University of Minnesota Athletics
Colorado State vs Texas Quotes
12/12/2014 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
TEXAS
Jerritt Elliot, head coach
Opening Statement...
"First of all, I'd like to thank the University of Minnesota for putting on such a great event. It's first class and it's a great arena to be part of. We knew we would have a tough match with Colorado State. They have had a great year and I'd like to congratulate them. I just think at this stage of every season, it's so difficult to advance. The team has to play well; I think we've got to manage our game well. I think everything we did in the gym, training this week, we executed. Our hitting percentage is there in terms of kill percentage, our differentials were good and I just thought we had great production all the way around with all the players, and we played steady throughout the game. We're honored to represent Texas and take that next step. People just think that we're expected to get to this level, but it's not easy, and we're excited to have the opportunity to get to the next stage."
On not losing a set so far in the tournament...
"I think we're just managing our game well. Watching how our team has prepared, I think we've taken it to another level. Today, they just did an excellent job of maintaining focus and when we do that, we're tough to beat. I think we're confident in what we're doing. Our passers are doing a great job and I think our setting was great tonight."
On what he said to his team after a Colorado State run in the third set...
"We were just talking about approach speeds. I thought we weren't going as hard as we could and we were being a little tentative. They made some nice plays, but we had some opportunities to score and we didn't do that."
On if shutting down the middles was a focus going into the game...
"Yeah. Their middles are very efficient, and we knew in transition, they would stay in front a lot. So we were collapsing on them and using our size to force them into some difficult situations."
Haley Eckerman, senior, outside hitter
On the match against Colorado State...
"Like Jerritt said we did really well at preparing. We came in, we were focused in film, we knew what we had to do, we were making sure that we were paying attention to our scouting reports. Advancing that into the game, taking it into the game and knowing what each players tendency was and what we needed to do to take care of the game. That obviously showed that we were so focused."
On a potential rematch with Oregon...
"It's always fun and just like us it's a new team so you never know what to expect and you never know how they are going to play. We haven't really gotten to watch them much so it'll be interesting to watch both these teams tonight."
Nicole Dalton, sophomore, utility
On the match overall...
"I think our middles did a really good job of coming in and taking away their tendencies and then also our pins just really driving to the ball when we needed them too. And then our passers, it was really easy as a setter tonight; our passers were really steady tonight."
On a potential rematch with Oregon...
"I think they are a good team this year and I think it would be good to see them again. It would be exciting."
COLORADO STATE
Tom Hilbert, head coach
Opening Statement...
"We went into this match knowing Texas is an extremely good team, very talented and we wanted to take a lot of risks as a serving team and we probably didn't get out of that what I wish we would have. We disrupted them a little bit, but we missed nine in three sets and that's too many. I asked my team to be aggressive and they were. We went into this thing going, if we get by their block; we're going to have some success. They did a nice job touch blocking a lot of balls and they defended very well and held us to a very low kill percentage, which means they're playing the whole game and that is big. They really shut down our middle attack almost completely, and I was pleased though with our outside hitting, I was pleased with Adrianna Culbert. They shut our middle down completely, and that's usually something that's really good for us, but Texas has great athletes in that spot. They also played really cleanly, eleven errors, that's not very many out of 110 attempts. I felt we were playing okay and competing, but we just weren't able to sustain that kind of physical attack for a whole match, it's as simple as that."
On the runs Texas had...
"They were digging and transitioning very well and they've got kids that can bang it. Besides the misserves, we played pretty clean too. We've got to kill more than 30% or whatever it was, and that was what was impressive to me, because we went into this thinking that defensively, we're as good as they are, well we weren't tonight."
Marlee Reynolds, senior, outside hitter
On Texas' ability to block...
"I guess it was a little bit tougher than I thought. I went in knowing they had some good athletes who could jump high and that they were going to get touches. I wouldn't say that it was completely more than what I expected."
On the season as a whole...
"This hurts and it is not the way we wanted to end our season, but looking back we do not really have anything to be disappointed about. We rose to the occasion several times playing big teams. We won another Mountain West championship and got to host the first two rounds. This was a really good senior year."
On Colorado State's run in the third set where it took an 8-6 lead...
"I think we started to relax a little bit more and flow with each other. We kept telling each other, `Let's have fun. Let's have fun.' We were finally like, `We can have fun out here.' That always helps us when we are relaxed and playing together and having fun."
Deedra Foss, senior, setter
On the season as a whole...
"We talked about the season and how it was a great season for us. We played some big teams this year and got a lot of big wins, so I could not ask for a better senior year."
