There is some baby talk going on at the Memphis Tigers volleyball practices.
No goo-goo gah-gah, though.
You will hear the echo of players surrounding their coach asking, “may I feel it kick” or “I can’t wait for the baby to come.”
As head coach Carrie Yerty and her husband Lee near the delivery of their second child, the volleyball team prepares to fight three other teams for the last two Conference USA tournament berths.
Assistant coach Angela Graziani said the coach’s condition along with the last four games of the season are top priorities.
She said everyone is eager to meet the newest member of the Yerty family while trying to maintain their composure as delivery time approaches.
“Of course we’re all excited,” Graziani said. “We want to hold the baby and all that kind of stuff but everyone is pretty calm and just waiting for it to happen.”
Freshman outside hitter Nan Kimbrell said the team thinks the wait for the baby could be shorter than expected as Yerty still conducts practices.
“She will do whatever she can to be here,” Kimbrell said. “She’ll be at practice today although ... she probably is not supposed to go anywhere.”
Kimbrell said the team first became concerned about Yerty’s condition after she made an announcement before last weekend’s games against Cincinnati and Louisville.
Memphis had assistant coach Jenni Rosselli take over the duties of head coach in the match ups against the Bearcats and Cardinals.
Rosselli had a tough task coaching against the college volleyball Midwest Regional number one team Louisville and number three squad Cincinnati.
Memphis (17-12, 2-7 in C-USA) lost 3-1 to the Bearcats and 3-0 to the Cardinals.
The Tigers fell one game behind UAB and into 11th place in the C-USA standings.
With only 12 spots open for the C-USA tournament, Memphis - along with Marquette, DePaul and East Carolina - will contend for the last two berths.
Freshman defensive specialist Lauren Berg said the last two weeks of the season will be a battle for the four teams.
“It’s going to be a bloody war,” Berg said. “We are all out to get the same spot and be one of the 12.”
Heading down the stretch, Marquette (11-12, 2-8 in C-USA) has three conference games left versus number one in the conference South Florida, tournament bound Alabama-Birmingham and 13th place DePaul.
DePaul (5-22, 1-9 in C-USA) is sitting one game out of postseason play with Marquette, South Florida and Alabama-Birmingham left on the schedule.
If East Carolina (6-21, 0-9 in C-USA) put together a run against Saint Louis, TCU, Houston and Memphis they could make a trip to Chicago.
The remaining schedule for the Tigers has East Carolina and three top eight C-USA teams in Charlotte, Tulane and Southern Mississippi.
Graziani said the team is prepared to compete against East Carolina and Charlotte this weekend to earn a postseason trip.
“We definitely want to be one of the 12 teams that makes it to the conference tournament,” Graziani said. “We have two wins now and we’re hoping to come away with a win against ECU and possibly Charlotte. We sweep this weekend, we’re in. We are definitely in.”
Graziani also knows she and Rosselli are in as coach as Yerty expects the arrival of her baby boy any day.
Graziani said the team proved in the last two games that they would support interim coach Rosselli while dealing with the absence of Yerty.
“Last week they really rallied around coach Rosselli,” Graziani said. “They’re doing a good job of coping with it and dealing with the things handed to them. Of course we want Carrie there, but they will rally around Jenni and do a very good job.”
