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NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

December 17, 2015

Omaha, Nebraska

Nebraska - 3, Kansas - 1 (25-20, 25-21, 20-25, 25-16)

COACH COOK: Just a great Final Four match and Kansas, I think we got them the first game because of the crowd, the atmosphere and everything. But man they started playing really well. I was really impressed.

They were a lot better in person than they were on tape last week. Payne's a great player, so and a setter. Those two guys did a great job. So feel very fortunate. We had to really play some great volleyball to win that match tonight.

THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions.

Q. Would you talk about Mikaela tonight, and Mikaela, would you then talk about Mikaela tonight?
COACH COOK: Well, it's her first Final Four and she needed to take some big swings for us and obviously, her serve is a big weapon for us. I think she created a couple really good runs to give us some gaps in games one and two. And had some big swings for us tonight, as well. And got a big block there in game four.

But she's a physical presence on the left and that really, I think, helps out a lot of our other hitters and she's physical.

MIKAELA FOECKE: I think that tonight I just went out and had fun. We all -- that's our goal and we say "Natty now" and we're going after the national championship. And this is just another stepping stone. And I was just going up and going after it, and I think we really did a good job as a team tonight.

I guess I swung big and went up after Kansas. They gave us a considerable amount of line and just kind of tried to use it.

Q. Kadie, defensively, you guys were really good tonight and they only hit 159 out there as a team. That's about half of what they hit the whole season. What were you guys able to do to frustrate them? Servicing? Blocking? All of the above? What was going on out there?
KADIE ROLFZEN: Just one of our focuses as a team, is to be a good defensive-minded team and this whole year we have been that. And whether it be with our block or our defense, we're just able to frustrate teams with keeping balls off the floor and getting good touches on the block. So tonight we just did that pretty well and I guess frustrated their hitters.

Q. (No microphone.)
KADIE ROLFZEN: Coach told us she's like Whitney. She's tall, she's big, she's physical, and she sometimes hits over the block. So we just got to make sure we're disciplined on defense behind the block. And I think tonight, I mean, she's a good player, she's going to get her kills here and there and we started touching some of her balls and so as long as we made adjustments, I think we were able to slow her down a little bit.

Q. CeCe has one of these big matches again in the NCAA tournament. What is it about her that she can play so well on some of these big matches or show her potential, I guess?
COACH COOK: I wish I knew the secret. But I could tell she was excited to play tonight in warmups, and she's a great athlete. And I just think like Mikaela said, I think they're really embracing the moment and enjoying this experience. And CeCe, I think, gets into all that. She's a very happy -- you guys have been around her, she's fun and this is a fun environment. So I think she feeds off of it.

Q. Mikaela, you came out with some big swings in game four after the offense got bogged down in game three. What was your mindset coming into that fourth set?
MIKAELA FOECKE: That we really needed to take it away from them. The weekend before they had been down 2-0 against USC and they came back and won. And my mindset going into the fourth set -- oh, they won in five, but, um, then I think it was just us knowing that they could come back and do something like that. And we have to take it from them and swinging big and playing with lots of fire is just one of the ways to do it.

Q. CeCe, is this -- I know this, Kansas has never beaten Nebraska. 88 times they have tried. I know that that doesn't mean anything to you because this is the first time you've ever played them but just speaking in general, does that boggle your mind? I mean 88 tries, I can't do 88 things in a row without making a mistake, so does that just kind of boggle your mind that this happened?
CECILIA HALL: That's insane. That's crazy. Like coach said, it was before he was even born. I don't think that's true, but.

(Laughter.) No, that's just cool that we could keep that going.

Q. John, were you worried about how your team would handle this, this atmosphere and the pressure of this or were you just more concerned about how you would execute?
COACH COOK: I was not worried at all how we would handle it. I think we're very comfortable and we're excited to be here and this has been building for a year. And I think it's just an extension of the Devaney up here. And, so, and I was not worried about that. I was more worried about executing.

And I'm just having a chance to study the stats here. I didn't realize we held them to 159, because -- which it is a good defensive effort, but I felt like we left a lot of plays out there we normally make tonight. And I think, I don't know if we were trying too hard, but their speed. They -- 16, Janae Hall, is very fast. Payne can go fast and then she goes slow. So she's really hard to defend because sometimes she's up there before the ball is set and then they set her a higher ball and she kind of waits and hits on the way down and kept catching us. So she's a very difficult player to defend and, but, and so I was not -- I think they thrive on this.

I think this is what you play, this is why you want to be a volleyball player at Nebraska, to get to play in front of this crowd, these crowds.

Q. John, that play by your setter, the block, the game was even in the fourth game and she made a huge block. How often do you see that from her? And then following up on that, a great serving run that kept Payne off the court for the rest of the match.
COACH COOK: Well, she was ticked off at me because when Havili dumped, did the two shoot on her because she was standing there watching, she got -- she got an encouraging speech at that timeout. And I think it lit a little fire and I've seen her do that a lot, make runs and make blocks. And I was really -- I think she was upset because she kind of let that play get away from her. And so she made a nice comeback there and just willed our team. And that's what she's been doing ever since the Minnesota-Wisconsin weekend in the Big-Ten, which was back in October, some time. But she's really taken this team and has been a great leader and that's how she does it.

Q. Texas has a big, strong freshman also, who had a really big night tonight, Yaazie Bedart-Ghani. And it's likely that your freshman is going to matchup against that freshman. From your experience of all the years coaching freshmen, getting to a national final, what do you expect to be able to tell your own athlete and what do you expect from two freshmen going at it like that?
COACH COOK: Well, I think it will be a great matchup. In regards to -- Mikaela has been in a lot of huge matches already. I'm not sure about the other girl, how much she's played this year, but I think it's great for volleyball. These are two great players and I know Mikaela's going to do a great job and she's -- the bigger the match, the better she's played this year.

Q. CeCe, what was fun about that match and what you were able to, how you were able to help that team?
CECILIA HALL: Well, just coming out there in front of 17,000 people on your home court, I mean that's just crazy. I think that's what fired us up. Just having that support, too, makes it so much fun. Like when you get a point the whole crowd goes with you and it's just, I don't know, you get so fired up.

Q. You guys were able to win the serve and pass battle early. Kansas, did they swing that back toward their side in game three? What did they do to sort of slow you down and make you predictable?
COACH COOK: Is that Jeff from Omaha World Herald? I just think Kansas is a really good team and they have got some great weapons. The setter does a great job for them. I can see why she's a first team All-American.

They're just a really solid team. And they started serving us a lot tougher after the first game and they made a lot of errors early, so I just think the atmosphere got to them a little bit. But I really feel like games three and four they were really stressing us. But I'm very impressed with Kansas. I mean, I played against -- I've coached against Kansas a lot and this is a great team. He's got a great team.

Q. You talked a little bit about the serve and actually in the fourth game, tied 8-8, they committed a service error. I think it was Annika that came back and had an ace. You really seemed to get a lot of momentum at the service line. Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
COACH COOK: I don't remember. You remember it better than I do. But I do remember them serving a ball in the net. It was -- you could tell the momentum was just kind of rocking right there to go with either team. I think that was a big miss.

Of course, Mikaela had a big miss in the net, too. But it didn't seem like that, because I think we came back and sided out right away.

But serving, I almost feel like telling our team just go for an ace when Payne's in the front row because we couldn't stop her. So they get her in system, she's really very difficult to stop.

But we have been a great serving team all year. It's something we worked really hard on and we know that helps set up our blocking defense. So it's something that we take a lot of pride in.

Q. Kansas got it to like 18-16 there in the fourth set. There was probably a little stress on your team. Just how did Nebraska handle the end of that match?
COACH COOK: Well, like I said, I think that somebody pointed out it was a big block by Kelly. Kelsey Fien got a big kill. Katie got a big kill in transition. And in game three we were -- we couldn't win a free ball. And a lot of that had to do with how well Kansas was playing.

But we just started executing there, made some big plays and all the pressure went back on Kansas. And Kelly makes a run and we got the crowd into it. So it was a really nice way for us to finish that match. And I just thought all of a sudden we just started playing really well. And we were -- it was -- we played some flawless volleyball there from about that point on.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you.

COACH COOK: Michelle, did you have a question?

THE MODERATOR: This will be our final question.

Q. I wondered if you and Texas, you guys seem like both made each other better in all those years in the Big-12 and you kept this series going. I wonder if you could say historically this is a matchup between two really kind of volleyball royalty in a lot of ways.
COACH COOK: Well, I mean, Texas has set the bar really high. This is their fifth Final Four. And we have wanted to continue to play them because when Bill Burn was our athletic director, he kind of created a rivalry with Texas. And I still think that -- so there's probably a little something there and we like playing each other and they're a great program and so I'm not surprised they're here and, but it's been fun playing them. We pretty much have been going home and away and now we're in this four year deal with them and Florida and Oregon, so, it's been fun and we have had some great matches with them. It seems like every time we play it goes five.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations to Nebraska for advancing to Saturday's national championship.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

December 17, 2015

John Cook

Cecilia Hall

Kadie Rolfzen

Mikaela Foecke