What does Lloy Ball bring to the team?
McCutcheon: He’s technically sound, but the biggest value he adds in this quadrennial is his experience, his maturity, he has a lot of experience to draw from. The strength of this team is that we don’t have any stars. Our success is coming from our ability to out compete and out-team our opponents.
 
Do you feel that Brazil is playing the best Volleyball in the world?
McCutcheon: Until Brazil is beaten, they must be the best team. They’re going to come into this tournament a little more motivated given the World League performance.

Has the popularity of outdoor Volleyball taken away from the indoor game?
Ball: If you asked me that four or eight years ago, I would have yes. Many good indoor/outdoor players were choosing outdoor because of financial possibilities. There has been a real swing in the last quad. Indoor has gained some momentum. A lot of good indoor players are staying indoors and playing overseas in the winter.

Will the victory in the World League bring this team into the Olympics overconfident?
Hoff: Some people were saying we’d get overconfident winning such a big tournament right before the Olympics. We talked about it and decided to not use it as an end point but use it as a starting point. We got a great win in Brazil and hopefully we’ll use that as a great experience for us to take here. 

Has the air quality here been a disadvantage?
Hoff: We haven’t had any issues. We’re not using anything as an excuse or a crutch.

What has been the impact of getting Lloy Ball back on the team?
Miller: He’s a major driving forced in our success lately. We want the best volleyball players in the gym on our team. He added an element that may have been missing while he was gone.