BIG TEN VOLLEYBALL MEDIA DAYS

August 3, 2026

Matt Werle

Lola Schumacher

Maggie Li

UCLA Bruins

Press Conference

MATT WERLE: I think, first and foremost, I want to thank the Big Ten for hosting this event. I've never been a part of something like this, and this is really special. Special being here with these two athletes. But ultimately what the Big Ten has done is just being a leading force in all of this. So a huge gracious thank you.

And secondly thanking UCLA for the opportunity to represent this university, this historic program. It's an honor. It's one that I take very seriously. I'm really excited to get in the practice gym with these girls tomorrow, barring everything goes traveling safely back to LA. But, yeah, we're just ready to get rolling ultimately.

Q. Obviously your first year here taking the reins at UCLA. You worked along side Matt Ulmer. He was briefly here in the Big Ten. But did you share about making this transition, about the strength of the conference and the gauntlet that it is?

MATT WERLE: Yeah, he's an amazing man. He's an amazing coach. I had wanted to make the switch from the men's side of the sport to the women's side of the sport, and it was a no-brainer to go work for Matt. He and I go way back.

We played against each other in a national championship on my home court. We reverse swept him.

In terms of the advice that he's given me, he's just been such a supporter. And he's so good at what he does and is so different than who I am that it was easy to be a sponge in that gym, a sponge in the office with him and just kind of learning his ways because then it allows me to kind of piece my own style together.

So flipping from the men's to the women's side, there is a little bit of a difference. But ultimately, learning from what he did and now able to kind of rely on my history as well, I think I'll be able to kind of piece something together fun. And all these girls seem to be on board with what we're trying to do and where we're trying to make some changes.

Like I said, we just want to be in the gym. We're ready to be in the gym.

Q. Going to the transfer portal what was it about UCLA that seems to be such a good fit for you? (Indiscernible)?

LOLA SCHUMACHER: I think for the biggest thing for me, coming to UCLA, making that switch, after my first phone call with Stevie, it was probably a 2-hour phone calls, tears, laughs, all of the above.

And the biggest focus for her was who is Lola off the court. We love Lola on the court. We want to recruit number 30, that's great. But another big aspect of that was tell me everything about Lola beyond volleyball. And I think me having relationships with coaches and my team that go beyond volleyball is super important for me. Right after that phone call I knew my new home and I wanted to spend the rest of my career.

MAGGIE LI: Having Lola in our team is such a blessing for me. And I am really, really grateful to have her as my teammate and also as a human, off the court, like she said. I think what makes her significant is not only by the way she plays. She plays really scrappy, really talented, but also off the court, she's the person that is trying to bring everybody together and trying to spread positive energy always.

Q. You've only had so much time but what's impressed you so much about Lola?

MATT WERLE: All the things. I think just the way she communicates with the staff, but also the way that she's just a representative of UCLA volleyball. She's on campus. I think she went to every single men's basketball game that was at home this year.

She's just a huge supporter of the university, the athletic department. I'm very proud to have Lola on our roster.

Q. Coach, you talked about some of the similarities and differences between coaching men's and women's volleyball. This only goes a few days back, but can you talk about how they're similar and different?

MATT WERLE: I think the similarities, they're still all just college athletes trying to be great in their craft and they're growing into who they are as people. I think those are the similarities. I think coaching 18- to 22-year-old young men and coaching 18- to 22-year-old young women is vastly different.

I say that jokingly but ultimately the level of maturity that these young women are bringing to the table -- you say that men mature a little bit later in life, there's firsthand witness to that.

But I don't think they're much different. I try to coach the people. Volleyball is just a platform to coach the people. And the people that are involved in volleyball, I think, are really, really special.

Q. Coach, talk about (indiscernible) commitment to women's sport, with Cory winning the national championship there, and what their commitment is on the women's side now, what that means to you and just the history of women's sport at UCLA?

MATT WERLE: The history, it goes so far back with UCLA, and it's something I like reflecting back on. It's weird to say that UCLA women's volleyball has been around for so long. It really has been. But I'm only the fourth head coach, which makes you think and makes me very humbled by the responsibility that comes with representing UCLA.

I think with what the university is doing and what they've done for me so far, and I feel as soon as you're hired in a new position you have a little bit of power. So I was going to ask and ask and ask until they told me no. Luckily there weren't a lot of nos.

So they're very definitely very supportive of what we are going to try to do moving forward. I would not rather be in any other position being around Coach Close and all the other excellence within our department, it's very special to be a part of.

My wife asked me, all these national championships, does that scare you? I said, no, that excites me. Like, I want one. Let's go do this together and being a part of a university like UCLA, and that's what we truly strive to achieve year after year after year in every sport that we compete. I'm excited about the challenge.

Q. (Off microphone)?

MATT WERLE: Honestly, I grew up playing basketball and baseball. So that was my upbringing. My parents were coaches. I spent the first 12 years of my life in San Mateo where Coach Banachowski is from. I look forward to sitting down with him and just kind of chatting about his time at UCLA and his time as a Bruin and learning from what he was able to accomplish and how he accomplished it.

I think the similarities in the sport then versus now have changed. And I think being able to adapt to the new style of sport of what volleyball is right now, I think my history on the men's side, the translation now of the physicality, the verticality and just what you do with offensive schematics, it's just different.

I didn't know he was from San Mateo until I started looking at the history of UCLA and the staff and the head coaches. But I thought it was small world. Why not, why not be from the first coach of UCLA's that wins volleyball's hometown?

Q. Maggie, this could be your last year but you could have another year, how are you approaching that process and that decision?

MAGGIE LI: I think that's an amazing rule change. I guess this might not be my last year, if that's going to happen.

So I think it creates opportunity for a lot of players, especially like now with all the landscape of volleyball is changing in collegiate volleyball and with NILs and everything. I think it's an amazing opportunity for us.

Q. (Off microphone)

MATT WERLE: Yeah, I started by retaining Stevi Robinson, associate head coach now and recruiting coordinator. I thought that was the smartest move on my behalf. She's a rock star. She's been a glue through this transition for me.

We've spent a lot of time -- I've always had my door open to our athletes. Come have dinner at my house. So I've had way too many self-invites from the players at this point. But we walk the kids to ice cream and -- free food is free food, that's for sure. They've learned that very quickly because the rumor mill's starting within our roster.

I think off the court's really important. Like I said, I coach people, I don't coach volleyball players. So I think I need to get to know what pushes their buttons and how to get both the best and the worst out of them. Because I think sometimes we're going to see them at the worst, and how do I help get them out of it. But also sometimes I need to humble them. So I need to figure out what pushes their buttons both good and bad.

Q. (Off microphone)

MATT WERLE: It's still so individualized. It's absolutely so individualized. The way that I coach Lola is going to be very different from the way that I coach Maggie.

I think what I've learned, I think it was year seven at my previous institution as a head coach. It was year seven, I was okay, I think I've seen and dealt with all of it. So it took seven years to figure out the job.

Now that I think that I've got kind of the job and what the needs are of the job figured out, now it's just kind of understanding what the Big Ten's all about, checking out the venues, knowing the style of coaching, who calls a timeout at this point in a match. What athletes are they going to go to at this point in a match? So it's just learning what the Big Ten and the players to make sure that I can prepare our athletes to succeed.

Q. (Off microphone)?

MATT WERLE: Matt introduced me to a lot of wrinkles to what he does offensively, and I'm pretty simple. So I mean, I don't think that's going to be a surprise to a lot of people. We're going to be as fast as we can be. We're going to have a bunch of different routes out of the back row. I like a big balance to our offense.

My position, I was a setter, back in the day. Coach Ulmer was a setter, so we were across the net from each other. He was always the nice one giving me compliments as I did something great on the court. And I'd be, like, can you stop being so nice to me because he's just one of the nicest coaches out there, as I'm the one running my mouth through the net. So those times have changed for me.

I think what I learned from him is just ultimately how to kind of stay grounded through the process, and not get overwhelmed with certain things. He didn't ever actually talk to the team post match. He didn't want emotions to be involved in it. He want a full let's take a breath, let's really evaluate the match in its entirety, let's see if my emotions are right or if my emotions are wrong.

So I think something that he really tried to do was, during competition, was keep his emotion out of it. I think that was something that I learned at a young age, actually had a coaching seminar, it was Character Matters, the way I present myself on the sidelines is exactly going to be the reflection of what the athletes are doing on the court. So I've always tried to be pretty stoic. I don't bring a lot of energy to the plate. We could leave that to the athletes.

But ultimately, something he said, just stay grounded and be where you are.

Q. I know that a former colleague, Coach Erica, wondered if you would make a trip down --

MATT WERLE: Coach Erica and I became very close. She was doing face masks with my 5-year-old daughter before we moved. We know that we have some parents from previous athletes at Kansas that are going to come to that match in LA. I know my parents will be there. Erica got close with my parents as well. So Erica is a special person in my life and my family's life.

Q. What have you noticed so far that's been newly different with Matt than what you had last year as coach, as a team, that kind of thing?

LOLA SCHUMACHER: I think the biggest thing for me, and something that I really cherish when I came to UCLA, is relationships on and off the court, like we talk about.

For me, especially, I'm in their office every day. They probably get annoyed and sick of me, but I'm in there whether they're in there or not. So that safety and that security blanket I have of going in there to laugh, cry, talk, not talk, smile, frown, whatever it is and know that I'm welcome in there beyond my support, we don't have to say one thing about volleyball, I'm super grateful and blessed to have. And I know the other girls are super happy about that safety blanket that we always have just walking up those stairs.

MAGGIE LI: Pretty much the same for me. I think they're bringing a lot of consistent energy for us, and that really means a lot to the team. Because when we're in difficult moments, that's like the energy that we needed, because what Matt said earlier, what we want to do, it's like doing it day-by-day, one at a time. We're not trying to do something that we don't have control over. So I think having that consistent energy from the staff means a lot, yeah.

Q. When you're watching other liberos play, what are you looking for? What can we watch to better appreciate a libero?

LOLA SCHUMACHER: I would say things that I love to watch and things I notice when another person is playing, I would say how much are they moving? They're always constantly moving. If she's digging a ball in middle back, I should be moving towards her and confirming and calling her name and letting her know.

Another thing we talk about all the time is I can't score points. I can keep my team in the game as long as we need, but at the end of the day, I can't win a game for our team. So I think that ability to bring other people with you and make other people better, once I'm playing my game, how can I make Maggie better? How can I make Maggie score this ball? How can I have her trust me and be like, hey, I need you to block the cross ball? I'm gonna dig the line ball. So that ability to have that trust, I mean, obviously you can't see trust on a game but you can definitely see it within the people and the players.

So I would say the movement, the communication, the trust aspect. And if you're a dog or not. You've gotta dig some balls. You've got to put your helmet on. It's scary. You're gonna be one-on-none, but how do you go about that sacrificing your body and changing the game for your team.