NCAA First Round Postgame Quotes
December 04, 2014 | Volleyball
NCAA First Round Postgame Quotes
Illinois State vs. Marquette
Dec. 4, 2014
UW Fieldhouse - Madison, Wis.
Illinois State Head Coach Melissa Meyers
On her opening statement:
"What a match. We knew going into this match that we were two of the only teams in the top-30 that were matched up against each other tonight, and we knew it was going to be a battle. We knew that when we went down two (sets), this team had been through that a few times in the past month, so they just sort of turned it on. They knew their back was against the wall. I really liked their response. What an effort. I think we outlasted Marquette, but really, congrats to Marquette on a great season. (Autumn) Bailey is an unbelievable player. That team is a very, very good team, and we're just super excited to be advancing in this tournament."
On how they explain the result after being down two sets:
Emily Orrick: "Like coach said, we've been there before, and I think at this point, I think we are ready for what has to come in those next three sets. When we're down 0-2, there's nothing going through our minds besides we need to win these next three. I don't think we have any doubt. We have great cohesion on the court, I think we're all really relaxed and we don't get too uptight about it, and we know that we can win the next three."
On what goes through their mind being down 10-5 in the fifth set:
Kaitlyn Early: "We gotta fight. I don't know, we've been in that situation before. We've been down before, and I think that what's special about this team is that we are truly a group of fighters and we truly work together and I think that we all look at each other and we know that I know you can do this, I know you can do this, so let's do this together."
Marquette Head Coach Ryan Theis
Opening statement:
“Congratulations to Illinois State and thank you to Wisconsin for putting on a nice event. I thought we needed one more good game. We had two, but we needed one more. So, it’s disappointing, but I thought our team played really hard throughout the match, and I think they put in a hard season. They put in a lot of work, and we’re happy to be here in the NCAA tournament. Obviously, it’s a bitter taste in your mouth at the end today.”
On leading 10-5 in the fifth set and what happened to make it unravel at the end:
“We started to lose it on our first touch and our setters had to work off the net quite a bit. Illinois State was doing a pretty good job of getting us out of system, and we were just having a hard time from there getting our hitters good looks. You put those guys in a little bit better positions because at that point Illinois State was starting to play lights out. And we probably needed them to help us a little bit, one hitting error or something might have changed the outcome of that match, but they didn’t. You expect nothing less from a team with five seniors out there.”
Sophomore OH Autumn Bailey
On her success hitting against Illinois State in this year’s matchup compared to last year:
“I think we mentally prepared well this year for the game. We knew what our matchups were going to be and prepared well for that.”
Redshirt sophomore MH Meghan Niemann
On the early hitting success against Illinois State:
“Our setters did a really good job of distributing the ball and getting us good looks.”
