Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015
College Station, Texas
#7 Hawaii def. #15 Texas A&M, 3-0
Texas A&M post-match quotes
Head Coach Laurie Corbelli
Opening statement...
“Well obviously we’re disappointed it wasn’t quite our night. Hawaii had a relatively--in our eyes anyway--flawless night, and we’re incredibly proud of the season we’ve had and even though this stinks, we will always be proud of the things that we did accomplish this season.”
On Hawaii being able to go to anyone tonight...
“Yeah, I think that’s possible. They produced 18 kills in set one and we only produced 12 or 11, and I think that possibly had us wondering if we were going to be able to get our offense going. It wasn’t really a team attack that we’re used to. It was I don’t know at times it was individual, at times where we really needed it to be a team attack, with our attack.”
On playing one day after playing Texas A&M-Corpus Christi affecting performance...
“No, not really. They play a very similar style to us, they just executed flawlessly like I said. I mean their middles really got going early and hit some really difficult shots to defend. I thought some of the early shots they had we should have taken easier. They were doing some off-speed work out of the middle to start the match and kind of had us all sucked in and trying to take those, and then they went to attacking deeper and it was a great game plan and they just touch really high. Those kids do a really nice job especially (Olivia) McGill. I thought she just had a really, really nice match and a very consistent match and made it very difficult for our defense to know where be to defend her.”
On what changed for Hawaii from the first-round match against TCU...
“I thought last night that personally they know they struggled. TCU was running circles around them and they had to grind out the entire two-and-a-half hours to win that match. Just from all my years in sports and in volleyball you know it’s possible they got that out of their system and they came and they got focused and knew what they had to achieve. We run a totally different system than TCU, we have totally different players and we do what they do kind of. I mean it’s not unfamiliar in any way what we do, maybe the pass back attack behind the setter is something that obviously Hawaii doesn’t run that, and other than that, every night’s different. These are college women that give their best every day, and
today our best just wasn’t as good as it typically is.”
On what the team accomplished this season...
“You know this was a special year and I think it would be easier to really, share that sentiment after another 24 hours to tell you the truth, but we’re really proud of our work, of the grinding. We just put in so much this season. From the play
ers to the staff to the SID and the trainers and the strength coach, I mean everybody that’s involved in the program it was on the top of their list to get their stuff done, get it done and do it the best they can, so it was really a special year, one of the most special years in my career and mostly it’s because of the kids. My friend (Debbie Brown) that’s been with us for three weeks as a volunteer said she couldn’t believe the level of commitment that my players have to Texas A&M volleyball. She’s been in college coaching over 30 years and she just said the level of commitment and the pride they have to represent this university is so evident, and that’s about all I can ask is be committed, be honorable, do the work you say you’re going to do and we just go from there. That’s the foundation that we try to encourage for our program, and they did exactly what we asked so really proud and we’re all really exhausted.”
Senior middle blocker Shelby Sullivan
On the loss...
“I agree with what Laurie said and they played a great game and we tried to get it going and couldn’t come out as strong as we have been in the past and we tried really hard but it wasn’t in our favor tonight.”
On if Hawaii digging A&M’s shots frustrated the team...
“No, definitely not. It just made me more excited to get to try different shots and mix it up and try new things to show that okay I’m going to come at you even harder, and that’s the mindset that everyone on our team has.”
On what the team achieved this season...
“I’m so thankful for this team and for the last year of my volleyball career, getting to play with them and all the support we have for each other on and off the court and from the whole coaching staff and support staff and just everything Texas A&M volleyball has given me and Angela (Lowak, senior outside hitter). We are so grateful and thankful to everyone.
