The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Post-game quotes
12.18.2008 | Volleyball
Dec. 18, 2008
POST-MATCH QUOTES
TEXAS
Head coach Jerritt Elliott
Opening Statement: Congratulations to Stanford, they played an incredible match and showed a lot of heart coming back. Thanks to Omaha for putting on such a great event. It& €™s great to see the sport grow so much.&
Obviously we& €™re all very disappointed, I felt like our game-plan coming out, we executed very well and had a great mentality.& Then we kind of got hit in the mouth in game three.& We didn& €™t execute, made a lot of mistakes and gave them some life. In this game, when you play a team like Stanford with so much tradition & €¦ you can& €™t give a team like that life when you have them down 2-0.& They& €™re used to being in this position, they& €™re the Pac-10 champs and they& €™re battle tested.
I commend our team for sticking together; this has been an incredible journey. Obviously we wanted to be taking the next step and I felt we were playing that way after the first couple of games, but what you look for as a team and as a coach is that we stuck together and wanted to fight. It& €™s tough, 15-13 in a hard way to lose. You are so close that you can just taste it.
We were able to take the next step in getting [to the NCAA Semifinals], we were very close to taking a step beyond that and sometimes you have to be in that situation to understand that. I think this showed them that they can be here, that they belong here and hopefully once they reflect on what a special season this was, they can come back stronger next year.
Head Coach Jerritt Elliott
On Stanford's comeback: They started passing better. They were executing a little bit better, but we had a lot of opportunities for points. Early on in game three most of their points were on our errors, service errors or hitting errors and kind of just gave them some opportunities. As I said you can't give a team life when they have [Alix] Klineman and [Cynthia] Barboza and Foluke [Akinradewo], they've got people that can catch fire. We had them; I thought we were on them mentally and they were having a rough go of it. But they were able to get some life and respond. The thing that we couldn't stop all night was their back row attack, that was the thing that we struggled with.
Head Coach Jerritt Elliott
On the play of Juliann Faucette: She has been a tremendous player. She was the [AVCA National] Freshman of the Year last year, your second year can be tough. She has been resilient all year. She has come to practice and worked really hard and showed a lot of character. She is committed to the team and it is great to see her perform at that level. When she is on, she is one of the best players in the country and she showed that tonight.
Destinee Hooker
On the emotional swing of the match: I feel we came out really strong, we came out composed, we were ready to play. I just felt coming out in the third game we were back on our heels after the break and we were trying to fight back but it was too late. Then coming in the fourth game it was the same way, they were up by four, we would come back and then they would go up again. I just feel that if we would have stayed composed and stayed balanced it would have been a different match.
Destinee Hooker
On her seeming to will Texas to victory: Yes, that is right. The more your give, the more you receive back. I just felt the more I gave, no matter what, if I shanked a pass or missed a serve it wasn't about me it was about the team. So no matter what my energy is going to the team.
Lauren Paolini
On how difficult it is to be so close and come up short: It's hard to go up two games and end up losing in five. But I think our team fought the whole way. I'm proud of our team, just getting to this point. I think it was an entire team effort from the first person down to the last. I just think it's great for Texas that we are here. Stanford played really well, so I give them that credit.
Juliann Faucette
On how much nerves factored in the fifth set: Any fifth set, you'll have nerves. This is the (NCAA Semifinal) match and like we said before, Stanford has been in this situation the past couple of years. This is our first time in a really long time. I think the mentality is the most important thing, and I thought our mentality was great in that fifth game and we came out fighting. As Destinee (Hooker) said it was just too late. Stanford played a great game. There are always nerves in that fifth game, but it is an awesome experience to be here in the Final Four and go to five games with such a great team.
STANFORD
Head Coach John Dunning
Opening Statement: I thought Texas had a great season. We played them early. I wasn't sure how much they improved but I think they really did a nice job throughout the season. They did a great job against us the first two games, and I think we both got a little more in sync the last three games. It was kind of an offensive battle from there on. I think we have to feel lucky that we're going to be going on after a match like that and proud of our effort.
Head Coach John Dunning
About Texas' front row sub for Michelle Kocher and whether he paid attention to it: Pretty much the same. We weren't good enough the first two games to make them do that that much. The last three games I think we just were being aggressive. It didn't matter who the blocker was in front of us. We just had to get after it and stop doing what we had to the first two games. We didn't change much that I know of. We were just trying to take good swings and cover ourselves so our hitters could go after it.
Head Coach John Dunning
About Cynthia Barboza's slow start: Cynthia is a perfectionist a little bit. She is one of the most organized people I've ever met. If something is going wrong, she wants to fix it. There are times that it isn't going right that she gets angry. Sometimes it makes her play better and sometimes it doesn't. I don't want to be in front of it when she's really angry and swinging the ball. She can really kill you with it. She did tonight and against Hawaii what we needed her to do and what's she's capable of doing and that's someone who can carry us. She does make the passes. She makes great digs. She took some huge swings at the end there against a big block. The frame of mind she was in was fun for me to watch. Our team really rallied around it. That's when the energy of our team starts to grow. They are really, really excited about how fun it is and the energy they have when the team feels together. The journey is a lot more fun when it feels that way.
Foluke Akinradewo
About being down 2-0 to Texas: Going down 2-0 is what we get ourselves into. Like Cynthia (Barboza) said it's all about confidence. We talked about it after the Texas match. Cynthia going around telling us that we are the best in the country and believing that. And we did. It was an amazing team effort, and I'm so proud of everyone.
Alix Klineman
About the fifth set: One thing we talked about going into the fifth set was no runs. That's what killed us in the first and second games.
Cynthia Barboza
About being down to Texas 2-0: I don't think we were going to let it end like that. We've worked too hard for the past four years. We've come too close in too many matches. We've been tested time and time again. We know how to bite back. That's what we've been doing all year is digging ourselves out of holes. Hopefully we're not going to start that way on Saturday. If you don't have confidence in what you're doing then you're not a good competitor. I fully believe in every single one of my teammates. They all came through and we played one of the best matches together that we've ever played.
