|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA WOMEN'S REGIONALS: AUSTINDecember 10, 2016Chloe CollinsNicole DaltonJerritt ElliottPaulina Prieto CerameAustin, Texas COACH ELLIOTT: I see Jodie Conradt and Cris Plonksy here and I just want to thank them for hiring me 16 years ago. That is it for that. We're trying to turn this program around, and it's been such a joy. I always text Cris how thankful I am for my job here. I couldn't do this without the seniors and the players that we have in this program. It's just kind of a special run. We were on the brink of elimination last night, down 11-5 in Game 5, and this team showed a lot of heart. I was wondering how they were going to respond with that emotional win, and I asked them to go home, desensitize and be ready to compete. Once again, they make me proud as a coach and do the things that we need to do to win. This year's been a little more up-and-down. We were concerned at times at the many meetings and things we were working through. We probably had more meetings this year. But they were bought into what they were doing. I told them, just stick to the course. Here we are again, going back to the Final Four again. It was a great win. Congratulations to Creighton. What a special run they had, a very well-coached team, and some special athletes. This sport continues to grow. And I had a lot of concerns going in today. I got up at 5:30 and watched six matches for about eight hours. I was very concerned, but I thought our servers did a really good job of eliminating some of their play routes and put us in a position to play some good defense and playa head of them. But I'm really proud of this group and the seniors sitting here. What a way to end their career at the University of Texas by playing their last match here on their home floor and having this memory for the rest of their life. Q. My question is for all the players. How did you all kind of wind down after last night's intense win to kind of focus on today? NICOLE DALTON: Well, it was definitely emotional for all of us, and we had to take a while to talk about it and then put it to rest. So I think the coaches let us go home early, get rest, go to bed early, and come and watch film this morning. So I think it's hard when it's high emotion and coming back the next day to really be focused on this team. But I think we did a really good job of that, and really good job of following it and taking it one step at a time. Q. Paulina, just your overall impressions of making it to the Final Four? CHLOE COLLINS: Pure excitement. This team, as Jerritt mentioned, has been up and down this entire year, and to know that we are capable of doing it and we did it. That was our goal at the beginning of the season. To go and achieve that is something special for us, because we know all the obstacles we've been through throughout this whole season. This group of seniors, I mean, I wouldn't want to be with any other group but them. They're so amazing. Just glad we're taking this ride, and hopefully we'll take it all the way. PAULINA PRIETO CERAME: Yeah, it's been a crazy year, lot of ups and downs. But I'm really glad that I'm doing this with these girls and Jerritt, and the rest of the staff. And we're just really excited to be back in the Final Four again. Q. How was the crowd out there for you guys, the support? PAULINA PRIETO CERAME: Oh, my God, amazing. Yeah, we had a really great crowd tonight, as we did yesterday, even though we had an earlier time. It was just great. It's our last match, and looking out there and seeing all our loved ones as well as our fans, it's amazing. Something we're definitely going to miss for the rest of our lives. So just proud that we were part of that. COACH ELLIOTT: I'll speak on that behalf. Yesterday we had a tremendous crowd, I thought our marketing did a great job, and our football coach came out and was giving out pizza. Says a lot about Tom and his new dedication to this program and what he's bringing. To be thinking about us on this day, he's got some busy days ahead of him, but to take time out and get to know the student-athletes and students was really special. That's a big part of it, and he's part of this win now. Q. What were the keys defensively to make sure Creighton didn't get efficient looks? COACH ELLIOTT: Yeah, they run a really complicated offense. They have players moving around everywhere. So we train to be able to move our servers around. And so we really pinpointed winters and eliminated her ability to hit second tempos in those situations. We had to kind of pin to players and double commit on Wilkinson, and we were able to kind of take away some of their primary swings. So our servers had a lot to do with it. We put a ton of pressure on them and got them out of assists. And I thought our left side blockers and our middle started getting in front of them and just started getting good touches. We just put a lot of pressure on them. Q. While you were hurt in 2013, this is pretty much five for five for you. What is your thought of being part of these five teams? NICOLE DALTON: It's amazing. It never gets old. I'm brought to tears right now because it's so hard to get to the Final Four, and I don't think everyone realizes that all the time. But it's very hard, and when you have a group of girls each and every year that I've been, it has been amazing. I couldn't be more happy right now. So it's awesome. And I'm excited to continue this week and go to Columbus. Q. Chloe, offensively you guys hit 425, what was working for you on offense out there? CHLOE COLLINS: I honestly felt like I could set to anyone out there. I always feel that way, but just to know all my hitters were on fire tonight. As a setter, that's awesome. You want to have as many options as you possibly can, and they brought it tonight. I'm just so proud of them, proud of this whole team and what we accomplished tonight. Q. You guys have six freshmen, what are you guys going to tell them about the Final Four experience and what to expect next year? NICOLE DALTON: I think just take it all in. Just enjoy it. I look back on my freshman year and talking to molly in our dorm room saying we're going to the Final Four. So it's kind of like shock your freshman year like, we made it, we're going. So I think just telling them about it and being excited, but also just that it's another week together and that Columbus is going to be fun. There are a lot of things on that go into the Final Four, but I think just getting them excited, which they already are. Q. How important was that second set? Specifically with Creighton going into intermission 1-1? COACH ELLIOTT: Yeah, for sure. I think I called timeout, it was either 13-10 or 13-9. We just kind of went on a run. We were just talking constantly about blocking with our blockers. Getting their feet in front, low and tight. They were getting lots of tools and scoring that way. And I thought we did a good job just getting in front of them and being able to get some transition points. Our pin hitters took great swings and we were able to get back into that. But to be able to take that game the way that we did was huge because we were down. This team has -- the message we've had with this team all year long is just be patient. We're going to go on some runs, and not to live and die by every point. Be consistent. All we need to do is go on one, maybe two, runs in a game, and we've got that capability at any point in time based on our personnel of what we've been doing. But it's been amazing. Our rotation one with Chloe has been the most special rotation I've ever coached. For whatever reason, we're scoring over 50% of the time when she serves. That was the rotation that got us back in the match last night and got us going again tonight. She's doing a great job from the service line, we're getting great transition swings and our touches are really good. Let's have that rotation good for another two more matches. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|