#B1GFirstServe - Rutgers Volleyball At Big Ten Media Day
Aug 03 | Women's Volleyball
| BIG TEN NETWORK STUDIO |
| PRESS CONFERENCE |
Opening Statement:
CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: I walked in here, I couldn't believe it's five years that we've been doing this, and pretty remarkable how it's evolved over time. I thought back to five years ago, my first media day when I talked about, as a head coach, with the team and what we're about to talk about now and how that has progressed in the way that I've been really anticipating it to with a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Brought two wonderful student-athletes with me that really represent what our program is all about and the standards of the program.
Q. Wanted to ask, we've seen you throughout the years, you've mentioned five years of Big Ten volleyball media days. You talk about player development. How did that play into having a couple of players alongside you that put up numbers that no one else in program history had ever done that plays into putting that work in year by year to get those kind of results in production?
CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: It's a lot of analytics into what we need from a player, not only in skill, but also in personality, in order to be successful in the Big Ten. So we think about that during our recruiting process. Most of the athletes that we recruit aren't at their ceiling for themselves, whether it's physically, emotionally, anything. They're growing as young women throughout their time in college. And it's really important for me as a head coach and for the rest of my staff to develop that. So I've put my effort, obviously, recruiting quality transfers like Aspen has been an important piece to fill in where we have lacked, and that was on the offensive production two years ago. So that helped us tremendously in that. Recruited Lily as a true freshman, and noticed something about her when she was a player, as a junior player that I thought would really help elevate the competitive level. Lily is one of the most competitive people I've ever met. What do you think about that? I think Lily has really elevated just what it means to be a Big Ten competitor. What it means, there's no fear. I think we played with a lot of fear in the beginning of just, can we be better? And Lily and both Aspen have had the mindset that we will be better and we will improve year over year, and not are we, is it a question mark? It's a definite.
Q. What have you learned and what have you taken away from last year's team that you are carrying into this year's team?
CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: The biggest areas of improvement from the previous year, in '24 to '25, was on the offensive side. We had the highest hitting percentage that we've had as a program in the Big Ten. And we broke ace records and kill records and all these different types of individual and career and season records. We want to continue that. We want to speed up our offense a bit this year. We're not always the biggest. We have really dynamic athletes, and I want to utilize their athletic ability to the highest potential by running a quick offense and focusing on our tempo. We did a lot of training on the offensive side of things this spring. We shifted our focus to the defense in the second half of spring. And obviously that's going to be our main focus throughout preseason. Kind of reflected a lot on what our defensive system was. I have a new defensive -- two, actually, two assistants that are gonna be focusing on the defensive element. And so how the block and defense work together is a key component. And if we can combine our offensive success from last year and then increase our dig-to-kill ratio and how many balls we're keeping off the ground, opponent hitting percentage, that's gonna elevate us even more this season.
Q. Something that obviously has been talked about a lot today, wanted to get your input on your level of interest, excitement and how the Big Ten Tournament is going to just change the dynamics of this season?
CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: Yeah, the Big Ten Tournament's really an important step in the future of this conference in volleyball. I have friends who are coaches in the SEC, and when that was on their docket for the last season I know there was a lot of excitement around their tournament. But we got to use that as a foreshadowing to the success of the Big Ten Tournament will bring and also learning some lessons about dos and don'ts to make it successful. So being a player that had played in a league that had a tournament, that was exciting to do as a player. And also as a coach in my previous two institutions had conference tournaments. I love the ability that we have the ability as this program grows to continue to, if we're not NCAA eligible, to be able to be Big Ten Tournament eligible deep into the season. So getting to play for something into the postseason is really, really important as you're building a program.
Q. For both players, how is that exciting and motivating to work toward?
ASPEN MAXWELL: Yeah, I think it's definitely an added motivation as a team knowing that we have something at the end of our regular scheduled conference games. But I think, I don't know, we're all really excited for it. And knowing that we only play all teams one time, I feel like, puts a little more interest on it.
LILY BOLEN: I agree. I'm super excited for the Big Ten Tournament. And I think that it's just a huge step forward for volleyball in general. And it's something that we talk about in our gym almost every single day. So it's definitely something that's helped us set a lot of our standards, and it's definitely added motivation. I think that's a good way of putting it.
Q. The most assists since 2012 last year and working with Aspen the first year. What's the connection been like early this year and with your other hitters as well?
LILY BOLEN: Yes, definitely. Most assists, I think that's all credit to my passing and to my hitters, people like Aspen. Her and I have a great connection and it's something that we really harped on at the beginning of the preseason last season, since she did come early in the spring. So we got to work on that. And I think that it's going to be really similar this year. We had some girls come early in the spring that I've been able to work with over that course of last semester. And now moving forward with more transfers coming in, that connection is something that we work on every single day.
Q. Coach, talk about some of the qualities that these two girls have and the reason why you brought them and things that just make them stand out, the Big Ten media days.
CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: I'll start with Lily. So recruiting Lily in high school, we knew we needed a setter in her class. And Lily -- when did you commit to us? Your senior year?
LILY BOLEN: The spring of my junior year.
CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: A little later in your junior year. I remember watching you in club. Again, I go back to her competitive nature. I think a setter needs to have really natural leadership ability. And that was something that we knew she had that we could continue to foster over time. She's incredibly athletic. So she can do different things. Whether she ended up setting up for us, whether she ended up DSing for us, whether she ended up serving specialist for us, I don't know, she just really wanted to be a part of a Big Ten roster, and that was huge. And so for me when I'm recruiting, having players who want to be in the program and not, you know, a lot of our recruiting is like dating, right? Do you want to date us or do you want to date us? But I'm not going to chase you all the time. You gotta give us something back. It's when you feel that and someone looks at and you says, like, I want to be here, I'm gonna stay -- she's incredibly loyal. The family that she grew up in, they were a wonderful family unit that taught her about loyalty and that she's making a decision, and it's going to be a four-year decision. And that's something that was really inspiring to me in that position. And with Aspen, I recruited Aspen out of high school and it didn't work out. And she ended up going to another school for her first semester and then obviously transferred to us. But as soon as she went on to the transfer portal, I knew that that was a mistake that I had made after our initial recruiting process. And she had -- again, I go back to recruiting really athletic players who are not close to their ceiling. I felt like she had so much more to give than what she had received at her previous institution, and that with the right training and the right environment she could really thrive as a player. So we use the word "fiery" for Aspen. But I love it. She challenges me every single day as a coach. I remember 4our very first game last spring she comes in and I made a sub and she goes, give that girl another chance; what are you doing? Leave her out there. So for a brand new player to say that to me like there's no fear. And so we've developed this relationship where we can be pretty tough with each other, but it makes us both better.
Q. Can you talk about the new additions to your staff in Randi Small and Justin Beaumont.
CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: Those were tough decisions that I had to make. They weren't all my decisions, but moving on, with Robbie (Belden) moving on to Jacksonville, I had worked with him for seven, eight years previously. We had a really tight-knit relationship both on and off the court. That was an adjustment. Abby (Detering) and I really developed a wonderful friendship. She's one of my best friends. When you recruit assistants and you bring them into your program, you want to inspire them to be at the best in whatever they feel most comfortable doing. So Abby's opportunity at Penn State, obviously, I was, like, you've got to take that. That's your alma mater. Go be great. But when Randi (Smart) texted me and said she wanted to come in and be my assistant, I was! Like are you sure? Are you positive you want to do that? You've been a head coach in a Power Four school for four years. And she was, like, absolutely. I believe in what you're doing. I want to step back from a head coaching role into an assistant role. And I think this is a great opportunity for me to really go back to what I love about the sport. And Randi is just such a quality human being. We've quickly become really good colleagues. She actually rented my townhouse from me that -- I bought the one above me she was living below me. So for about six months we lived dorm style. We'd meet after work and have a drink and kind of talk about the day. But she just has a mind that she's a head coach. She has been a head coach, and that takes a lot of pressure off of me. Justin (Beamount) the same. I love that Justin has a men's side of volleyball to bring to the table. He's able to train with different elements of the game that we might not have thought about in our gym. And he runs one of the biggest clubs in New Jersey. So to grow the sport in the state is really important.
Q. Can you talk about having the sisters Kenzie and Kami Dyrstad together on thet team?
LILY BOLEN: No, I haven't heard much bickering. But I love those two together on the same team. I love them individually. And together, I think that they bring one another out of their shells. Kenzie, when I first got here, she's definitely a leader. But she's a little bit on the quieter side. And I think Kami getting here has definitely brought her out of her shell because Kami is very outgoing. And so it's been really cool to see them bring one another's personalities out.
CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: The Dyrstad sisters are awesome. I got to meet Kami when I was recruiting Kenzie and always knew I wanted her part of the program.
Q. You said one signs of the progress of the team were recruiting players who were taller than you.
CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: I know, I didn't bring any of them. Just joking. This team is incredibly physical. It doesn't necessarily matter about height. I always say I don't care if you're 5-10 or you're 6-4, if you can hit the ball and hit the ball hard and jump high it doesn't matter how tall you are. And we've had players last year, our two outsides, they were undersized and helped break our hitting efficiency record. But it is nice to look physically actually look, I would say, comparable to other Big Ten opponents. We walk into a gym and there's no question mark that we've grown this program into a true Big Ten volleyball program. And it's something that I'm really, really proud of. And it's at a point where I feel like it's incredibly sustainable for the next, as long as it remains a program at Rutgers.
Q. I wanted to ask about your success at the service line last season, how you can continue that this season without Lexi (Visintine), who was so incredibly great picking up aces, and how that's continued to be a focus for your program?
CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: Lexi actually didn't jump serve when she first got to Rutgers. It's something that we worked with her and trained her on. And she grew more confident over two years of doing so at the service line. We really gave her the green light to do it. And it was really a huge benefit to us from a defensive perspective when she was at the service line. We spend a lot of time on serving. It's something that's really, really important to our offensive and defensive production. And everyone on the team -- I think, we have 18 players who are all incredibly capable at the service line, and nobody has the same serve. We recruited Karis Willow, who is kind of known for her serve. It's funny, she posted a video during camp of her serving. I think it got like 2 million views. Like, bam, serve. We let her try some different things from the service line. I don't see a big drop-off after Lexi left because I think she inspired a lot of these girls to not only meet that record but also break it.
Q. Talk about the coach there, about what she brings to this team with the excitement, the energy and why you like to play for her.
ASPEN MAXWELL: I think Caitlin is like -- she's a model leader. I feel like she leads with so much grace, and it's easy for her to lead, for us to follow her. She just exudes a lot of confidence. And I think it's something you want to take from her.
LILY BOLEN: I agree. She definitely is a really great leader. I think even just today, it's been a long day, and this is definitely something that I'm not used to. I've never done anything like this. And I think that having Caitlin as our leader today has just eased a lot of nerves, and she's an easy person to follow. I know that she has a daughter at home. So I touched on this earlier, but she is a mom. And so coming to Rutgers being nine hours from home, it definitely just makes me feel a lot more comfortable knowing that I have somebody who understands what it's like.
Q. Caitlin, the newest rule change, the 5-for-5 rule, how does that impact your roster-making decisions over the next couple of years and conversations you're having with players about their future at Rutgers?
CAITLIN SCHWEIHOFER: If the timing had been earlier, we might have, the roster might have looked a little bit different. I think we were holding out as long as we could to make some decisions for this season. But I've already chatted with each of them individually. Some of them had natural fifth-year redshirts. So it was already expected. Others, we kind of broached it. We started talking about it even before it became a rule at the end of spring and just what their thoughts are. But my intention is to honor all of our commitments that we've made so far. And I've done that since I got here at Rutgers. I've never told anyone they've lost a scholarship. I've never told anyone that there's no place for them on the team. If I recruited them, there's a reason why I recruited them, and so we will fit in where we have room to grow and hopefully that spacing of how we've recruited allows for an opportunity. We have six juniors this year who would have eligibility two years from now, five or six of you. So that's a big group, and we'll see how this season goes before those decisions are made for 2027 moving forward. We have no one on the team anymore that has run out of eligibility, so that's kind of exciting this year. See where it goes. No true seniors.
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