Laurie Corbelli discusses facing the SEC volleyball grind

Due to technical difficulties, this week's interview with Laurie Corbelli will be text-only. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Texas A&M Volleyball Coach Laurie Corbelli

On the 3-0 loss against No. 17 Florida...

"Yeah, it was kind of a rough start. The team struggled getting into a rhythm early and Florida had just come off a few losses on road trips and they were excited to be home and they took it out on us. They came out with vengeance and we got caught. Once we got into set two and started to play a little bit better, we had more hope. We didn't close that set and that was disheartening, and we just couldn't get our wheels rolling, honestly.

"We had to have a short memory and forget about that and go into South Carolina and be 1-1 on the weekend."

On the team's perseverance in the subsequent 3-2 win against South Carolina...

"This team really has great fight. Earlier this season I wasn't so sure if it was as high as I wanted it to be, but there was never a discussion about fighting harder. Sometimes they get so wound up, and they wanted that match really badly. It's a tiny little gym, really loud and middle of the afternoon. I think coming off of Florida it kind of took our offense away and we had to start working harder on building our confidence and our rhythm.

"Thank goodness for Babes and Reasor, who were just unstoppable at the net, because several other attackers, diggers and passers kind of struggled, honestly, and they admitted it: 'I don't know what's wrong, I am just struggling.' We just kept convincing them that if they kept working hard and work through it and keep each other's back, then we could still get out of there with a win — and we did."

"We are doing a lot of different types of promotions to make sure we do our part in raising awareness. The first 250 people that come to the game get free t-shirts and $3 if you are wearing pink and silent auction for football tickets and basketball tickets. And it's just the right thing to do, so we are excited to get to play a part in that."

On having three home matches in a row...

"Oh, we can't wait. It's nice. We were counting down after this trip was over because we aren't on the road for two more weeks. Having three home games in a row is a nice relief. However, it's still an incredibly challenging week. We have Alabama who is coming in on fire and coming off of a big five-set win against Missouri. Then we have Mississippi State which is a totally revamped program, and it may be the fastest offense we see. Then LSU, who has long drawn out power, so we are ready. We took yesterday off to rest up and we are ready to go."