University of Tennessee Athletics
#23 TENNESSEE 3, #17 MINNESOTA 2 - POST-MATCH QUOTES
December 03, 2005 | Volleyball
Dec. 3, 2005
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery
TENNESSEE HEAD COACH Rob Patrick:
"The first thing, Minnesota's a great team. They a re very well-coached. They have great athletic players, and we feel very fortunate to have played very good volleyball against them. They didn't do anything that we didn't think they would do. I was very impressed with our hitting, and that's one of the biggest blocks we'll see all season long (from Minnesota). But our hitters have done a great job against big blocks. Louisville has a big block, and we were pretty successful against them. Florida presents a big block. I think a lot of what we did in the beginning of the year helped us to be successful in this match. Julie (Knytych) has just done an incredible job of setting the ball, especially in this first and second round. Her accuracy, decisions and leadership when she's on the court have been phenomenal, and that really helped us in the latter part of the match. Yuliya (Stoyanova), throughout the match, was getting a little nervous, I think, in some areas. But I'm really proud of the way that when the match counted, she listened to what she needed to do. She came up big on some big swings with their double blocks up.
(on coming from behind in Game 4): "This is going to sound kind of weird, but I felt comfortable even though we were down. I didn't know if we were going to come back and win, I mean, you're five points down that late in the game. The reason I felt comfortable is that we weren't playing great, and we were the ones making errors. We were hitting the balls out. We weren't controlling the ball whether it was a dig or a free ball. I felt if we could cut down on those unforced errors on our side that we could make up that ground. Then we changed a little bit of our serving strategy. We'd been going short for most of the game, and they finally got in a groove of passing it. Then we finally went deep, and I think that surprised them a little bit. They weren't passing as accurately, so they had to set maybe just one or two players rather than having three options. And our block did a real nice job of getting blocks and deflections.
(on comments during the timeout while trailing in Game 4): "It was a situation where we just had to slow the game down. We were playing outside of ourselves. We were trying to do some things a little bit too much as an individual, and we didn't need to do that. Yuliya (Stoyanova) just did what she could do, and Julie (Knytych) just did what she could do, and so did the rest of our players.
(on her block at the end of Game 4): "Obviously, any time you get a solo block, you're going to get really pumped. Any time you've seen me play, I'm just really crazy when I get a block. It's always nice to get a block against a middle. I mean, it's like, `Oh, a little setter going up against a big middle.' It was just up there and it all fell into place. It was a highlight of the game but it wasn't really the whole thing.
(on the Game 4 comeback): "Our team has a lot of heart, and we always play really hard. I think that's definitely the reason why we were able to come back. We never gave up. We just kept fighting, and that's a huge characteristic of our team. That's always been the mentality since I've been here. We kept working hard, kept plugging along. I knew we were going to be able to pull it out.
(on frustration during Games 2 and 3): "When things aren't always falling into place, it's hard when you get down by a lot. Once you get down, it's hard to come back. The third game, we really couldn't get it together so we just kind of let that one go. We really came back strong in the fourth game. That's what it's all about, having that mentality of being able to come back and keep playing strong no matter what.
(on jumping out early in Game 1): "The first game, we came out with a lot of energy. Everyone was talking, and the whole team was acting as a whole. We were playing very good offense, but our passing was very, very good. Julie (Knytych) was setting me always against a single block or no block at all. I was able to get the ball around the one block or against no block at all. All of the back row players were talking to me. They were telling me if I had a double block, if I had a single block. So that really helped, too.
MINNESOTA HEAD COACH MIKE HEBERT:
"I want to congratulate Tennessee on its great comeback. We had an inability to put the ball away, which led to the breakdown we had. Seventeen service errors is a few too many. I have to congratulate No. 15 to my right here (Paula Gentil) on breaking the NCAA dig record for her career. She has been just a remarkable player and tonight was no exception. Tennessee did a good job of believing in itself, especially in game four, and that was significant.
PAULA GENTIL
(on breaking the NCAA record for digs): "It is great to break the record, but it is just a record. I do appreciate it; the record is mine.
MEREDITH NELSON
(On coming back next year as a senior): "It is very exciting. I will take lessons from this year's senior class and take advantage of them in my senior year next season.
