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MADISON REGIONAL NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPDecember 14, 2019Kelly SheffieldMolly HaggertyTiffany ClarkSydney HilleyMadison, Wisconsin Wisconsin 3 Nebraska 0 HEAD COACH KELLY SHEFFIELD: Obviously super excited about still being able to play, and you know, I thoroughly enjoy coaching this group here, and so to be able to have another week is really cool. It's a program, you know, on the other side of the net that I've got an all of lot of respect for them and how they go about things, and just a really good season with a young group of players over there. You know, really happy for these three and the others, everybody associated with our program. The Field House was jumping and people were waiting in line five hours before the match to get in here. Yesterday, being packed for a one o'clock game, it stunned me how many kids were there for a one o'clock game, little kids there. So a lot of elementary school kids playing hookey yesterday. Just so appreciative of the people that have followed our program, and hopefully they will travel to Pittsburgh with us. Q. For the players, was that the feeling at the end out on the court and down in the locker room, everything you might have imagined over your years here? TIFFANY CLARK: For me, it was really special. It was my last game in the Field House. Just to appreciate the feel from the fans at the end, it's really hard to explain the feeling. It's surreal. I feel like I'm on a cloud right now. It's a good feeling. MOLLY HAGGERTY: I think every little girl, when they start playing volleyball, they always dream of moments like these and I know our whole team has. So to experience it is just amazing. Like Clark said, it's hard to put into words, but really, really happy and proud of this team. Q. It's hard to beat a team three times in a year. What were you able to do against Nebraska this time and what did you change up for that rematch? HEAD COACH KELLY SHEFFIELD: You've been right there for the matches, haven't you. It could have been a more different match than the first time we played in Lincoln. There, it was two teams just teeing off on each other offensively, hitting big, huge numbers, and this game was just really gritty, you know, in the dirt, which is how Tiffany enjoys playing, a lot of defense. To hold that team under a hundred is pretty cool. I thought that was a really, really gritty performance by us. Third set, it wasn't the cleanest thing in the world. We gave a lot of points away behind the service line. We messed up a free ball or two. But the thing I liked about our group in those situations, you're up 2-0, those type of things are happening, you can get really tight and really tense. You can start playing not to make errors and you can start panicking. There wasn't any of that stuff from our group, and that's was hard. That's a difficult thing. I just thought the mental toughness, just continue to grind, continue to find ways to side out was pretty cool. Q. Do you get a sense early on that it's going to be that kind of a match and you're going to have to play things differently? How does that affect what you do in your job? SYDNEY HILLEY: In a tournament, I expect every match to be like that. I expect it to just be a battle for both teams, and we know Nebraska is great team, and you can never count them out in the tournament because they are always so good. Yeah, that was really fun and it's all credit to my blockers and my defenders there. They did amazing, my o-line, but yeah, that was just a great game to play. It was really fun. Q. As part of the o-line, do you see that match evolving that way after the way you played that first time against then, what was the difference from your end? TIFFANY CLARK: I think it's just two teams that know each other really well. We knew going into this match what they are going to try to do offensively and that they are going to try to tee off on our blockers. I thought our defensive players were making really good moves, really good reads, and blockers making really good moves there. Just have, like Kelly said, the in-the-dirt mentality. Those are the best games to be a part of. I thought both teams played really good defense on both sides of the court. Yeah, it was just a fun game to be a part of. Q. The second and third set were tied or within a point right around the 20-point mark. What allowed you to sort of find another gear and finish two and three the way that you did? HEAD COACH KELLY SHEFFIELD: I don't know. All I know is confidence certainly helps and staying in the moment, not getting ahead of yourself. You know, the previous point is behind you. These guys have worked hard to be able to develop that type of mentality. That certainly wasn't something that came easily for this group. You know, you want something so bad, and when you make an error in those big moments, you know, when you're wanting something, it can stay with you a little bit or you can try to do too much. You know, this group has put in the work and you know, there's a calmness about them. We've got some really good leadership and it's just about making a play and the next play, and you make one play, can you do it again; can you just stack those things on top of each other. A lot of times that comes with experience and this happens to be a pretty experienced group that we've got right now. You know, we've been able to close out sets. Q. For the players, second and third, really tight until near the end. Where does that come, being able to close out the tight sets? SYDNEY HILLEY: I think we're just a mature group. Sydney said before the third set that this was going to go really tight; this is going to be in the red zone, like 22-22, we're going to have a tight match, and she was exactly right. I think when we get to those moments, that's where we thrive. We love being in those moments because we practice those all the time. So yeah, it's just a fun time to be in, yeah, and I think we just have this like killer mentality in that red zone. MOLLY HAGGERTY: Everything in practice, when we're competing, we practice whether it's 22-22, 23-23, we practice against these type of games, and I think just having that confidence and knowing what it's like to be in those situations really helps just because we're confident when we're in there. TIFFANY CLARK: Going into the third set, I said, guys, this is going to go to the red zone because I want it to, it's so fun to be in those moments and I'm so confident in our team in those moments that I wanted that to happen. Q. How did the previous experience with Nebraska come into this game? HEAD COACH KELLY SHEFFIELD: It was a fast turnaround from last night. There was a little bit of familiarity of what you're going to see, you know, probably on both sides of the net, and then it's just about going out there and executing. I don't think there was a -- you know, we know what they were trying to do. They know what we're kind of trying to do, and you go out there and do your job. Our message with them going out was simple: You know, have fun, enjoy, and sometimes you can be around so tight that you forget that. To be able to play in front of over seven thousand fans that are on their feet most of the night and for the opportunity to go to the Final Four, you know, I heard from just about every alum that has been here in my time here in the past few days, and the same message was over and over and over again, is make sure that you're enjoying this moment. I. Look back at my time there, you know, in those big matches, and sometimes I was so competitive, and it was so important to win; I'm not sure I was enjoying it as much as I could have, should have. That was our only message. You've got Sydney here, our compass, and right after the matches, she comes over, we get a hug and she's whispering in my ear, "All right, enough now, we've got more to do." She's already locked in on next week. Q. Molly, can you talk about how well the block play -- what was the block doing well to negate Nebraska's attack? MOLLY HAGGERTY: Well, blocking against Jazz Sweet is pretty frustrating, I'm not going to lie but I think we did a pretty good job of staying patient. They were going to get there but we weren't going to get too frustrated. Clark did a phenomenal job of adjusting and reading the block and getting some touches on those. We've been working really hard on our blocking and timing and pressing our hands over and I think that played out well during this match. Q. You mentioned this was a gritty match. You won a lot of marathon points and the crowd really got into it. What does that say about the quality of the match today? HEAD COACH KELLY SHEFFIELD: It's two big-time, Big Ten teams going at each other. I mean, there was just -- I thought the talent out there, just a lot of talent on both sides. A lot of grittiness, a lot of toughness. They are down 0-2, and you could just see the toughness on that side of the net. But that's every week in our conference. That wasn't any different than what we have seen. The stakes are a little bit higher, but we're used to playing in front of those kinds of crowds. We're used to playing against that type of competition. Q. Speak to how you're going to be preparing this group versus how you were preparing the group from 2013 when you were at Seattle? HEAD COACH KELLY SHEFFIELD: I remember 2013. You know, this team has probably been through the battles a little bit more than maybe that team was. I think that team was kind of the -- you know, the underdog, Rocky story, or Hoosiers, pick whatever you want to go with. I think that team learned to have confidence. I know there's a lot of people that are talking about us having a 4-4 start, but this team never lacked confidence or belief in themselves. It was just a matter about getting better, and you know, we'll figure out what we've got to do here sometime over the next couple days, and probably not going to worry too much about that this evening. Q. What was your game plan to slow down Nebraska's middle? They had five combined kills. What did you do well to take their middles out of the match? HEAD COACH KELLY SHEFFIELD: I don't know. You know, I think part of it starts with serving. I mean, it does. I think the other part of it is is that Jazz was having a really, really nice offensive match early on. Her numbers probably dropped a little bit toward the end, but she was so hot that they were pumping the ball to her instead of maybe going to some of the middles. I think it's probably a combination of both of those. We got some nice touches and we were really kind of grinding in the backcourt, but it was probably a combination of all those. One other thing I'd like to say real quick here, how often in one room do you get people from Nebraska, Wisconsin and Hawai'i all here, and what the media does in those three markets for our sport is amazing, incredible, and a sincere thank-you for everything that you guys are doing to bring this sport the way that you're covering it, so thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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