University of Georgia Athletics
‘We’ve Gone So Far Past What I Expected’
December 01, 2022 | Volleyball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Tom Black went inside, Sophie Fischer went south, and the Georgia volleyball team went to work. Now, after a pair of rough seasons, the Bulldogs are rolling and about to play in the NCAA tournament.
"I'm kind of keeping myself at bay a little bit. When I really start to think about it, I get pretty emotional. I'm so grateful the girls stuck together," Black said earlier this week, before the Bulldogs (22-7) headed to Austin, Texas, for this afternoon's NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament first-round game against No. 8-seeded Towson (29-1).
Some back story is in order.
Before Georgia hired Black in December 2016, the program was definitively at the bottom of the SEC — the very bottom. In the two seasons before the Southern California native's arrival in Athens, from Loyola Marymount, the program won a combined one SEC match (and lost 35).
In his first season, in 2017, Georgia went 22-12 overall, 10-8 in SEC play, and brighter days were ahead. In 2019, the Bulldogs went 12-6 in the SEC and earned a bid to the NCAA tournament for first time since 2013. And then the pandemic hit.
With players in and out of the lineup due to positive COVID tests or due to close contacts, Georgia struggled. In the split and shortened 2020-21 season, the team went 8-14. In 2021, the Bulldogs finished 12-17 overall and 8-10 in the SEC. Nobody was having too much fun.
"I've been a part of a lot of rebuilds, but I haven't been a part of a rebuild of a rebuild," Black said. "Building it up and then crashing the way we did during COVID, and then coming from that, it's almost ... I'm really grateful for how far we've come. It's super meaningful and it's an experience I haven't had before."
While the pandemic clearly affected the squad, Black knew he needed to be better at his job. He knew he needed to look inward in order to help lead the Bulldogs back where they want to be.
"It was very clear that coaching these kids was different now after COVID, I just went to work on myself and tried to get a support network around me," he said. "It was very clear that I needed to coach differently and better."
That didn't mean Xs and Os, it meant more positivity, better communication, showing more vulnerability, he said. Those things don't necessarily come easy for Black, but he's come out on the other side of his own journey — "It was digging inside to be better outside, I guess," he said — a better person and coach.
"I'm hyper-aware of my word choice and my body language and my tone, like hyper-aware. I wasn't doing it with bad intent in the past, I was just doing it how I was doing it and having success. And it just doesn't work anymore," he said. "I had to be aware of that, and in the end it made me a better coach.
"I communicate better, I highlight the positives better, focus on their strengths better, and ask for their input better. I had a lot of personal work to do, and I had to start sharing more and being more vulnerable. I'm not good at that, I don't like that [laughs], but I like what it does."
While Black was working to make himself better, his team was about to get a big boost in the form of 6-foot-5 middle blocker Sophie Fischer, who transferred to Georgia after two seasons at Kentucky. During her time with the Wildcats, Fischer played sparingly as her team won the 2020-21 season national championship and won a pair of SEC titles.
Fischer said she chose Georgia because she liked Black's coaching philosophy and she liked the players on the team. And the players have responded well to her. Earlier this season, senior outside hitter Kacie Evans said Fischer "brings a healthy, happy presence, which is a big thing for us."
"It's just kind of who I am. That's me on and off the court," Fischer said.
Not only did Fischer buy in "right away," Black said, her presence, both through her size and athleticism and her big personality, changed the team.
"She came from a program that was so much better than us, so for her to be so all-in was really powerful for the girls who were like, I'm not sure if I am (all-in) or not. It's like, well, she won a national championship, and if she's in (then I'm going all-in)," Black said.
"It really made me feel like I had an ally. She's just all about the team being successful. She wants to be really successful, but it's for the team. She's always in the right spot, the right place mentally, emotionally, and that gave me that kind of conduit between the coaches and the players. She's just a cool kid and they want to hang out with her. There's no way it didn't massively help."
Also massively helping was the return of a dominant Evans, who went through her own struggles the past couple of seasons. She struggled with confidence, she struggled with health and availability during the pandemic, and it took a toll.
"I was kind of obsessing over the fact that I wasn't OK, but I played it off like I was," she said earlier this season. And like Black, and with Black's help, she went to work on herself, coming out the other side feeling "10 times better than I did last season," Evans said.
With better team chemistry, better health, a committed and productive offseason and preseason for the returning players and the newcomers, including Fischer and freshman opposite hitter Tori Harper, the Bulldogs started strong and came out on the other side of any dips better and more determined.
Georgia won nine of its first 10 games this season before facing some early challenges during conference play. But the team got better and better, and ultimately finished third in the SEC standings. Fischer fit right in and was quickly a huge defensive force, Evans was back to being Evans, Georgia's top offensive weapon, and the rest of the team rose up around them. Alexa Fortin, a redshirt junior setter, moved into the starting lineup after not playing much before this season.
"When I say the bench, she was on the bench. How she stuck it out was huge," said Black, who also credited the emergence of Harper, whom he didn't expect to be starting but she played her way into the role, as well as fifth-year graduate Sage Powell. who gave way to younger players on the court while being the best teammate, supporter and leader she can be off it.
"I'm super proud of the girls — really, really proud," Black said.
Georgia won 10 of its last 12 matches during the regular season, including a pair of 3-0 sweeps at LSU in its final two matches. The Bulldogs believed they were on the NCAA bubble as they headed to Baton Rouge, and LSU was in the same position, and they came out and won all six sets against the Tigers.
"I think this past weekend, the two matches we played at LSU," Fischer said when asked to name the best Georgia has played this season, choosing that over the the Bulldogs' road sweep of a Florida team that shared the SEC title with Kentucky.
"We played really well for the most part, and when we didn't, we still figured out a way. Everyone was on, everyone was doing their job, and we picked up two huge wins."
On Sunday, Black was named the SEC Coach of the Year, while Evans and Fischer were named All-SEC.
After a couple of turbulent and challenging seasons, Black came into this fall just hoping for a positive step forward. He and the Bulldogs got a lot more than that.
"I was just hoping to have a winning season, and we've gone so far past what I expected," he said with a smile.
On the NCAA's website, volleyball writer Michella Chester included the Bulldogs in her seven dark horse teams to watch in the tournament. "The Dawgs ended the season hot with two huge sweeps over LSU, so watch out for them entering the tournament," she wrote.
Evans said midway through the season that the team had one goal, "and that is to get into the tournament again. To show the entire nation that we're capable of competing with anybody."
The Bulldogs are back in the tournament, and they're playing their best volleyball of the season. Right on time, even if it was a bit of a bumpy ride.
Staff Writer
Tom Black went inside, Sophie Fischer went south, and the Georgia volleyball team went to work. Now, after a pair of rough seasons, the Bulldogs are rolling and about to play in the NCAA tournament.
"I'm kind of keeping myself at bay a little bit. When I really start to think about it, I get pretty emotional. I'm so grateful the girls stuck together," Black said earlier this week, before the Bulldogs (22-7) headed to Austin, Texas, for this afternoon's NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament first-round game against No. 8-seeded Towson (29-1).
Some back story is in order.
Before Georgia hired Black in December 2016, the program was definitively at the bottom of the SEC — the very bottom. In the two seasons before the Southern California native's arrival in Athens, from Loyola Marymount, the program won a combined one SEC match (and lost 35).
In his first season, in 2017, Georgia went 22-12 overall, 10-8 in SEC play, and brighter days were ahead. In 2019, the Bulldogs went 12-6 in the SEC and earned a bid to the NCAA tournament for first time since 2013. And then the pandemic hit.
With players in and out of the lineup due to positive COVID tests or due to close contacts, Georgia struggled. In the split and shortened 2020-21 season, the team went 8-14. In 2021, the Bulldogs finished 12-17 overall and 8-10 in the SEC. Nobody was having too much fun.
"I've been a part of a lot of rebuilds, but I haven't been a part of a rebuild of a rebuild," Black said. "Building it up and then crashing the way we did during COVID, and then coming from that, it's almost ... I'm really grateful for how far we've come. It's super meaningful and it's an experience I haven't had before."
While the pandemic clearly affected the squad, Black knew he needed to be better at his job. He knew he needed to look inward in order to help lead the Bulldogs back where they want to be.
"It was very clear that coaching these kids was different now after COVID, I just went to work on myself and tried to get a support network around me," he said. "It was very clear that I needed to coach differently and better."
That didn't mean Xs and Os, it meant more positivity, better communication, showing more vulnerability, he said. Those things don't necessarily come easy for Black, but he's come out on the other side of his own journey — "It was digging inside to be better outside, I guess," he said — a better person and coach.
"I'm hyper-aware of my word choice and my body language and my tone, like hyper-aware. I wasn't doing it with bad intent in the past, I was just doing it how I was doing it and having success. And it just doesn't work anymore," he said. "I had to be aware of that, and in the end it made me a better coach.
"I communicate better, I highlight the positives better, focus on their strengths better, and ask for their input better. I had a lot of personal work to do, and I had to start sharing more and being more vulnerable. I'm not good at that, I don't like that [laughs], but I like what it does."
While Black was working to make himself better, his team was about to get a big boost in the form of 6-foot-5 middle blocker Sophie Fischer, who transferred to Georgia after two seasons at Kentucky. During her time with the Wildcats, Fischer played sparingly as her team won the 2020-21 season national championship and won a pair of SEC titles.
Fischer said she chose Georgia because she liked Black's coaching philosophy and she liked the players on the team. And the players have responded well to her. Earlier this season, senior outside hitter Kacie Evans said Fischer "brings a healthy, happy presence, which is a big thing for us."
"It's just kind of who I am. That's me on and off the court," Fischer said.
Not only did Fischer buy in "right away," Black said, her presence, both through her size and athleticism and her big personality, changed the team.
"She came from a program that was so much better than us, so for her to be so all-in was really powerful for the girls who were like, I'm not sure if I am (all-in) or not. It's like, well, she won a national championship, and if she's in (then I'm going all-in)," Black said.
"It really made me feel like I had an ally. She's just all about the team being successful. She wants to be really successful, but it's for the team. She's always in the right spot, the right place mentally, emotionally, and that gave me that kind of conduit between the coaches and the players. She's just a cool kid and they want to hang out with her. There's no way it didn't massively help."
Also massively helping was the return of a dominant Evans, who went through her own struggles the past couple of seasons. She struggled with confidence, she struggled with health and availability during the pandemic, and it took a toll.
"I was kind of obsessing over the fact that I wasn't OK, but I played it off like I was," she said earlier this season. And like Black, and with Black's help, she went to work on herself, coming out the other side feeling "10 times better than I did last season," Evans said.
With better team chemistry, better health, a committed and productive offseason and preseason for the returning players and the newcomers, including Fischer and freshman opposite hitter Tori Harper, the Bulldogs started strong and came out on the other side of any dips better and more determined.
Georgia won nine of its first 10 games this season before facing some early challenges during conference play. But the team got better and better, and ultimately finished third in the SEC standings. Fischer fit right in and was quickly a huge defensive force, Evans was back to being Evans, Georgia's top offensive weapon, and the rest of the team rose up around them. Alexa Fortin, a redshirt junior setter, moved into the starting lineup after not playing much before this season.
"When I say the bench, she was on the bench. How she stuck it out was huge," said Black, who also credited the emergence of Harper, whom he didn't expect to be starting but she played her way into the role, as well as fifth-year graduate Sage Powell. who gave way to younger players on the court while being the best teammate, supporter and leader she can be off it.
"I'm super proud of the girls — really, really proud," Black said.
Georgia won 10 of its last 12 matches during the regular season, including a pair of 3-0 sweeps at LSU in its final two matches. The Bulldogs believed they were on the NCAA bubble as they headed to Baton Rouge, and LSU was in the same position, and they came out and won all six sets against the Tigers.
"I think this past weekend, the two matches we played at LSU," Fischer said when asked to name the best Georgia has played this season, choosing that over the the Bulldogs' road sweep of a Florida team that shared the SEC title with Kentucky.
"We played really well for the most part, and when we didn't, we still figured out a way. Everyone was on, everyone was doing their job, and we picked up two huge wins."
On Sunday, Black was named the SEC Coach of the Year, while Evans and Fischer were named All-SEC.
After a couple of turbulent and challenging seasons, Black came into this fall just hoping for a positive step forward. He and the Bulldogs got a lot more than that.
"I was just hoping to have a winning season, and we've gone so far past what I expected," he said with a smile.
On the NCAA's website, volleyball writer Michella Chester included the Bulldogs in her seven dark horse teams to watch in the tournament. "The Dawgs ended the season hot with two huge sweeps over LSU, so watch out for them entering the tournament," she wrote.
Evans said midway through the season that the team had one goal, "and that is to get into the tournament again. To show the entire nation that we're capable of competing with anybody."
The Bulldogs are back in the tournament, and they're playing their best volleyball of the season. Right on time, even if it was a bit of a bumpy ride.
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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