Q. What were the turning points of the season?

A. Definitely I think our nonconference start, beating Iowa, the strong performances we had at the beginning of the year. [Iowa is] nonconference and a big rivalry in-state. Us going up to Northern Iowa’s gym — that’s another in-state rivalry that has impact because of their ranking and their program’s success. Challenging them and putting ourselves in a place where we were competitive with them was a big step.

Our conference wins were also big steps.

Sweeping Oklahoma, the improvement, the finish in the Big 12 — I think those are all things that are improvements for us.

Q. You started off the season with five consecutive wins to nonconference opponents. How did this affect your team’s motivation?

A. When you win and you get on a roll it’s just like a fire — you keep adding things to it and it gets bigger and more consuming. It’s really important and part of developing a winning program is kids winning and buying into that success.

Winning feeds the ability to have confidence, to be more comfortable and to be more successful.

Q. Only four of the 12 wins this season came on the road, do you feel that the team struggled on the road? How did playing on the road affect the team?

A. Playing on the road in the Big 12 is always very difficult. Look at any team, it’s a conference where everyone has a big home court advantage.

I was happy with our kids that we beat Oklahoma and Texas Tech on the road.

Q. How did hitting errors and low kill percentages affect the team’s competitiveness?

A. That was our weakness — the consistency and efficiency on offense. That’s the biggest area we need to see improvement in as we head into our next season.

Q. How will losing seniors affect the chemistry and competitiveness of the team?

A. You’re never sure until you get into next training segment. We have a lot of roles that we need filled. We had great leaders in Dana Koziol and Renae Pruess — organized, respected. And the standards they set — academic, athletic — that type of stuff. It makes a big hole and you need to have people stepping up and filling those holes.

You have to walk into the gym and help mentor and develop the players.

Michelle Gannon was very much a spiritual leader. She was one of those who didn’t get as much playing time but her impact was very big in practice. She led us in a lot of different areas. To fill some of those things, there are some things you have to look for in the chemistry of the team. It’s a growing process.

Q. Do you feel that this season was a positive step toward where you want to go?

A. First of all, we established the goal of being competitive in nonconference [play], just because of the strength of our conference.

Another goal was to take a step and win in our conference. To finish 11th [last season] and then eighth [this season] says that we achieved one of our goals. That’s not our ending point and that’s not where we want to be, but everything is taking a step.

Our kids have to know what it takes to be there and have to be held accountable for getting there, but that’s definitely the direction we will head.

Q. What’s the timetable for getting this team to where you want it to be?

A. Our goal this year was to try to break the top six or seven. We fell short, but next year our goal is to finish in the top five and then make the next jump we need to make. From there, you need to stabilize yourself in top five. Looking down the road, basically in the next four years you’d like to see yourself consistently in the top four. We need to get to the top five and keep pushing the top three in our conference.

— Krista Driscoll