Oct. 3, 2008
Recap |
Final Stats
TULANE HEAD COACH Liz Kritza
Overall thoughts on the match
"It was a very interesting match and we made it much too interesting for my taste. It was a tough match on the road and I thought we came out and proved that we could handle them pretty easily in set one. In the set two, we got an early lead, and then we sort of allowed them to build momentum. Volleyball is such a game of momentum and you cannot allow a team that you have an advantage over to believe that they can beat you. When you start making errors and allow them to build momentum, they will actually start playing better. That is what happened tonight."
On having to fight back in the final two sets of the match
"We gave them too many points at the end of the second set and we allowed them to build momentum. That made it much tougher for ourselves to come out and get the next two sets because they were playing better and they played with confidence. Unfortunately, that is what happens when you let up just for a series of two or three points in this game."
On the positives of coming away from Memphis with a win
"A win is still a win, but this team knows that this is not all that we focus on. We focus on our level of play. We focus on how we should be improving. Tonight, yes we escaped with a win, but we narrowly escaped. I did not even need to tell this team after the match that their level of play tonight was not acceptable and I look for them to rebound, come back and play a much better match on Sunday against a quality foe in UAB."
On the difference between the first set and a half and the rest of the match
"For us, when our offense gets too predictable or too static, then our hitters are hitting against two blockers instead of one. We also made a few poor choices. We weren't swinging into open areas and they actually swung into the bigger block. That resulted in Memphis taking points away from us and turning them into points for them. It was not necessarily anything that they were doing differently. Our level of play dropped, and when it dropped, we allowed them to be in system more than we were."
On what the team takes from tonight's match
"This team knows that I demand that they get better when we win and when we lose. We are looking at this the same way we look at a loss. We are going to go hard in practice tomorrow and we all realize that this was not a performance up to par where we should be. One thing when you are on a win streak, and obviously there is pressure on us when we play in conference, but I told the team to expect the opponent to have their best match against us every single night. One of the things that we have to learn is a level of consistency, not just from game to game, but from match to match all the way through this conference season."
On the environment tonight at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse
"It was a good test on the road for us. This was a really tough environment to play in. They have a great fan section and it was a good, competitive environment. I am pleased that we pulled out a win."
On an aspect of the match that she was very pleased with
"Sara (Radosevic) had 21 digs and she played good defense. We need that from her. But her hitting percentage dropped drastically when we got predictable. She had a good set and a half when she was swinging almost .400. Memphis made a quick adjustment on their side and our offense was misfiring. All in all, she played a decent all-around game. I demand so much of that kid, as does this team, and she has to carry a big load for us. But there is a reason she was voted preseason Player of the Year. She knows that she has to answer the call night in and night out, and I firmly believe that she is ready to do that."
MEMPHIS HEAD COACH APRIL JAUREGUI
On the momentum swings throughout Friday's match
"There were some huge momentum swings. Tulane would get up and just crushed some balls. Our kids would be down, and then we made a couple of big blocks, there were a couple of bad calls and then a crazy dig lands on the endline. It was an exciting match, though. It was kind of like a grit match where whoever survived the longest was going to win."
On her team having a chance to win Friday against the Green Wave
"I think our kids can look back at the match and see they had opportunities to win, especially in sets three and four. But Tulane, on paper, is a fantastic team. They are the best team in our conference. For our kids to go out and have a chance to win, that is a positive for sure. If Tulane does not win the conference this year and go to the (NCAA) tournament...well, they should. For our team to play with them and show where they can be against a team in the Top 30, that is an exciting match."
