University of Minnesota Athletics
NCAA Volleyball Tournament First-Round Quotes
12/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
UC Santa Barbara Quotes
Head Coach Kathy Gregory: "We started off slow, offensively we didn't play our game in the first two games."
"I'm proud of this team and how they fought back tonight. The interesting thing about this match is we out blocked them, they outdug us. I give Northern Iowa all the credit, they're a good team. We put ourselves in a position to win, that's all you can ask as a coach."
Janine Sandell (On her first NCAA tournament match): "It was nerve-wracking in the beginning of the match. I think I settled in and realized it's just another game, and I have to play the way I know I can."
Megan Blackshire: "We played as well as we could. We all tried so hard, sometimes the shots don't fall how you want them. When we played our style of game we were successful. It just took too long to get to that point."
Northern Iowa Quotes
Head Coach Bobbi Peterson: "Both of these teams put a lot of heart into the match. UC Santa Barbara did a great job of fighting back after falling down 2-0, and our team did a great job of fighting off match point and coming back to win game five."
"It seems like in volleyball the focus is on the west coast teams. We take pride in representing the Missouri Valley Conference, and realize every match in the tournament we win helps the conference."
"We had some digs that were terrific, all night we were in great position to make plays. Our players got to a lot of tough balls and kept a lot rallies alive with great digs tonight."
Shari Vermeer (on coming back after two lost games and a slow start in the fifth): "It shows how much heart this team has, how much we wanted it."
Rachael Tink: "We would've rather had it in three, but we won. Tomorrow we're gonna be relaxed, come out and play."
(On pumping up her teammates in the fifth game): "I knew we hadn't won yet, I knew we had to concentrate, play, and finish the game."
Quotes Wisconsin Green Bay
Head Coach Debbie Kirch:"I can't say enough about Minnesota as a team. We knew their height would cause a problem, for us offensively but I'm impressed with their defense."
"We struggled passing and with the jump serve, you can't do that against a team like Minnesota. We knew we'd have to serve aggressively but we struggled a bit. (The way they dug the ball) It's frustrating, our best shots continually got dug up."
"I'm proud of this group for taking this program where it's never been before. We didn't come here to be competitive, we came here to win. However, we lost to a very good Minnesota team."
Janelle Tomlinson: On why she didn't play her best game: "Every time I tried to put the ball down Minnesota's defenders were there."
Quotes Minnesota:
Mike Hebert: "We reverted to a deeper serving philosophy tonight against Wisconsin-Green Bay, I think our players did a good job of executing in the service game and it helped us out a lot tonight."
"We served well and played good defensively tonight. UW-Green Bay came out and played very feisty in game one. I thought we did a good job in games two and three of keeping them on their heels and getting out to big leads."
Cassie Busse: "Our digs were spread out, not just Paula (Gentil) getting digs, we really spread it out tonight."
Erin Martin: "Our setters were giving me clean swings all night. That made it easier for me to get on a good roll tonight."
Lindsey Taatjes (on tomorrow's game against Northern Iowa): "It's always a long, hard fought match every time we play them. We play them every year and it is always a tough match. This year should be no different.