NCAA Semifinal - USC vs. Minnesota
December 18, 2003 | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 18, 2003
Minnesota Quotes
Minnesota Head Coach Mike Hebert
Opening statement:
"We lost to a very good USC team tonight, but it doesn't diminish in our minds at all the accomplishments of this team and how far we've come this season. USC is too dawg-gone big. They seemed to control all the loose balls at the net. We kept jumping, and we thought we were jumping high enough, but they would jump one rung higher on the ladder. I'm very proud of the effort we gave. We tried to distract them long enough to steal a game. But as a championship team does, they were able to make the big plays right at the end of game two that kept us from winning the game. I thought that was the critical turning point of the match.
"We're still very happy with our season. Our team is still in a celebratory mood, and I'm very happy with the effort they gave. We tip our hats to a very strong USC team and we wish them luck in the tournament."
On losing 3-0
"I thought we did a lot of the things that we wanted to do. Our short-serving strategy was giving us the look that we wanted, to block and play defense the way we wanted. What happened was, sometimes we were getting in the perfect position, but they would jump over our block and slap the thing to the floor. There's not a lot of strategizing you can do for that. Plus, we had some young players on the floor at times that missed assignments, and we had some ball-control errors that hurt us. I thought our best opportunity was to steal a game or two in the match and make it very close. The serve that rolled over the net in game one came at a critical time, when I thought we had a little bit of momentum. Then we made a hitting error that was wide by a few inches. Those things happen."
Outside Hitter Cassie Busse
On the team's strategies for tonight's game and how the team kept fighting back:
"Our game plan took awhile to get together. We had a very intricate game plan in place. Coming back in points is something our team shows in our determination and the heart we have. We just went out there and had so much fun. We were carefree and I couldn't be more proud of the way the girls played."
On if the team was excited to play the No. 1 seed:
"I definitely think we were excited. They are a great team and we respect them a lot. They are very deserving of the number one seed in the tournament."
Setter Lindsey Taatjes
On the team's strategies for tonight's game and how the team kept fighting back:
"We knew they were big so our outside hitters were just trying to hit the ball off their hands and hope it wouldn't get run down by their defense. I feel like our hitters did a good job of that tonight. They have some really good, big hitters and our defense did a good job against them."
Libero Paula Gentil
On the team's strategies for tonight's game and how the team kept fighting back:
"I think we did awesome. We could have done a lot of other things, but we didn't. They are a really good team. We gave everything we had. We wanted to try and slow them down because we knew they were big. We touched a lot of balls. Digs were about the same. They are just a great team. We gave it all on the court."
On the future of the team after losing two seniors:
"Before the two seniors got here, the team wasn't very good, if I can say that. [The seniors] have brought so much to the program there is no way we are going to let it go back down. Everybody is going to come back strong. We are going to miss them very, very much. I can't think of anything to say about Cassie, she is just awesome."
USC Quotes
Head Coach Mick Haley
Opening Statement:
"That was a pretty interesting game. I don't know what quite to say. Minnesota played extremely well. I was proud of our team for making adjustments we were able to make. I thought we were prepared for Minnesota but we didn't do very well with our rhythm early but the players stayed focused and handled Minnesota well throughout the match so I'm proud of them."
On utilizing more timeouts against Minnesota than any other teams this season:
"You take timeout for a number of reasons but when you get behind 5-0 at the start of the third game, it was worth taking it to say: you're trying too hard, you need to stop this, etc. Something to get them to refocus. We had leads that evaporated, which is uncharacteristic for us so we took timeout to try to reduce giving up points in a row."
On this year's team compared to last year's team, heading into the championship match:
"It's very difficult to compare. It's like oranges and apples. This year's team had to focus so hard, knowing they did this last year and wanted to come back and have a chance to do it again. They've just taken it one match at a time and kept their focus on that. At the same time, they have kept their goal. It's a whole different feeling. With last year's team, it was like a train that "think it can, think it can," and we were trying to prove it to ourselves. This year's team knows it can, but can they deal with the extra things that goes along with that (stress, pressure, expectations, being the bulls-eye)? At this point, this team has done extremely well, staying focused on one goal to get back to the final four, get into the final two and have a chance to win the national championship. And they've gotten themselves there."
On playing Florida or Hawaii in the championship:
"We've played both teams in the first and second match of the season but we'll play whichever team wins. Both have great left sides, both are great in the middle and both have great pass-blocks. They're also a little different in some ways. Florida is more athletic across the board but Hawaii has better ball control. It's going to be an interesting match out there and we'll just have to take whoever we get and see how we stand up against them. But it's also a different time of the year and it'll be a different game."
Middle Blocker Katie Olsovsky
On Minnesota's early successes in games one and two:
"I think they were serving us smart. I don't think any other team has learned how to serve us. They came out and played with heart. I think they played a great match and we stayed calm and played steady."
On the advantages of being at the championship last year:
"I think it helps a lot being here last year. Actually, the gym kind of reminds me of last year. It has kind of the same atmosphere. I think coming in here for the second time it helped us be very calm and relaxed."
Setter Toni Anderson
On Minnesota's early successes in games one and two:
"Their hitters did a great job. Number 11 (Cassie Busse) especially gave us a lot of problems. She has a different arm swing than we're used to seeing, so we had to have our blocking be disciplined and let the diggers dig behind us."
On coming back from Minnesota's 5-0 lead in game three:
"You have to stay calm when you get down. We knew they weren't going to die. They weren't going to just roll over for us."
On controlling the Minnesota attack:
"We knew what we had to do. We have great team trust, so we keep running our system and keep our team concept going. If we keep trusting and doing what we're supposed to do, eventually it will work for us."
Outside Hitter Keao Burdine
On the team's mindset heading into the final:
"We're really excited to play in the final match on Saturday. It's pretty hard for us to play those teams that come at us all the time. It seems like we always have a target on our back and the other teams are always playing as hard as they can. As long as we play our game, we're going to come out successful in the end."
On coming back from Minnesota's 5-0 lead in game three:
"We just looked at each other and said 'let's do this.'"
