Washington State-Colorado Quotes
November 25, 2015 | Volleyball
Washington State-Colorado Quotes
Colorado Head Coach Liz Kritza
On The Close Match
“Not at all. The reality is there are great teams in this conference, from top to bottom there are 12 great teams. That's just proof of it, if you lose focus for a ball or two or portions of sets, you're in for a battle. That's the story of this match. It's not that we took anybody lightly but when a team gets going and they're able to use their weapons to the best of their abilities, their offense is fiery, any team in this league is hard to contend with. For us, we're pleased that we won but not anywhere close to being pleased with the manner in which we won. We know that we need to do better. We know that there is a higher level for us to play at. We just made it really hard for ourselves for no reason. This group of players had to pull off and have a quick gut check on their own to make sure that we take what we need to out of this match and recover quickly. There's something about this team this year that when there are setbacks and things that don't go our way, they don't sit there and hang their heads and wish things were different. They do something about it. That's what this group does and I'm quite certain they'll do with this match.”
On In Game Pressure
“I'm not surprised to hear that they're not stressed about or panicked about it because that is what their job is, that's what they do. That's why when post season stuff comes out and you see which players are decorated, it's not just their body of work but it's at key moments, you either rise to the occasion and do your job or succumb to the pressure. That's what I'm proud to say about these kids. Whether it's a good thing or a bad thing, they're used to pressure. If it's in our own gym, we create that environment and that culture of having to perform when they need to. Then they're able to come up with a point. It's playing volleyball with all of the other things that are going on; coaches, spectators, as people that are involved with the program, we may understand what's resting on that one ball. But as a competitive athlete they need to play that one ball and that one ball alone. They do a good job of that.”
On Importance of Win for Postseason Play
“It's a must-win for us and so are all matches this week for Pac-12 teams, because every team is wanting to do the same thing. Everybody wants to see their name on the bracket Sunday night. Anything we can do to affect that is to continue to win. That's the only thing we can do to boost our résumé and take it one match at a time. This, as difficult as it was, has many things we can look at and fix and be better. We have to turn the page quickly. Our sports medicine will get these kids rested and recovered and make sure their bodies are ready. They need to turn the page and start looking forward to a really tough Utah team coming in here. We owe them one for a tough loss on the road. This rivalry match is always a good thing in the Pac-12; they're all televised and there's a lot of national attention on it. For us, if we want to make it into the tournament and make a run, then we need to take care of business on Friday. That's the only thing at hand right now and I think they (the players) get that. They're not happy. It's not a big, jovial celebration right now. We're glad that we got that done, and now we need to go to the next one. We will be celebrating some really great players on Friday. I have no doubt that Gabby [Simpson] and the other teammates are all going to be playing as hard as they can for Alexis [Austin] and Nicole [Edelman] and send them out with a victory. Everybody wants to be playing really good volleyball at the very end of November and early December, because that's the sign of championship-level programs. You're playing well; players are doing things that they're doing now that they weren't doing in late August and early September. I think we have that right here. We just need to make sure we're focused on the right things.”
Player Quotes
Alexis Austin, Sr., OH
On refocusing during the fifth set
“We just remained calm, and we knew we could win so the main thing was to remain calm and be confident and go for the win.”
On Washington State having match point several times
“I didn't feel any panic, and I didn't feel any panic from my teammates either. When we're in those tough points we have to take it one point at a time. You can't think about anything else except that one point. We did a great job of remaining calm during those last points.”
On last play
“Honestly it was a good play by Anna Pfefferie, defense was one of our main focuses in this game and to see her back there giving all of her effort to get the balls up that's a big up for us. So when I see that it becomes my mission to kill the ball and get the point, because we have other players working just as hard as me out there. Honestly I just wanted to end that point as soon as possible.”
On going into senior day
“I thought about it a lot, but I haven't dwelled on it. Yes it's my last time playing on this court, but we're not done with the season. So I feel like it won't hit when we are really done, but as of now it's just about finishing off strong and giving it my all in these last couple of matches.”
Gabby Simpson, So., S
On refocusing during the 5th set
“I think we just took a deep breath and realized that we can win and that we don't need to stress out and we can grab ahold of the game.”
