Colorado-New Mexico State Quotes

Colorado Head Coach Pi'i Aiu

General- “I thought we played a real good match. We had a pretty good scout in place for this team. We talked to a lot of teams that they played this year and we were ready for most things they did. I think we had an answer for almost everything we did. Our kids did an excellent job executing our game plan and just playing with heart and intensity all night. Game three we were down maybe seven or eight points and I think whenever we called timeouts and you looked into our players faces, everyone was confident still. We've been in that position before against some real good teams in our conference and we've been able to pull it out, and they did it again tonight. They just played with heart and we played real well with our backs to the wall. I'm real proud of what they've done. We congratulate New Mexico State on their season. They had a great season and a great record. I know they set some milestones in their conference this year beating Hawaii. I think that's Hawaii's first lost in 108 conference games or something like that. They had a great season and we congratulate them also.”

On Playing In Boulder- “You look at our NCAA record at home and on the road and it tells you everything you need to know. We are 6-0 right now in history at the NCAA tournament at home. Playing at home is a huge advantage for anyone.”

On the Play of Amber Nu'u- “Amber always gives us a spark when she comes in. She's been practicing really, really well both at the outside and as a defensive player. She made us look really good tonight as coaches, she came in and did some really nice things- you like when players do that for you.”

On the Play of NMSU's Middle Blockers- “We did [expect more from them]. I don't know that they played that poorly necessarily. Our blockers did a real nice job of handling the things that we scouted. That team is a very middle-oriented team. His middles, between the two of them, probably take almost 60 percent of the swings on the team. We had some things in place for them, and like I said, our kids did a real nice job of executing. When you play in the Big 12, we face middles like that twice a week. We compared [NMSU] to Baylor, we see a lot of middles like that so our kids a ready to play them I think. They don't stun us when they come out, which is a big advantage.”

On CU's Play After the Timeout in the Third Game- “There's no magic in it. We talk to the team all the time about focus, we talk about discipline, we talk about intensity. When we bring them into time outs they kind of know what they're going to hear, but hopefully it relaxes them. We talked a little bit about game plan stuff. We kind of knew they were going to slide and we got a play in and they killed it anyway. You try and take your kids minds off what's happening out on the floor that's bad and try to focus on the good things that they're going to do and focus on positive thoughts. That's what we talked about on the time out: how we're going to make a great play, how we're going to make a great dig, our intensity, where we are emotionally, and just try and get them ready for a run.”

On Tonight's Win- “I don't want to put too much into one win on this season obviously. We haven't been to the second round in the tournament in a while. That was one of our goals in the preseason. Getting into the tournament was obviously one of our goals and getting past the first round. It's a huge part of what our team has talked about and what our goals are. Again, I don't know that this win means more than any other win this season except that it comes in the NCAA tournament.”

Colorado Players

Setter Ashley Nu'u

On Playing With Extra Effort at the End of the Third Game
“I think we were coming from a seven point deficit and I knew we could come back and win the third game. I think it just took that little extra effort for us to get going and play as relentless as we did. The last eight points, we as a team played very relentless.”

On This Year's Team

“I think there is something different about this team. The relentlessness by this team is what I think the difference is, we were down by eight a few times but we just refused to give up.”

On Playing Washington in the Round of 32

“I think we're ready to play them. They are really consistent, they don't make a lot of errors and I think their setter really rallies them up. I think we can come in ready to give them a game and hopefully advance to the round of 16.”

Outside Hitter Austin Zimmerman

On Playing in the NCAA Tournament

“Losing in the first round the last three years has given us a little motivation.”

On Having a Home Court Advantage in the NCAA Tournament

“I think this is the first year we can really say that we've had a home court advantage. The fans have been awesome all year.”

Outside Hitter Amber Sutherland

On Team Confidence

“I just think that (beating Nebraska) let us know that we can play with anyone. I don't think that before we play we say to ourselves ?hey we beat Nebraska, we can beat these guys.' It is just there in our confidence.”

New Mexico State Head Coach Mike Jordan

General- “You've got to give Colorado credit. They played well on their home floor. It was kind of a different story each game. Game one, we really did not block well at all. We had a lot of opportunities to close the block by-passes, but we gave them a few more free swings then they should have had. Game two, we didn't ball handle well again, certainly not as well as we normally do. Their jump servers gave us some fits early in game two. It wasn't a terrible performance by us, but it certainly wasn't good enough and it certainly wasn't up to our standard. The reality is at the end of the game, their kids stepped up and made plays and we didn't. Hats off to them. But I do believe we are a better volleyball team than we showed, especially in the first two games.”

On The Play Of The Third Game- “A couple of things happened, we served tougher. Adrenaline flows early and you get that nervousness, and in game one we didn't serve well at all. Then in game two we started to loosen up a little bit, and in game three we decided to start serving short some. We did and that gave them some problems. (Mallori) Gibson hit for way to high of a percentage. She was just killing us through the first couple of games, because of us not closing the block for whatever reason. But we started serving tougher and that got us in the game. But, Colorado made some plays down the stretch that you need to make, that good teams make.”

On Being Surprised On The Play Of Colorado- “Not really. Eight of their eleven losses are to ranked teams. They've got a couple of wins over ranked teams like we do so we knew they were a good team. Certainly at home you're going to play well. I don't think anything they did surprised us. What surprised me was our inability to close the block in situations where we shouldn't have had a problem doing it, and it was frustrating to watch. I thought Ashley Nu'u for Colorado was great, she won every joust. We just didn't get up there and challenge physically like we needed to. She was very, very good.”

On Feeling The Pressure- “I don't know if we felt any pressure. I am going to give Colorado credit at the end of the third game. Those kids are hustling and making plays. I think they just played better down the stretch than we did, no excuses.”

On Next Year- “We lose three outstanding seniors that have done a lot for us and I appreciate all of their effort. I do think that we will be a better volleyball team next year and we have a lot returning so we should be a lot better team next year.”

New Mexico State Players

Alice Borden, Sr., OH

General- “We knew that our middles were going to be able to get in the middle, in transition especially, which is one of our strengths. We were just going to come in and play our best volleyball and try and get that win.”

On Pressure- “When you're out there, you feel the pressure all of the time. You aren't really worried about numbers, you are just worried about the next point.”

Jackie Choi, Sr., S

General- “I think a lot of the times when we start out and we don't play very well in the first game, maybe we tend to be a little uptight and don't make plays that we usually do. Usually as the game goes on we're able to get loose and come out and make plays that we should make.”