— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) August 2, 2023

The #B1GFirstServe Day 2 podium schedule 👀

Stream on B1G+: https://t.co/LtBq4nks66 pic.twitter.com/iHwv9n5AUG

— Big Ten Volleyball (@B1GVolleyball) August 2, 2023

It was a B1G night celebrating the sport we ❤️
.#GoRU ⚔️ #RUVB 🏐 #B1GFirstServe pic.twitter.com/gpg2A7YlQd

— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) August 2, 2023

Q. Coach, last year you had eight newcomers that you were incorporating. What does that look like this year as you continue to try and take a step forward in the Big Ten?

CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: Five more. Actually six newcomers this year, five true freshmen, a transfer.

We are a team that has spent a lot of time in the off-season developing the core that is returning from last season, building upon that experience and what we are setting as our non-negotiables, our team standards, and making sure when anyone comes into this program, they're aware of them.

And that allows for the transition whenever we add new faces, which we'll do every year. Every year in the program we will add new people. It's really important to make sure that those core values are established and set and that the team is really aligned with what the vision is for not only this year but the program moving forward over the next several years.

Thank you to @B1GVolleyball for a great evening celebrating our student-athletes and coaches - Can’t wait to talk Rutgers volleyball at Big Ten Media Day#GoRU ⚔️ #RUVB 🏐 #B1GFirstServe pic.twitter.com/kD6bqsFMtY

— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) August 2, 2023

📍 New Brunswick ➡️ 📍 Chicago
.
On R Way 2 Big Ten Media Day
.#GoRU ⚔️ #RUVB 🏐 #B1GFirstServe pic.twitter.com/Z8RmqGC7Hz

— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) August 1, 2023

Q. Taylor, you participated in the U.S. Open Tryout program, too. What was that experience like for you, and what did it mean for you to represent Rutgers at that program?

TAYLOR HUMPHREY: Yeah, it was an honor to be selected by Coach to represent our team. I just had a great experience. It was amazing being able to travel out to the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs and just compete every day with some of the best of the best.

It wasn't uncommon if we were doing a passing drill to have an All-American next to me, and that was just really eye-opening and a really exciting opportunity to be able to see the level in the gym and try to bring that back to the Rutgers gym and just elevate our team aggression and how we played. So it was a really amazing experience.

CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: This season was the first time we've ever sent anyone from the Rutgers program to the tryout. And historically we've been a very internationally based team. Obviously Alissa is from Australia.

Say hello.

ALISSA KINKELA: Hello.

CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: So we didn't always have the ability to send people just because they weren't able to participate, because they were not domestic players.

But as our team has shifted into more of a domestic-based team with support from our international student-athletes, we now have and we will year after year have athletes who have the opportunity to attend the tryout. So it's exciting.

𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒, 𝐁𝟏𝐆 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐘 📸 🏙️
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Taylor Humphrey & Alissa Kinkela join head coach Caitlin Schweihofer at the BTN studios to preview the upcoming season
.#GoRU ⚔️ #RUVB 🏐 #OnRWay 📈 pic.twitter.com/kf3AZN0alV

— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) July 31, 2023

Q. Caitlin, volleyball is able to add a third assistant coach. Are you able to add one? What were the discussions like, and what could the impact of that be on the sport?

🎙️ Listen now to this week's guest on the Coach Forward Now Podcast - #RUVB head coach Caitlin Schweihofer

Available now on Apple, Spotify or visiting https://t.co/3IJhJXhl4I #GoRU #RUVB #OnRWay #B1Gvolleyball #ncaavolleyball pic.twitter.com/ypmOHe78N1

— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) June 29, 2023

CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: He just started yesterday. He was finishing up. Ryan Mather will be our third assistant. He played at Grand Canyon, and he was finishing up playing with a professional men's team this past weekend. He wanted to complete that season. And then, yes, he's starting with the program as of August 1st.

I think he's a dynamic athlete. I think he brings a lot to the table. Obviously have two of our pin attackers here. That was his position. I was middle blocker. I can train all positions, all my staff can train all positions, but having a person that's truly dedicated to us scoring more points, that's what I was looking for in a third assistant.

Because as you look at our history from last year, defensively we increased in a lot of categories. Offensively is where we need to go in order to be able to really get over that hump for where we want to be as a program. So I'm excited to add him to the staff.

🗣️ 𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐊𝐒
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Excited to have Ryan Mather join the Scarlet Knight staff
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Read More >> https://t.co/APOSBxfEL2
.#GoRU ⚔️ #RUVB 🏐 #OnRWay 📈 pic.twitter.com/icyvRnstpR

— Rutgers Volleyball (@RUvball) August 3, 2023

Q. What's the overall impact of being able to add a third full-time assistant?

CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: It's huge. I have a lot on my plate as a head coach. I know that my assistants also do. Recruiting coordinator, we're out almost every weekend recruiting. We're trying to form relationships with not only players on the team but players that potentially will be on the team.

And having just another person that's within the program that's able to really focus on training, really focus on video analysis, really focus on scouting the future opponent, it takes a lot off of my plate.

So I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity to have another person on the staff. Another person to feed on the road, but...

Q. For Coach and the players, what does Abby Detering bring to the coaching staff?

CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: Yeah, Abby obviously has the experience of playing in the Big Ten. She played in a Final Four. She played for a historically successful program.

I think last year we used her as our model. We were a very young team. We were growing in leadership. I think a lot of the questions were how do I be a leader, what am I supposed to do, how do we hold each other accountable? And her having been there and done that in a way that was successful I think was a wonderful model for this team.

She's an excellent recruiter. She has great relationships with a lot of the top clubs in the country, and she's really allowed me to grow in my confidence as a head coach by saying, You're capable. You can do this.

It's hard to be a head coach at this level. There's days where you feel really, really good about what you're doing, and there's days where you question a lot of things. And having someone who played at that high level who wanted to be part of my staff is really inspiring, and I'm very grateful for her to be a part of it.

Obviously you guys are coached by her. She's tough. She can be tough.

TAYLOR HUMPHREY: She brings a lot of energy all the time, which is great, and it's needed definitely on days when it's a little lighter in the gym.

But from a leadership standpoint I had the privilege of having many conversations with her just about how we want to go about bringing this program to another level, and she has amazing experience at Penn State, and it was fun to pick her brain and try to find, all right, what's Rutgers' system, how do we want to move forward as a program.

ALISSA KINKELA: Absolutely, just to add on to that, obviously we have two amazing coaches, Caitlin and Robbie, but Abby has also recently just graduated, so she's still very active in our team. She's very competitive, so she does join in in our games. So she adds that Penn State mentality and intensity to our game, which also helps boost our game and better understand volleyball as a team.

Q. You were talking about kind of building a different kind of culture and building up sort of -- previously you might have been looking across the net and knowing who they are, and now it's kind of getting the competitive nature. With that being said, what are the expectations for this season to keep growing the program and the culture of the team? And players, for you, you talked about integrating new players and new faces. What is it like as a player to uphold them to that culture?

CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: When I took this position, I had a very clear vision for the process that it was going to take in order to build this program into something that's sustainably successful.

I fortunately had the opportunity to do that with another institution, so I was comfortable in that process.

We're headed into our fourth season, and I think we're right in line with where my expectations were. Major humps that I want to get over is we need to be above .500. That's something that is really, really important for this program.

Obviously that's difficult to do in such a challenging conference. So looking at the non-conference slate, making sure that we're not only prepared to play against Big Ten opponents, but also going into the Big Ten season with a significant win-loss record is important.

I think that making sure that, again, we grow in our leadership potential, we grow in just -- on all the things that we've already experienced. But we talk about this a lot as a team.

And I think in the past we were seen as a victim, oh, Rutgers volleyball is just something that is an easy win for a lot of programs. I think that this first couple years it's hard to get over that. It's hard to get over that.

I think I truly believe that we are at the point now where, yeah, we might be the underdog, but we're no longer the victim. We are 100 percent going in with this gritty, underdog mentality this year, and that's something I see in our gym every single day.

Sure, you can talk about competitiveness, but it is within them. All the players on this team bought into my vision, bought into the desire to be the first to put the banners on the wall, to be the first to really make a name for themselves, and no one is really going to think about Rutgers volleyball was 10 years ago once they start seeing these girls out on the court.

ALISSA KINKELA: I think it's one thing to see on court how far we've come, but behind the scenes, especially since I first started, it has improved dramatically behind the scenes.

I think I view my team as a house that we're building. You need to build a strong foundation or a structure in order to build a solid building or a house. I feel like, as Caitlin said, we have paved over a lot of bumps, a lot of issues that has enabled us to achieve the goals that we are now seeking to achieve.

There has been a lot of improvement behind the scenes which will eventually translate into our game.

TAYLOR HUMPHREY: Yeah, and when newcomers come in or freshmen or transfers, I think we're very quick to introduce them to the culture that we want, and we're very steadfast in knowing like what that culture is.

When we have a foundation of friendship behind the scenes, it makes on-court tough conversations -- asking a teammate to give more effort, holding each other accountable, things like that -- it makes those a lot easier when you know off the court that you can have fun and it can be a good time, but on the court it's business and we're here to win games.

CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: These girls hold me accountable, too. I think we have a really great -- I try to treat these players -- like I said, they're not robots. They're human beings. Everyone on this team has a voice, whether they've just been there for one month or they've been there for four years.

It is a working relationship that allows them to grow as people, but it also allows our coaching staff and myself to grow as people.

I think that trust and that belief in one another is really going to bring great things on the court.

Q. Caitlin, you said the spring was kind of an experimental time, figuring out what was going to work at setter, what was going to work on offense. Now you've had time to reflect on that, is that going to carry over to the fall? Do you have a better idea of what you want to do offensively with your roster going into the season?

CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: That's a loaded question. I think we have a lot of people who can play in a lot of positions. I do. I think we have a lot of options.

In the past, historically, we might not have had as many options. There was a pretty clear person or persons that were going to play in specific positions. I think the competition in the gym is higher than ever before.

I think that we have the ability to sub people in and out more than we ever had before.

I'm excited about all the potential. Obviously as a coach you have ideas of what offense you're most comfortable running. I've never run a 6-2 as a coach. I've only ever run a 5-1. But we have three setters on the roster this year, and we have multiple really solid pins. We might be in a 6-2. I don't know. But that's what preseason is for.

Unfortunately we're not allowed to be in there in the summertime as head coaches, so a lot of them is just saying, We look good. Until I'm in there getting to analyze what the team looks like, I think this team, they are good volleyball players. They know how to do all the skills. It's what chemistry works best on this team is what is going to in turn make the lineup that's out there on a regular basis.

Private or semiprivate volleyball indoor/sand lessons are an excellent way for young Las Vegas high school volleyball players to quickly improve their individual skills through a private or semi-private coaching experience. These lessons are conducted by former pro volleyball player, former USA Volleyball High Performance instructor and Evaluator and Tstreet Vegas 18s head Coach April Chapple on a weekly basis. Sign up now! The Nebraska Volleyball Schedule 2023 Player Comments and Coach Quotes

Follow me on Instagram @coach_apchap to improve your game even faster!

I share alot of individual, partner and easy-to-do volleyball serving drills we do in class with my followers.

Many of these volleyball practice drills you can do at home by yourself or try at your next practice with your teammates.

If you're a B team or JV player trying to make varsity next year...your goal should be to complete 1000 reps a day of at least three of the basic skills on your own...volleyball passing, serving and setting should be at the top of the list. 

1. Improve Your Volleyball Performance with Private Volleyball Coach April Chapple
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2. Volleyball Tournaments Manhattan 6 Man and Other Summer Tournaments
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3. Rutgers Volleyball Schedule Player Comments and Coach Quotes
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