Minnesota-NDSU Postgame Quotes

NCAA Championship
First Round Quotes

Minnesota 3, North Dakota State 0
Dec. 3, 2010
Minneapolis, Minn.

Minnesota Quotes

Minnesota Head Coach Mike Hebert

Opening statement:
“Our mantra for the week was, ‘No one else exists except for North Dakota State. We were not going to get caught looking past anybody and my feelings were vindicated. I thought they played an excellent game, especially the first two sets. They served us on the whistle and outhustled us in our sets. I thought Jennifer Lopez is a great setter. Second point is we have three freshmen, talking about Tori Dixon,
Ashley Wittman, and Steffi Sooter, who aren’t playing like freshmen, they’re playing like veterans and I thought each of them contributed to the win tonight. I am very happy to be moving on.”

On Tori Dixon in the first set run:
“Laura Bush, our coach who overseas our offensive play, wanted to get the ball to our middles early in the match so we could establish that, and then open to the outside a little bit. We have a setter who can handle that and we have a hitter who can handle that, too. I thought that was a very critical moment in the match when we established the middle.”

On the difference between tonight and last time against NDSU:
“The first time they were here, I thought they were kind of happy to be in the playoffs. I told our team before the match, this time there was no intimidation. They came to play. That was obvious from the very first point. They ran out to 8-4 leads in the first two sets and made us a little uncomfortable to be sure. That was the difference. I think they played, particularly in the first two sets, with a lot of purpose.”

On the freshmen:
“Tori Dixon walked into our program with the ability to keep the ball in play. She is a very low-error, efficient player. As the season has gone on she has turned into a kill artist. Tori has been a tremendous addition to our program. You saw what Ashley Wittman can do in the last set. When she gets going as a hitter, she is pretty tough to stop. She hits a real heavy ball with a lot of velocity. Of the three, [Steffi] Sooter has probably improved the most. She has become a very good passer. I thought tonight she made some spectacular defensive plays and kept the ball on our setter’s head. Those three have been a godsend and terrific.”

On looking ahead to Creighton:
“I think Creighton is going to be a very difficult team to play. I think their setter had almost 20 attacks in that five-set match. Whenever it needed to go Creighton’s way, she seemed to be in the middle of it, dumping the ball over the net on the second contact. I think she does a pretty good job of isolating the hitters with a pretty good, neutral posture. I think Creighton will be a very difficult team to play. I am expecting a pretty competitive match.”

On setter Mia Tabberson:
“First of all I think [Stephanie] Nucci is a very good setter. But Mia does a better job in my opinion of running the team and of supplying the energy and direction that a team needs. If you watch Mia in between position, she is always on somebody to tell them what has to happen next. She is always in communication with the coaches on the bench. Mia is the kind of setter that pulls people together. That is why she won the job and that is what she did tonight.”

Minnesota Player Quotes

Freshman Middle Blocker Tori Dixon

On her serving strength, especially in the third set:
“I just went out and said I was going to go after it. I just tried to put runs of serves together, but the thing that kept me back there was our defense and Ashley [Wittman] had a ton of kills in that last little stretch. Everything definitely opened up for us and it just happened I guess.”

Sophomore Setter Mia Tabberson

On her strong offensive night:
“We worked a lot in the last couple weeks on me being part of the team. It’s all a tribute to our defense and our passing. Jess Granquist does a great job of talking and putting me in good positions. She calls when I am open and when I’m not. I attribute it all to their passing and their defensive skills because they set me up every single time.”

NDSU Quotes

NDSU Head Coach Kari Thompson

Opening statement:
“I’m really proud of our girls. I’m not necessarily happy with the third set, but I think the first two [were] up and down. We started strong. I knew our block was going to be important, and it was good when it was good, and it hurt us when it wasn’t. But I’m very proud of the way the girls performed all season, and the things that we’ve made it through together, and making it [to the NCAA Tournament].”

Junior Middle Blocker Chrissy Knuth

On disappointment on losing to Minnesota the second time around:
“We were close the whole game, and we just couldn’t finish it, so it was very disappointing. We had done so much this season. We thought we were ready for [this match] before we came, and we just couldn’t finish it.”

Senior Outside Hitter Lauren McLaughlin

On letdown in the third set:
“Against the Gophers, you can’t really have a lapse. We kind of had a letdown and couldn’t recover from it. That’s the most disappointing part about it.”

On playing well in the first two sets:
“The whole game we felt like we were playing on the defensive end, and instead of pushing through it, we just [went] through the motions. I think if we had been a little more aggressive on our block, and from our attack, that would have helped us out a bit.”

Sophomore Outside Hitter Brynn Joki

On letdown in the third set:
“Also we had those runs where we got off and had a big lead, and we just couldn’t keep the lead and keep it going.”

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Players Mentioned

Tori Dixon

Steffi Sooter

Mia Tabberson

Ashley Wittman

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