Post-match Quotes
No. 4 Wisconsin vs. Ball State
Sept. 13, 2014
Field House - Madison, Wis.
Recap | Final Stats
UW Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
On the tournament:
“Defensively, I thought we did a lot of good things. We weren’t real happy about the way we started this morning and I thought we responded accordingly in the second match. We were ready to go. We had the right mentality. We played a team tonight that gave us troubles ,serving as anybody we’ve played so far this year, and they really did a great job with bearing plains and kept us off balance. We were kind of fighting for our lives there, but besides that I thought we were able to side out pretty well and I thought defensively we were pretty good.”
On the turn-around from this morning:
“We talked after the matches this afternoon and going into the match tonight. It’s about having a defensive mentality— covering your attackers, serving with aggression, communicating early and making your teammates better. The opponent earlier today was probably coming a little bit easier and sometimes that can be fool’s gold. We just weren’t playing hard defensively. We started into it by the end of the match this morning, but that was the main goal to stay after it. We knew we were playing an opponent that was tough-minded. They got a lot of defensive players back there that were just going to keep battling; they are very well coached. We knew they were going to serve the ball very well. We didn’t expect them to serve it quite as well as what they did. They did a great job of keeping our passers off balance but I thought we grinded. I thought we just kept battling. I thought our backcourt was good.I thought Taylor Morey was really, really good in the back. She made some very spectacular defensive plays.”
On the team’s ability to stave off Ball State in the 3rd set:
“I was impressed that our team had a lot of subbing going on and flowed with that. We had Courtney come out, and she always takes the second ball, and Ball State attacked at Lauren. Courtney’s usually taking the second ball and she’s out, Taylor immediately steps in and takes the next ball and we get a nice kill out of it. Then, I bring Erin Juley in and she’s playing middle back then Lauren digs the next ball to center back. Erin jumps in there and we’re running our offense. When the subs were happening, we were continuing to play well and last week we weren’t able to do that. That was one of the things I talked to them afterward was that growth in that regards from that week to this week.”
On the next phase of the season:
“We’re excited. It’s a short week and we hit up the West Coast. We want to test ourselves against the best teams in the country and we’re going to be able to do that on someone else’s home court.”
On Courtney Thomas’ performance this weekend:
“She’s improved so much. Fans saw what we’ve seen for a while. She’s a complete player. She had a good match tonight. On the stats, you see her hitting percentage, but what you don’t see is the number of times she was passing. Her numbers this weekend, ball-control wise, were really, really good. She’s turning into a complete player, and that’s what we ask out of her. More times than not, she’s been able to respond.”
Wisconsin Players
Senior OH Courtney Thomas
On how they played throughout the tournament and specifically the final match:
“I think in the final match we responded really well from the earlier match today. I thought we had a really good match last night. We came out in front of a big crowd and played really well. This morning we played a little lackadaisical, but then we came out tonight and responded pretty well for the most part.”
On if there was a different mindset playing in front of their home crowd this afternoon:
“Yeah, there is definitely a different mindset. We came out in front of our home crowd and we’re here to show them what we’re made of. We’re trying to play the same every game no matter who we’re playing.”
Sophomore S Lauren Carlini
On the competition level increasing next:
“Yeah, it’s going to be a good opening statement going in to the Big Ten season and facing two Pac-12 teams this weekend. It’s going to be a good challenge for us. It’s really going to determine what our team is all about and if we are going to step up to the challenge, which I think we’re going to do. It’s going to be fun, but our work will be cut out for us also.”
On Courtney Thomas’ play:
“Our middles did a great job of holding the blockers. I was setting right over them and Courtney was putting balls down and being really consistent, so I think she’s kind of been our rock this season as far as when we need points, we’re going to go to her.”
Freshman OH Kelli Bates
On playing in the Field House for the first time in her Wisconsin career:
“It was pretty surreal. I’ve never been in that kind of environment before, so it was really fun being in front of a crowd that big and that’s exciting. These fans are really excited for us, so that makes it easier to play in front of them.”
