Post-Match Quotes: CSU volleyball vs. Wyoming

Nov. 26, 2014

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Head Coach Tom Hilbert

(on the crowd)
"This was a great match, in my opinion. The first thing I want to say is that it's really great when 4,300 people come out on the night before Thanksgiving. It tells you that the people in this community appreciate this team and respect them, and I like that."

(on his overview of the match)
"We played extremely well in the first set except that we had six giveaway points, and that let them stay in early. Then we took over in the end. In the second set, I thought we played well, too. We had 11 more kills than they did after the first two sets. Then, Chad (Callihan) made some nice defensive adjustments with his libero, and they were digging way more balls. The third set we had nine kills. It was frustrating for us. They only hit .143, but still won that set. Then in the fourth set it was interesting because they were really good offensively, but so were we. They played much cleaner and served the ball very well. We got stuck in one rotation where they had a six-point run on us, which was scary because we had a nice cushion and that brought us basically to zero, but we got out of it. He (Callihan) was doing a lot of switch blocking with the setter, and it's against a freshman (Jasmine Hanna), so I'm over-coaching her because she really is not ready to handle that kind of pressure. It was not a good moment for our team in this match, but then they came back and we did the right things. Marlee (Reynolds) and Jasmine had a couple critical kills after that. Axi (Alexandra Poletto) and (Kelsey) Snider played better, and Dri (Adrianna Culbert), who was not good throughout the first three sets, hit .750 in the fourth set. We played much better than I thought we did in that first set. We served the ball all night long and put pressure on them with serving. They have good middles, and if you can take their middles out of the game you have a chance to beat them. I have a lot of respect for Wyoming and for Chad. I think he's a good coach, and I think there's some talent on that team, so I consider this to be a really good win for us."

(on blocking and serving)
"We even talked about it in the timeout before that to get over the net more. They were using us and we had three stops in a row, so that was good. Thirteen blocks in four sets is good. I was real pleased with that. We missed eight serves, but got nine aces, so I'll take that any day. We really did play well, but I think Wyoming did also, and it was a close match. It was a competitive match with two good teams."

(on returning to practice to prepare for the NCAA tournament)
"We're going to return to practice on Friday. We'll probably go Friday, do some short things on Saturday, then take Sunday off. Depending on what's going on with us that will determine how many times we're going to practice at home. Hopefully it's a lot. What we need is flow. We need to practice hard for short periods of time, and we need to compete. We now go into situations where whoever we play we don't know if we'll know a lot about them or not. We need to be competitive, physical, and fresh, and that's what is going to make us good in the NCAA tournament."

(on the possibility of hosting first- and second-round matches at Moby Arena)
"The committee likes to keep teams from flying. So, you have Denver, Northern Colorado and CU - all of whom will qualify for the NCAA tournament, along with us. You could see all four of them in here, but who knows. No one knows what that committee is going to do, so you'll just have to wait and see."

"We're 16 in the RPI, we're a good team and we've done what they've asked us to do. Geographically, it makes sense."

"I'm on edge, but we're going to the NCAA tournament so that has to be a positive. I would love to have it here, but let's just go play a good tournament."

Senior middle blocker Kelsey Snider

(on Senior Night)
"It's not our last match, and I honestly don't think it is our last match at Moby. It was just a special night of celebrating us."

(on winning a tight match)
"It felt really good. It was a really competitive match, and Wyoming was on their game defensively. It wasn't like it was an easy win. It felt like a good win and I think it will boost us into the NCAA."

(on how this match prepared the team for the NCAA tournament [following Foss' comment])
". . . The sets were really close, too, so we didn't have that cushion to relax. We had to play our best every moment of the match."

Senior setter Deedra Foss

(on having a home-court advantage at Moby Arena, where the Rams are 14-1 this season)
"I always feel better playing at home. It's your environment; you're used to the crowd and them cheering for you. Playing at home is where we play our best, but we have also shown this year that we play well on the road, too."

(on how this match prepared the team for the NCAA tournament)
"I think it was good to have a competitive and good team to play, because last week was a little slow, so this helped us, especially going into the NCAA tournament. We get that feel back of what it's like to play tough competition."

Senior outside hitter Marlee Reynolds

(on Senior Night)
"Luckily for us, it's not our last match ever. We didn't have that pressure on us, and none of us wanted to play with that pressure. That it's Senior Night and I have to play the best I've ever played in my life. You never play well like that, so I think all of us just kind of wanted to relax and treat it like a usual game. We just got a little more attention."

(on winning a tight match)
"It's awesome. It wouldn't have been as fun if it was an easy win. I think that fourth set helped prove who we are, and that we're able to adapt to their defensive adjustments. It's a fun way to win Senior Night."

(on the Border War)
"The competition between us and Wyoming always gets us pretty energized."

(on the possibility of hosting an NCAA tournament sub-regional)
"I think our preseason especially proved the level that we can play, and that we deserve to host the first two rounds."

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