No. 5 Wisconsin vs. No. 14 Nebraska
Oct. 26, 2014
UW Fieldhouse – Madison, Wis.
Wisconsin Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
Opening statement:
“That’s a good win, it’s been a long time. I think Coach (Barry) Alvarez was in high school the last time we beat those guys. I liked how we approached this match. We weren’t on top of our game, but what I thought we did a great job of was moving on to the next point and moving on quickly.
“It was tough, that team is really, really deep and there was a lot of subbing that was going on. Their rotations, their patterns were changing an awful lot. We missed a couple assignments but I thought we did a really good job over the course of the match of recognizing when they were changing their patterns, what defensive adjustments we had to make based off of that.
“I thought that Lauren (Carlini) owned the match today. I thought she was totally in control. Location, I think there were a few balls that she wishes she had back, but I thought that she executed the game plan great. She announced her presence with authority offensively. I thought she did a masterful job in all aspects.
“I thought our right side blockers did a… that’s a tough team, those outsides will tool your block like there’s no tomorrow. I know that was a real big challenge for Lauren and Courtney (Thomas) over there on the right side today, and they did a great job of rising to the challenge. Taylor Morey, 29 digs, I think at one point she was yelling at people to just get off the court and she’d cover the whole court. She was great back there. Really good balanced effort, big win.”
On Taylor Morey’s big year so far:
“Some people shrink when the lights get a little bit brighter, Taylor Morey’s not one of those. She’s going to put it all out there, she’s going to lay it out there. She’s going to know the game plan, she’s going to know the hitters tendencies and put it all together. She’s going to have to do it defensively because nobody wants to serve her. You’re seeing a player that’s just getting better and better and getting more and more confident. I thought she was great tonight, no question.”
On the historical importance and players’ understanding of this win over Nebraska:
“I think that’d be a great question for (the players). I think they like challenges. When you find something that can kind of get them going a little bit, they don’t blow that off. I think this team also knows that there’s been a lot of really good teams that have come through here, a lot of good players. There were an awful lot of alums in the building today. Part of that win is for those guys. It’s been a long time. It’s a great question for the players, but they understand.”
On his game plan for the rest of the conference Big Ten matches:
“This Sunday and then Wednesday turn around, and you’re playing a team that’s second in the league here in 72 hours. You better get over this win pretty quick. We’re hitting the road here pretty soon, and they don’t give any medals or cookies for people that finish first half way through. There’s a long part of the season, and we’ve got to continue to get better.”
Wisconsin Players
On how she was able to make her tipping so effective this match:
“One of the big things was my middles moving around and being able to hold blockers for me. We had really good flow tonight and that definitely helps with me being able to place the ball and see where the blockers are. I had good vision tonight on the court so it felt good to be able to attack. But it also feels good to be able set my hitters and have them get kills at the same time. So while I’m being affective they also help me tremendously on that.”
“It creates so much more momentum for our side. When we see her get these crazy good ups, it makes everyone so excited for it and it makes us want to transition the kill immediately. So just knowing that she’s working her butt off for us, it makes us want to work harder for her.”
On what she saw during the controversial call on her tip at the end of the second set:
“To be honest I really don’t know. There were a few controversial calls there at the end of the second game and that created a lot of frustration on their side. But we just continue to play our game, focus on the next point and don’t worry about what happened in the past.”
On getting a big hit, instead of a tip, and how that felt:
“Yeah, my shoulders going to be sore tomorrow just because of that one. But it’s always awesome to get over passes and stuff like that. I always get so jacked up and everyone gets so excited for me. I think everyone else is more excited than I am. It’s just fun to swing every once and a while.”
On if they knew about how long it had been since Wisconsin beat Nebraska:
“We knew about it. We talked about it in practice a little bit. Our record being 17-1-1 and not winning until 1978 is a big deal. I think that gives our team a lot of motivation to beat them, especially at home and in front of a sold-out crowd, which was really cool.”
On playing in front of their fourth sold out crowd of the season:
“It’s awesome. It’s really cool. Going to Nebraska and playing there in front of a sold-out crowd is really cool, and I think it was awesome for them to come here and play in front of our sold-out crowd. The energy and the atmosphere when we were down, it helps so much with motivation. I thought they did a really good job today. It’s pretty awesome.”
On the team’s win streak and what that means to them:
“One thing that our team really focuses on is having blinders and focusing on one match at a time. We’re definitely proud of this win streak, but now we move on to the next opponent, which is Purdue and they’re a very good team. So we’re not looking ahead and we’re not looking behind, we are just staying tuned in to our next opponent.”
On recording 29 digs and what that means:
“I give a lot of credit to my blockers. Defense is a lot about mentality and just taking pride in your side of the court, but it’s really easy to dig behind a good formed block, so I give a lot of credit to these guys in the front row forming the block well. After that, it’s just me getting my teammates opportunities to score.”
