|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA WOMEN'S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPDecember 15, 2011Visnja DjurdjevicKatie MosherChris PooleSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: SEMIFINALS FLORIDA STATE – 0 THE MODERATOR: I'd like to welcome the members of the Florida State Seminoles, Coach Chris Poole and freshman libero Katie Mosher and senior outside hitter Visnja Djurdjevic. Coach, an opening statement, please. COACH POOLE: Obviously the match itself wasn't as we had hoped and was a disappointing loss. At the same time, we had a lot of wins this year and had a great season overall. So somebody's got to lose at the end unless you win the whole thing. And I think the experience certainly that we gained this year, the experience we gained going through the tournament is going to help us in the future. And certainly disappointed for the seniors, but it's like I told them in the dressing room afterwards, I'm proud of the fight that they put up. And to think this has just been four years of trying to build a program there, I'm certainly proud of the work that they've put in to try to get to this point. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Katie, you've seen how well the blocking has been up front for the team this year. How much did UCLA take Florida State out of its game tonight? KATIE MOSHER: I'm sure they knew that was our biggest‑‑ that's the best part of our game. I'm sure they've been working as hard as they possibly could this week to prepare for that and try and get around the block as much as possible, because we are one of the best blocking teams in the country. We didn't have our best night all the way around, but I think throughout the season we proved that our blocking is our best part of the game. So I think even though‑‑ it wasn't our night, but I think the whole season proved that we're still a great team. Q. Katie, is there any solace in the fact of getting the program this far or is it more disappointment that you're not going to be playing for the championship? KATIE MOSHER: It's always a disappointment to you lose no matter where you lose. But I think the fact that no one expected us to get to the Final Four at all, it just shows so much for our team as a whole and just that the future is so bright for our school; that no ACC team has ever been here before, and just that alone is so rewarding for us. Q. Visnja, third set, looked like you were trying to get the team going there a little bit. Can you talk about the mindset of the team? You had been there before two sets down. What was it like for the team at that point? VISNJA DJURDJEVIC: I mean, I'm sure‑‑ and I feel‑‑ I'm positive that this team has great potential. We obviously didn't play to our fullest potential tonight. But, I mean, I was just trying to talk to my teammates and tell them just to have fun and show what we've been working for the entire season. I mean, obviously this is a great success just to make it to the Final Four but still we could have done better. So, yeah, we tried to come back in our game in the third set. But, I mean, they obviously have that mindset that they were already up two games. So couldn't really do much. But, I mean, we tried. COACH POOLE: I think really as the match progressed, we were getting stronger. The third set obviously was our best set. We blocked better. We had five blocks alone in that game. So we were starting to get the rhythm a little bit that I talked about that each team, it's just a matter of when we can get that. And our block can start turning it on a little bit. It was just too late. And a lot of teams that you would play maybe aren't quite as good as UCLA, maybe you come back in one of those other two games or make a run and win the third game and take off. We just couldn't do that against a great team. But certainly I admire the girls for not giving up. They kept fighting right until the end. And, like I say, I would rather that third set be what's on their mind than it be the other way around and that it'd have gradually gotten worse. And you see teams sometimes do that, they'll play a pretty competitive first set and then just gradually go down the rest of the match when they don't win. But we didn't do that. We kept fighting, and that's to their credit and their character. Q. Coach, when they went up early, 6‑2, you called that first timeout, what was your message at that point? COACH POOLE: It really was to settle down. Don't worry about the crowd that's around them. Try to just get focused on just the team across the net. Try to make it a smaller gym for them. Because we're used to a smaller gym, about the size of this room. A little bit of exaggeration, but it's a physical education gym. So it's a smaller setting. So I was trying to get them to just focus in on the court and not worry about everything else that was going on around them. And, like I say, I felt there were plays. There were things we did. There was also things that we did that I think was a little bit of an overwhelmed reaction, and that's‑‑ again, that's going to happen when you get here, particularly the first time. Obviously there's a lot of teams out there that's never won a national championship. They're not easy to win. You have to play your best all the time and you have to go up against better and better teams as the bracket progresses and you have to try to figure out how to get wins at the end. And certainly to UCLA's credit they did that. They've got a great team. They played very well last weekend, knocking off two obviously great programs, great historical programs. And so we knew it was going to be a challenge for us, and we weren't quite able to overcome that mountain. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. 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
|