NCAA Regional Final Post Match Quotes
Post-Match Quotes
NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championships
Honolulu Regional Final
Pepperdine vs. USC
USC Head Coach Mick Haley
Opening statement…
I think after last night’s match, it was amazing that we could come back and withstand that tonight. It was a great effort by Pepperdine, but a really good effort on focus by our team with no panic. Great job by our bench, Hannah Schraer (middle blocker) came in there and really saved the day for us, giving us a good lift when we needed it. That’s what our team has been all about and we take a lot of pride in Side B because it makes Side A good. We really appreciate being here, and we’re happy to be going to San Antonio.
We brought Hannah in (the fourth game). We weren’t able to pass well enough to get Lauren (Williams) the ball. Lauren is an offensive player. She really, really works hard at her defense and her blocking, but she was struggling with (Samantha) Cash who was really working her. So we couldn’t get the match-ups the way we wanted it. So I felt I had to go to the bench to try a different player. Then Hannah came in and went behind off of one foot and two or three tips per point changed the whole momentum of the game for us. And, she had fun doing it. It wasn’t like she came in and she was afraid. She came in like, “Oh, finally they’re going to put me back in here and I get to swing again.” We’re really proud of her. The other thing that happened, not only with Hannah stabilizing us, but then Alex (Jupiter) really went up and went over their block in game four and that was amazing to me. I haven’t seen her do that. That’s just another level for her. Then Natalie (Hagglund) decided that she wouldn’t let Cash score any more, cutting that angle down. Those are the things I thought that changed the way the match was going.
USC Outside Hitter Alex Jupiter
We did hit the wall, but we had to keep playing through. Today was a really long and physical game, draining game. Every challenge that they gave us, we had to fight through no matter how hard it was or how long it took us to over come. At the end, we came out on top. I’m very proud of my team.
USC Libero Natalie Haggalund
You have to give Pepperdine credit. They played an incredible game and they have a lot of great players. And you have to give our team credit as well. We played a long, draining match last night. But we just had to fight through it. There are going to be kinks in every single game, but the key for us is not to get frustrated. We’ve been doing really well with not making errors—and playing together and playing for your teammates—covering every single ball that you can. Just trying to make your teammates feel good. Every one knows you’re right there behind you. I think that’s a big key for us.
Pepperdine Head Coach Nina Matthies
Opening Statement…
I just sat in the locker room with 15 fairly disappointed young ladies and coaching staff that were pretty bummed but I told my kids that I’m really proud of what they accomplished this year. I thought we went out swinging. We had our chances tonight just like Hawaii had their chances last night. Its sad that in this tournament, the only team that wins doesn’t have a loss at the end of the year is the person that’s the number one team in the country. Coming in this year unseeded, and not ranked in the Top 25 and to come out here deservedly in the top eight and I think my team is fantastic and I’m really proud of them, really proud of the way they played. I thought SC played well tonight, thought the fans were fantastic, it was a great venue and I thank Hawaii for putting on this regional. It was a great atmosphere and a wonderful two days to be part of.
On thoughts about this year’s team…
I think its by far the best team I’ve had I think it’s the deepest team I’ve had and I’ve had great teams in my 29 years. It’s hard to compare teams and eras one to another but straight across the board I think it’s the best team I’ve had and deepest team I’ve had. I also think that our support is the best we’ve ever had…it’s the best situation weve ever had and it shows in our playing. It’s fantastic.
Pepperdine Right Side Hitter Kim Hill
On rebounding from the first set loss…
Our coaches were saying that this team compared to other teams in year past is that we weren’t able to recover after playing bad the first game and I think after that first game, were were like ‘screw it’ we want to go down swinging and we want to play the best volleyball we possibly can and even if it means losing like we did but we fought as hard as we could to the point that we don’t even care we just want to play volleyball we just want to have fun because this is the sport we love. I don’t know what the difference was but it was something like that.
On what this match means to Pepperdine…
Its kind of hard to put into words, we’ve been through a lot as a team. It’s been a long and short four years for me but this season has been beyond anything I could ever have imagined. Between the coaches and girls, everyone at Pepperdine, we worked our butts off to get to this point. It’s rough losing like this but its hard not to be proud of what we’ve done. I think we put Pepperdine on the map and we’ve showed the nation that were a force to be reckoned with and you can’t over look us and it’s a real proud moment for Pepperdine as a whole.
Pepperdine Middle Blocker Samantha Cash
On her thoughts after losing the first set…
I’m pretty sure everyone feels this way but I really hate losing. I really hate it so after that first game I looked at my teammates and said, ‘let’s not do that again’. I kind of relied on them and they relied on me so we kind of just pushed through and were able to fight and keep going strong.
