“Holy Cow, This Is Cool”: Q&A with Kristin Belzung of Stony Brook

  0 Bill Stadick | November 29th, 2017 | College - Women's Indoor, Division I Mid-Major, News

KRISTIN BELZUNG: FROM IOWA TO ROUND #1 IN NEBRASKA BY WAY OF LONG ISLAND

  • 2004-2007: Starting setter for Northern Iowa Panthers, reaching 2006 and 2007 NCAA Tournaments
  • 2008-2016: Various director of operations and assistant coaching stops at South Dakota State, South Carolina and Wyoming
  • Jan. 6, 2017: Named head coach at Stony Brook
  • Aug. 26, 2017: First win as head coach against Eastern Michigan
  • Nov. 12, 2017: Finishes regular season 16-12 and No. 4 seed in conference tournament
  • Nov. 17-18, 2017: Semifinal and final sweeps of Albany and Binghamton to claim the program’s first-ever America East Championship and bid to the NCAA Tournament
  •  Dec. 1, 2017: First round match at #5 Nebraska

Understatement Alert: It has been a very good year for Kristin Belzung and the Stony Brook Seawolves. Since being named as the school’s head volleyball coach in early January, the former Northern Iowa star has guided the Long Island program through some ups, several downs and one historic, unforgettable weekend. VolleyMob caught up with Coach Belzung on Sunday afternoon prior to the NCAA Selection Show to discuss her year so far and the path that has led to a first-round match in Lincoln, Nebraska against the #5 Cornhuskers on Friday night.

VM: First, the obvious question. What’s it like to qualify for the NCAA Tournament in your first year as a head coach?

KB: I hate to say it like this, but even though we’ve been talking about it as a team from the start, I can’t say it’s something we fully expected to happen this quickly. And then it happens and it’s like, holy cow, this is cool.

VM: What did you know about Stony Brook when you first took the job?

KB: I didn’t know anything. I knew nothing about Long Island. You feel like this is going to be New York City and it’s nothing like that. We describe it as a bunch of small towns smooshed together. You have this thing in your head about the East Coast and it’s not like that at all. People have been super welcoming. The culture in the athletic department is awesome.

VM: Take us back to those first days in January.

KB: From the first meeting we had as a team, we knew the NCAA tournament was realistic for us, but I didn’t necessarily have expectations for this season because I really didn’t know much about the conference. It was like, “let’s work the process and let’s see where we can get in November.” We were just trying to work the process and put a system in place and build a culture.

VM: Was the team on board?

KB: Honestly, from the start, this group has been so bought in and willing to do anything that we’ve asked of them. It’s a breath of fresh air coming in as a new coach. It was just a good group that we were really thankful for.

VM: How did spring season go?

KB: We spent a lot of time putting in systems and it was a lot different from what they had previously done. To be honest, I think it was frustrating at times because they weren’t seeing results right away. So for them to stick with the process was big for us and I think the biggest thing was they all had a common goal. Working toward the NCAA Tournament made it easy to get them to work hard because they were all fighting for the same thing and had each other’s backs.

VM: Any low points during during the season?

KB: Those first three matches. Sitting there in the locker room after that third match, we didn’t feel like we competed very hard and it was like, “all right, guys, we’ll get the next one.’ And the coaching staff kind of got on them and said, “No, at some point, you’ve got to choose to compete and find a way to win. And it doesn’t have to be pretty, but you’ve got to earn it.”

VM: Tell us about your first win as a head coach, that thrilling five-setter against Eastern Michigan. 

KB: I thought there was just a little bit of a mindset change the way our team came out. It wasn’t the prettiest match we’ve ever played, but Eastern Michigan had two or three match points in there and you could just see the fight in our eyes. And it was a decision they made that it’s not going to be pretty but we’re going to compete. Then the next weekend, going into Harvard, I thought we were a totally different team. The team that showed up that weekend just looked more comfortable, confident and ready to compete. We put a lot of emphasis on competing that weekend.

VM: Where did things stand going into the America East Tournament? 

KB: It was kind of a weird setup the way it worked out where we ended up playing Albany and Binghamton the weekend before the conference tournament. From my perspective, that weekend was hard. We were pretty low after those losses because we knew we needed to win one of those matches to get in. But, fortunately, we ended up getting the help we needed to even make it in. As a coaching staff, it was hard to have that frustrating of a weekend going into what’s supposed to be one of the most fun and exciting weekends of the year.

VM: But you obviously bounced back to have a great weekend.

KB: The group never really got down. When they came into the gym, we put an emphasis on winning the long rallies by “out-scrapping” the other team. And to see them come back and say, “Oh, that’s what we need to do. OK let’s do that,” and to be non-emotional about it and just set their eyes on what they needed to do better was cool from a coaching staff’s perspective.

VM: What stands out about those two sweeps? 

KB: Honestly, I don’t even know. We sat in our meeting space before Albany and talked about the keys to the game—just like we do before every match. We talked about staying in the moment. We didn’t want to think about the end goal.

VM: But they obviously knew what was on the line, right?

KB: Before the weekend, we talked about this being an opportunity to make history. No team from Stony Brook has ever been here before, has ever been in the NCAA Tournament, has ever won an America East championship. We have a wall in our athletic department that has all the school’s conference championships with photos. We talked about being on that wall. We talked about that before we left and then again after we beat Albany.

VM: What was it like going into the championship match? 

KB: We met in the morning and said, “Let’s focus on the process, getting to work in the moment on every single point and competing with confidence.” Our mentality the whole weekend was the same. All season we had never gotten to that point where nothing was going to fluster us. That weekend, the other team could get a couple points in a row and it was, like, “OK we’ll get the next one.” They were locked in on not getting into the emotions of being in the championship match. The team was on a mission that weekend. Nothing was going to get in the way. And it was just a lot of fun.

VM: Who were some key performers?

KB: McKyla Brooks is for sure one who stood out. She was pretty unstoppable. She’s an incredible athlete, but regardless of that, she was on a mission both from a blocking and attacking standpoint. There were times when Sarah Bullock, our assistant coach who calls the offense, was saying, “Hey, they’re fully committing on Ky, do we still want to run her?” And it was, like, “Yeah.” She was unstoppable and it allowed everyone else on our team to have a different level of success because of the amount of success she had. She’s an undersized middle at 5-8, but she’s not undersized when you talk about the height she’s attacking at.

VM: What has this meant for your three seniors, Melann Amory, Cydney Bowman and Abby Hickey? 

KB: Those three have meant a lot to this program. As a new coach, we didn’t know what it was like here previously, but those three have been solid in terms of leadership and being really good culture players. Obviously, knowing it’s their last opportunity to do this, they’ve been the most fired up, especially Mel [Melann Amory], who maybe hasn’t had the role she wanted this year, but has been the most positive and hard-working in terms of coming into the gym and working her tail off to make herself and her teammates better.

VM: Any other shout-outs to players who may not lead in statistical categories or get the accolades? 

KB: I think one kid who hasn’t gotten the awards, but has been steady for us all year has been Emily Costello. She’s a six-rotation kid who’s passing well, playing great defense and scoring when we need her to score. She has just been steady-eddie for us and the most positive person you’ll ever meet. She’s been the glue for us.

VM: Have you heard from Northern Iowa head coach Bobbie Petersen and others from your past? 

KB: I was just texting with Bobbie Petersen this morning and we talked about how crazy it would be if we were at the same site. Bobbie’s the best. Honestly, everyone has been super supportive and excited. We’ve heard from everybody and we’re thankful. So many have reached out.

VM: Beyond the tournament, what does the future hold for the Stony Brook Seawolves?

KB: Stony Brook is an incredible place to be a student-athlete. You get the opportunity to get the full experience and our administration understands that winning is part of the full experience but a lot of other things go into it as well. We’ve been telling kids we think this is a place where we can be successful and be in the NCAA Tournament and this is proof.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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