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NCAA WOMEN'S NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPDecember 15, 2011Katie FullerMick HaleyAlex JupiterLauren WilliamsSAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: SEMIFINALS SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA – 2 THE MODERATOR: I'd like to welcome USC. Introducing the table, to my immediate right is head coach Mick Haley, followed by senior outside hitter Alex Jupiter and senior middle blocker Lauren Williams and junior outside hitter Katie Fuller. Coach, an opening comment, please. COACH HALEY: Well, I guess I'd like to start by congratulating Illinois. I thought they played a heck of a match. They stepped up at the right time, and they did an excellent job. We're really proud of our team. We think we've done about everything we could do to have a chance at this championship. So we don't have any regrets. We played as hard as we could play. Other than that, there's not much more that I can add to that. THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Mick, she's not up here now, but if you could first talk to maybe one of the others was the play of Sara Shaw tonight, there was a lot of places throughout the whole match where it seemed like she was the one coming out of nowhere on defense or hitting a key shot. Talk about that? And, Alex, would you talk about that? ALEX JUPITER: Well, Sara has been really, really fast and she's been stepping up big time this year. And she really came through this game as a player that we could really count on, like you said. She came up with plays, incredible plays when we needed it the most. That's about it. COACH HALEY: Yeah, Sara's a sophomore who didn't start last year and worked real hard in the off season. Got sick, got mono. Was sick all summer. Came back this fall. Kept working hard. It's been amazing in the passing department for us. Her real forte has been passing and she stabilized the team. She wasn't able to contribute offensively like she'd like to, but she's working at that. Everybody on our team did something well. And that's what allowed them to be on the team. And she certainly has done her fair share in that regard. Taken on a lot of responsibility and I think will get a lot better. Q. For the players, we wonder, the stress that you were put under physically to go five those two times last weekend and here again, was it too much to ask physically at this point? ALEX JUPITER:  No, it wasn't. We had days off in between. We recovered well and our motivation was right there. And I think that although our bodies were tired and if those were hard games, it was more mental. We wanted it really bad and I don't think that we felt that we felt the consequences from last weekend that much. We played hard, and we stayed with it physically also. LAUREN WILLIAMS: I definitely agree. I don't think that you can ask too much. I think that the challenges that have come across in this tournament are what makes it fun. And we as a team always want to take on those challenges whether or not it's 5 to 5 or beating a team in 3. And we've been working this whole week to recover. And Illinois brought their best match tonight, and it was a great game. KATIE FULLER: This is what we worked all season for was the five‑game matches. We work hard in the weight room and condition. I don't think it's too much to ask at all. COACH HALEY: Illinois just beat us. They played. They played a little bit better than we did at the right time. And what do you say to that? You say congratulations. We did as well as we could do. Everybody gave everything. Q. This is a good time to talk about Alex and her career and what she's done at USC. COACH HALEY: I think pretty special. We have a long line of very, very elite players that have come out of USC. And she falls right into that category, without question. The unique thing about Alex is that she's gotten better every year. And her all‑around game really improved this year to the point where she was totally a complete player. She scored like April Ross with her serve. She hit like Paula Weishoff. She played defense like Paula Dittmer. She really worked hard at her game, and as her coach I really appreciate that. There was a time when I think she thought she was working hard. But every year it seems like she‑‑ basically there's never been a question that she didn't want to be the best. She's always wanted to be the best. And this year she did most of this I think not just for her, but for her teammates. I think this is a special year in that I've never seen her give so much of herself to her team. And sometimes I think she would have preferred not to work as hard in practice, but because everybody else was really kicking it up, she continued to sustain. And that's kind of the part of the champion that she has in her. I think she's grown immensely as a student‑athlete and as a person. So I'm pretty pleased with her career at USC, and I hope she's as pleased with it as I am, because it's certainly been fun coaching her. Q. Alex? ALEX JUPITER: I am pleased with my career at USC, and I definitely learned different things like in different depths every year. When I thought this was as good as I could get in one area, I would turn around and somebody would give me a challenge. With the help of the coaching staff and my teammates we figured it out, and that was just one more tool that I'm able to use that somebody gives me and I keep it in my pocket. I'm really thankful for my entire staff for helping me, teaching me, just everything about every situation. They've really been on top of it. And they've given me all the tools possible to really improve what I do. Q. As almost always usual there's two Pac‑12 teams that reach this championship. What do you do for Saturday? Do you root for the Pac‑12 team? Do you root against your big rival, UCLA? Katie, who do you root for? KATIE FULLER: I know the teams are two of the best teams here in the Finals. It's going to be tough because we do want the Pac‑12 to kind of succeed. So we always have that side, but, then again, Illinois has proved their way this year and done a great job. LAUREN WILLIAMS: I think I'm going to root just for a good volleyball match. Just want to watch some great volleyball. But it's nice when the team that beats you wins because it makes you look better. But it's also nice for the Pac‑12 to win and it's important to support our conference. So I'll root for whoever is winning. ALEX JUPITER: I think both teams have worked really hard to get to this point. And, like they say, I'm just really rooting for good volleyball, games like us against Hawaii or Pepperdine or tonight. I hope that's what the Final will be like. I hope it will be a battle. I hope that really gets the crowd so it gets to show what the Finals should be like. COACH HALEY: I have the utmost respect for both of the coaches. They're good, young coaches. They've been working their tails off and they've really gotten their teams to be very, very good. I didn't get to see Illinois from the standpoint of playing them during the year. I always thought the Bruins were the best team we played all year. I told Carch that. But I think Illinois is pretty good. So I have to be a company man and root for the Pac‑12. But I will enjoy the match without question. I'd like to see what the coaches do and they both have their own little idiosyncrasies, things they do with their teams. And it should be a heck of a fun match. I can't wait to get back here to watch the match. Q. Coach, I know you would have liked to have won it, but what do you think of that last point? That was something, wasn't it? COACH HALEY: Yeah, that's the way it should go. You give everything for every point. You don't‑‑ you play in the moment and you don't care what the score is. You want to win the last point. We did everything we could to win the last point. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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