Jelena Vujcin and David McFatrich address reporters at media day on Friday.
MSU Volleyball Holds 2017 Media Day
August 18, 2017 | Volleyball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – With only seven days away from the regular-season opener, the Mississippi State volleyball team held its annual media day in the Babe McCarthy Media Room on Friday.
Third year coach David McFatrich and seniors Jelena Vujcin and Payton Harris were in attendance.
The Bulldogs are set to start their 41st season, with four returners and nine new faces on the team. Of the nine newcomers, seven are freshmen.
Vujcin finished the 2016 season with a career-high 19 kills and 356 total points. Harris completed the season leading the Bulldogs with 348 digs.
For more information on Mississippi State volleyball, follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "HailStateVB." You can also find all-access coverage of the program on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap."
David McFatrich Quotes
Opening Statement …
"Thanks for doing this for us guys. Third year here man, the first two years have flown by. They have been good years relative to the history of the program. When I got here we were ranked 258th. There are 334 Division I women's volleyball programs. We cracked the top 100 for a short stint in my first year. We had 17 wins, most wins in the past 10 years. We feel like we are on the right track. We are at about the 500 mark which relative to history is the best two years the program has ever had except for one previous two-year stint. We have our work cut out for us this year. We have 10 new faces. Thankfully I have two great leaders in these two seniors, Payton Harris and Jelena Vujcin. They are doing a great job. Seven freshmen, so nine of our 13 players are new. When we headed into preseason, that's a question mark. Not just the things we have to learn on the court, not just the offensive system of play, not just the defensive system of play. You question how this team would get along what I can I do as a head coach to make sure the team dynamic is really happening. We have had an abbreviated preseason. I feel like it always gets shorter. We did ask them to come in two or three times a day. We made sure we were balancing our effort with technique and tactic so we didn't wear them out. The team dynamic this year with this group is as good as it's been since I've been here. Actually, it is better. It is very important. The older I get the more I realize the ingredients it takes to win. One of those is a great team dynamic. Even though we have 10 out of 13 new faces, I think the team dynamic is really, really good going into the season. We are going to be a process oriented team this year. We will see if we can get better week to week."
On ingredients of success and impact of seniors…
"We feel like we have a lot of work to do in the state of Mississippi to educate everyone and being Mississippi up to parallel with the rest of the world is seeing in the sport. We are doing everything we can outside of our program to help Mississippi volleyball. One of the most important components to having a successful team is ball control. If we are in serve receive we want to make sure we control the ball to allow our setter to run the offense with options. That is the biggest thing that Payton brings to our team. Not only is she a great digger, but she serve receives very well. Once we get the ball to target, and our setter sets the ball, we have to have bomber to put the ball away. To be honest with you guys, heading into preseason we were lacking arms. We have recruited so that starting next year we have a lot of arms coming in. This year our biggest and best arm is Jelena Vujcin. I call her the Serbian beast for a reason. She can go off against the best teams in conference, which means the best teams in the country. The ingredients that Payton and Jelena bring are ball control and putting the ball away. They are also tow of our strongest servers."
On the new faces…
"They each bring something different and the comraderies is incredible. They each bring something, but as far as on the court, we have a middle blocker names Laura Rose Gray. She is a 6-3 Middle Blocker from east Texas. When she gets a hold of it she can bring the thunder. She is doing really well in front of the setter. She will be our "Middle Hitter number 1." She is so good defensively, puts up a great block and is so strong. We are planning on running a 5-1 offense. She's doing a good job for us. We have a transfer setter named Morgan Kath. She is from Stony Brook. She has two years left. She's a very even keel. That is something I really want in a setter. She's a steady influence. She is setting a good ball. We try to run a cumulative offence. She is learning the ins and outs of that. We have a freshman libero, or defensive specialist, Gabby Zgunda. She comes from a volleyball powerhouse and incredible club. She's a very good ball controller. Sara Maddox, she came early, just a gracious young lady. She switched positions and has done whatever I needed het to do. Those four are just really bringing it."
On his vision …
"I feel like it has taken two years to get to year one. We have new staff, we have nine new players. We know we have a plan and we know the players we are recruiting and the direction we want to head. We have finally caught up on recruiting. We have one available for 2018 and one available for 2019. It feels like I have more traction, and a better since of direction for the team. We have big aspirations. We want to do things that have never been done before. I really feel like we have players coming in who can do that."
On how he found out about Jelena Vujcin…
"I got an email from a Serbian contact. I thought I was one of the few who got the email, but apparently not. I just jumped on it from there. I had a contact in Serbia that I have been in touch with, on and off, for several years. I had never gotten a player from him. One of the assistant coaches at Seattle was Serbian. I was communicating with him as well. He wanted the best for her. He understood the situation. We got her out here on a visit as quickly as we could. There were several big schools looking at her and we are very, very grateful she chose to come here."
Jelena Vujcin Quotes
"On what attracted her to Mississippi State…
"I come from a small city. It's called Becej; it's in north Serbia. I was playing handball for a very long time. The coach left, so as a group we all went to play volleyball. The coach at the time, he told me that I'm going to be tall and I should do something about it, so I went to Subotica, and I started playing professionally. My high school years I realized that as a professional athlete, you don't have much time or much chance to work on your education. I learned about the American college system, and I really liked it. I have a chance to improve as a person and educate myself and play a sport that I enjoy playing. So I contacted one of the coaches at Seattle, and they recruited me there. I played there for two years. Seattle University is right in the middle of Seattle, and I didn't feel like I fit there really well. I didn't enjoy as much. I took a chance to transfer. The Monday that I got my transfer release, I got 300 emails. It was overwhelming. I was trying to reply to every single one, but I had such a great feeling about just the logo of Mississippi State when they sent me an email. Coach would call me every other day to make sure I'm fine and make sure I'm holding in there. It was a stressful time. I came here to visit, and I realized it's very similar to where I come from. It's a small city, but it feels like family, like everyone is a part of a unity. It gave me goosebumps when I came here. Everyone is wearing the same gear and rooting 'Hail State.' It just felt great. I felt like I'm finally going to be a part of something great, something big, that's going to help me in my future and I'm going to have so much fun. I wanted to say yes the first time I landed, but I didn't want to do it too fast. I waited a day after I came back to Seattle and I called him right away."
On her height playing handball and transitioning to her 6-foot-3 stature…
"I was maybe 5-7, 5-8; and then one summer I grew. My body proportion is that my legs are double my upper body, so [my handball coach] said, 'You've got long legs; you're going to grow.' My parents are tall. My mom played basketball professionally at the time where Yugoslavia was, and my dad played water polo. I'm from an athletic family."
Payton Harris Quotes
"On her upcoming senior season…
"For the most part it's just making sure it's an easy transition for them and for us. It's having to learn everyone new again. Usually it's maybe two or three freshmen coming in; that's about normal. It's getting them acquainted with the program, but now it's getting 10 new girls acquainted with the way things work in the weight room and the way things work in the gym and outside the gym. It's a little bit more of a challenge, but as [McFatritch] said, these girls are great. They melded into everything so quickly, and they're adjusting very quickly. It feels like we've been together for months when it's only been a few weeks now. We got really lucky with the kind of girls that we got."
On her relationship with Jelena Vujcin…
"Jelena's just so down to earth; she's just so genuine. I know that it's probably hard coming here from a different country, especially when you don't know anyone. It's just the way that she really tried to be genuine with us and be a good friend to all of us. There's a couple times where I'd call Jelena when I was having a really tough time, and she's just always there for us when you need her. She's one of the sweetest people I've ever met. She's an amazing person."
Third year coach David McFatrich and seniors Jelena Vujcin and Payton Harris were in attendance.
The Bulldogs are set to start their 41st season, with four returners and nine new faces on the team. Of the nine newcomers, seven are freshmen.
Vujcin finished the 2016 season with a career-high 19 kills and 356 total points. Harris completed the season leading the Bulldogs with 348 digs.
For more information on Mississippi State volleyball, follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "HailStateVB." You can also find all-access coverage of the program on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap."
David McFatrich Quotes
Opening Statement …
"Thanks for doing this for us guys. Third year here man, the first two years have flown by. They have been good years relative to the history of the program. When I got here we were ranked 258th. There are 334 Division I women's volleyball programs. We cracked the top 100 for a short stint in my first year. We had 17 wins, most wins in the past 10 years. We feel like we are on the right track. We are at about the 500 mark which relative to history is the best two years the program has ever had except for one previous two-year stint. We have our work cut out for us this year. We have 10 new faces. Thankfully I have two great leaders in these two seniors, Payton Harris and Jelena Vujcin. They are doing a great job. Seven freshmen, so nine of our 13 players are new. When we headed into preseason, that's a question mark. Not just the things we have to learn on the court, not just the offensive system of play, not just the defensive system of play. You question how this team would get along what I can I do as a head coach to make sure the team dynamic is really happening. We have had an abbreviated preseason. I feel like it always gets shorter. We did ask them to come in two or three times a day. We made sure we were balancing our effort with technique and tactic so we didn't wear them out. The team dynamic this year with this group is as good as it's been since I've been here. Actually, it is better. It is very important. The older I get the more I realize the ingredients it takes to win. One of those is a great team dynamic. Even though we have 10 out of 13 new faces, I think the team dynamic is really, really good going into the season. We are going to be a process oriented team this year. We will see if we can get better week to week."
On ingredients of success and impact of seniors…
"We feel like we have a lot of work to do in the state of Mississippi to educate everyone and being Mississippi up to parallel with the rest of the world is seeing in the sport. We are doing everything we can outside of our program to help Mississippi volleyball. One of the most important components to having a successful team is ball control. If we are in serve receive we want to make sure we control the ball to allow our setter to run the offense with options. That is the biggest thing that Payton brings to our team. Not only is she a great digger, but she serve receives very well. Once we get the ball to target, and our setter sets the ball, we have to have bomber to put the ball away. To be honest with you guys, heading into preseason we were lacking arms. We have recruited so that starting next year we have a lot of arms coming in. This year our biggest and best arm is Jelena Vujcin. I call her the Serbian beast for a reason. She can go off against the best teams in conference, which means the best teams in the country. The ingredients that Payton and Jelena bring are ball control and putting the ball away. They are also tow of our strongest servers."
On the new faces…
"They each bring something different and the comraderies is incredible. They each bring something, but as far as on the court, we have a middle blocker names Laura Rose Gray. She is a 6-3 Middle Blocker from east Texas. When she gets a hold of it she can bring the thunder. She is doing really well in front of the setter. She will be our "Middle Hitter number 1." She is so good defensively, puts up a great block and is so strong. We are planning on running a 5-1 offense. She's doing a good job for us. We have a transfer setter named Morgan Kath. She is from Stony Brook. She has two years left. She's a very even keel. That is something I really want in a setter. She's a steady influence. She is setting a good ball. We try to run a cumulative offence. She is learning the ins and outs of that. We have a freshman libero, or defensive specialist, Gabby Zgunda. She comes from a volleyball powerhouse and incredible club. She's a very good ball controller. Sara Maddox, she came early, just a gracious young lady. She switched positions and has done whatever I needed het to do. Those four are just really bringing it."
On his vision …
"I feel like it has taken two years to get to year one. We have new staff, we have nine new players. We know we have a plan and we know the players we are recruiting and the direction we want to head. We have finally caught up on recruiting. We have one available for 2018 and one available for 2019. It feels like I have more traction, and a better since of direction for the team. We have big aspirations. We want to do things that have never been done before. I really feel like we have players coming in who can do that."
On how he found out about Jelena Vujcin…
"I got an email from a Serbian contact. I thought I was one of the few who got the email, but apparently not. I just jumped on it from there. I had a contact in Serbia that I have been in touch with, on and off, for several years. I had never gotten a player from him. One of the assistant coaches at Seattle was Serbian. I was communicating with him as well. He wanted the best for her. He understood the situation. We got her out here on a visit as quickly as we could. There were several big schools looking at her and we are very, very grateful she chose to come here."
Jelena Vujcin Quotes
"On what attracted her to Mississippi State…
"I come from a small city. It's called Becej; it's in north Serbia. I was playing handball for a very long time. The coach left, so as a group we all went to play volleyball. The coach at the time, he told me that I'm going to be tall and I should do something about it, so I went to Subotica, and I started playing professionally. My high school years I realized that as a professional athlete, you don't have much time or much chance to work on your education. I learned about the American college system, and I really liked it. I have a chance to improve as a person and educate myself and play a sport that I enjoy playing. So I contacted one of the coaches at Seattle, and they recruited me there. I played there for two years. Seattle University is right in the middle of Seattle, and I didn't feel like I fit there really well. I didn't enjoy as much. I took a chance to transfer. The Monday that I got my transfer release, I got 300 emails. It was overwhelming. I was trying to reply to every single one, but I had such a great feeling about just the logo of Mississippi State when they sent me an email. Coach would call me every other day to make sure I'm fine and make sure I'm holding in there. It was a stressful time. I came here to visit, and I realized it's very similar to where I come from. It's a small city, but it feels like family, like everyone is a part of a unity. It gave me goosebumps when I came here. Everyone is wearing the same gear and rooting 'Hail State.' It just felt great. I felt like I'm finally going to be a part of something great, something big, that's going to help me in my future and I'm going to have so much fun. I wanted to say yes the first time I landed, but I didn't want to do it too fast. I waited a day after I came back to Seattle and I called him right away."
On her height playing handball and transitioning to her 6-foot-3 stature…
"I was maybe 5-7, 5-8; and then one summer I grew. My body proportion is that my legs are double my upper body, so [my handball coach] said, 'You've got long legs; you're going to grow.' My parents are tall. My mom played basketball professionally at the time where Yugoslavia was, and my dad played water polo. I'm from an athletic family."
Payton Harris Quotes
"On her upcoming senior season…
"For the most part it's just making sure it's an easy transition for them and for us. It's having to learn everyone new again. Usually it's maybe two or three freshmen coming in; that's about normal. It's getting them acquainted with the program, but now it's getting 10 new girls acquainted with the way things work in the weight room and the way things work in the gym and outside the gym. It's a little bit more of a challenge, but as [McFatritch] said, these girls are great. They melded into everything so quickly, and they're adjusting very quickly. It feels like we've been together for months when it's only been a few weeks now. We got really lucky with the kind of girls that we got."
On her relationship with Jelena Vujcin…
"Jelena's just so down to earth; she's just so genuine. I know that it's probably hard coming here from a different country, especially when you don't know anyone. It's just the way that she really tried to be genuine with us and be a good friend to all of us. There's a couple times where I'd call Jelena when I was having a really tough time, and she's just always there for us when you need her. She's one of the sweetest people I've ever met. She's an amazing person."
Players Mentioned
MB
/ Volleyball
L/DS
/ Volleyball
S
/ Volleyball
RS
/ Volleyball
OPP/MB
/ Volleyball
DS
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