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NCAA Volleyball Tournament First and Second Rounds<?xml:namespace prefix="o" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"?>
December 4, 2009
Northern Iowa vs. Washington State
Northern Iowa Quotes
Coach Bobbi Petersen
Opening Statement
“There were a lot of things we thought we needed to do in order to be successful and I think our kids really stepped up and did those things. I think I’ve talked all year about our defense and what our defense has been able to do. I really thought they did a nice job of putting pressure on Washington State. I also thought that on the other side of that, our offense was probably the best it has been in transition all year. To me it was a good team effort.”
On if she felt her team was cruising through the match
“For me it didn’t feel like we were cruising, but that is part of it. I just think we got in a rhythm, we had some plays that went our way. When you keep digging balls and keep putting pressure on it, it makes teams hit some shots that they don’t normally hit because they are frustrated. I thought that was probably our best defense.”
On the physicality of Washington State’s team
“Definitely all the way around. We’ve seen physical kids all year, but when you look through their lineup they are very big and physical. The other thing is they were in system a lot and we tried to get them out of system with our serve, but I thought they did an excellent job of passing. It really put a lot of stress on our defense; I thought we did a nice job of committing when we were supposed to and our defense going one on one with their hitters.
On committing the block tonight
“I think that right there, being able to commit block. Michelle (Burow) is someone I don’t really commit a lot. I let her make decision out there. She does a really good job at that. The decisions she was making on blocks to allow her defense to have some clean digs, rather than have half blocks. We went solid on certain parts of the net and then dug other parts.”
On keeping balls alive
Yeah, I think one of the biggest things was that our pocketing was really good tonight. When you have a team like Washington State and you allow them to have five blocks; that was big for us. Part of it was our attack and being smart, part of it was pocketers and doing a good job of keeping the ball alive. (Brittany) Tillman is going to get those big kills; she definitely got a few big kills in there. Every kill is the same, whether it is like that or a tip. You just have to keep fighting back and refocusing each play.
Ellie Blankenship
On the defensive focus tonight
“Yeah, definitely. That was a big focus for our team. We rely on our defense a lot and that includes our front four too. Our blockers have continued to improve all year and when we can block we can defend around it. It is definitely an all-around team effort.”
Washington State Quotes
Coach Andrew Palileo
Opening Statement
“I was concerned with the confidence that they (Northern Iowa) had coming in. Any time a team comes in with that type of winning streak, you always come in with a sense of air and confidence. Even if they fell behind, I knew they were going to be a tough team to overcome from the standpoint of just their defense, especially in the first set, I was impressed with that. Their hitters did a good job of using our blockers in certain situations and I thought they came out ready to play a little bit more than we did. They made some plays when they needed to in that first set and that really set the tone for what they really wanted to try to do against us and put us on our heels a little bit. So I give a lot of credit to UNI.”
On UNI’s style of play compared to other teams Washington State has played this year
“We’ve played teams like UNI ? Missouri and Utah and even Oregon and UCLA. But they (UNI) are just a little smaller, so some of the places they were using us was along our triceps down here, so we were trying to adjust the block a little bit so we were trying to touch the ball with our hands and not get too them so much. They’re a good team. Again, winning 30 matches is always a great accomplishment, but we had a few problems with their outsides swinging.”
On UNI’s blocking adjustments
“I think we kind of helped them out a little bit because we didn’t pass the ball very well and if you look at our season stats, our middles are really involved with our offense. We weren’t passing bad as far as getting aces, but we were passing the ball 10 to 12 feet off of the net, which takes our middles away and they were already trying to take our middles out of the match. We had to become outside-heavy. They did a good job picking up. Ellie (Blankenship) does a good job with digging up those balls back there and she swallowed up a lot of them. Once they put that in there, they just kind of tooled and worked the ball around the block and just dictated what lanes they were going to hit the ball to based on what we were setting up.”
Rachel Todorovich
On what it was like to make the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2002
“It was definitely a process. I thought the freshmen came in really looking up to the seniors and taking on their leadership on how Palilieo’s system worked. Coach Palileo threw us into that system in the summer, which really got us going. It was a lot easier. A lot of credit goes to the other players and just how they helped us to bring us to the next level.”
Renee Bordelon
On what it was like to make the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2002
“I’m happy with our season, but it’s hard to be happy right now. I know the seniors and I put in a lot of hard work, as well as everybody else that was here the last two years, to build up to where we were this year. It’s just hard for me right now to put a smile on my face. I am happy about some of the accomplishments we have done. It’s been a fun season. It’s been really fun playing under the Pac-10 Coach of the Year as well as some of the other awards my teammates have gotten this year. Kudos to them.”