Post Match Coaches Quotes From Both Matches In The NCAA Volleyball Tournament First Round

Dec. 2, 1999

NORTHERN IOWA-BALL STATE POST MATCH COACHES QUOTES

Northern Iowa Head Coach Iradge Ahrabi-Fard

“I don’t think we played up to our potential. We woke up a little too late in the match.. When we had to do it, we went to it. We had a 0.09 hitting percentage in the first game.”

“I think the difference was our blocking. They served well and took us out of our game. At the beginning of the match they were controlling the net. We said if they controlled the net, they would hold the superior hand.”

“At the last few games, we started controlling the net in blocking and offense. I think that all together, Ball State played a very good match. For a while, we couldn’t do anything about one of their players. She was very quick and getting through our blocks.”

“I’m glad that our girls adjusted. They wanted to be in the finals. We fought well.”

“The environment sometimes effects you. And you have to read the depth of the ball and move your feet. Things happen differently many times.”

“Once our passing is going well, the effectiveness of our hitters has to be reckoned with.”

Ball State Head Coach Randy Litchfield

“You have to give Northern Iowa a lot of credit for being ‘desperate to win’. We had every advantage after being up 2-1. We had their better players in some trouble. But those were the same players that fought back and managed to beat us.”

“I felt that if we got to the last game and been on the side we’d been successful at, we would have won the match.”

“Northern Iowa has fantastic outside blockers.”

“This has been one awesome team for me all year long. For a young team to have to fight for so many matches down the stretch might have taken its toll tonight. We just didn’t have the energy level required to win in the NCAA Tournament. That might be the greatest lesson of all.”

INDIANA VS. CLEMSON POST MATCH COACHES QUOTES

Indiana Head Coach Katie Weismiller

“We watched a lot of film and thought Clemson was probably one of the better teams we’ve played this season, knowing it was going to be a fight. At the same time, I was pleased with the way we came out aggressive from the very beginning. All season long we’ve talked about being aggressive. Tonight, we finished aggressively and came out with a win.”

“We have a really good offense when we’re swinging and being aggressive. I felt that we were putting pressure on them.”

“It was very nice not to have to go to a fifth game. We’ve talked about finishing and we’re peaking at the end. Early on in the season we had some injuries and towards the end we’ve started to peak.”

“It was a fun match from the standpoint that it was a defensive match. There were a lot of rallies. I was pleased defensively. We got caught out of place a little, and that’s where we had to re-adjust.”

“We’re taking it one match at a time. We’ll start looking at Northern Iowa, who’s a very good team. We’ve got another challenge ahead of us tomorrow.”

Clemson Head Coach Jolene Jordan Hoover

“We’re really disappointed, especially since we’re hosting. Indiana played a great match and very well defensively. We didn’t pass as well as we’d like to which hurt our offense. You have to give a lot of credit to Indiana. They out-dug us and out-blocked us.”

“(Amanda) Welter had a great night for Indiana. They do a really good job of isolating certain players, so they got a lot of one-on-one situations. Welter was able to score a lot of those plays.”

“I don’t know if it was anything they were doing or it was something we were not doing. I felt that we got stuck in some rotations and couldn’t pass. They were also serving very aggressive.”

“We made a tremendous amount of hitting errors. We played a little impatient and wanted it immediately. If the opportunity wasn’t there, we were trying to make something out of it. A good defensive team forces you to do those things.”