2017 LEXINGTON VOLLEYBALL REGIONAL
MEMORIAL COLISEUM
MATCH 3, ROUND 2
KENTUCKY VS. WKU
DEC. 2, 2017
Head Coach Craig Skinner
Opening Statement …
“Well it’s probably no consolation to Travis (Hudson) and the Western team, but just have the utmost respect for that program and it’s really unfortunate that any team had to lose that match because both teams battled their hearts out and never gave up from point one all the way through the last point. Obviously these are special wins when you can come back like that. It’s probably the toughest I’ve ever seen a Kentucky volleyball team play since I’ve been here. For the last hour and a half to will ourselves back in and fight for the win. Just really proud of these three and the whole team, all seventeen of us, for finding a way to get it done.”
On the environment of the game …
“Probably in the huddle when you’re trying to say something and they can’t hear you would be one of those times. If you haven’t been a volleyball fan and you were here tonight, there’s no way you’re not going to be from here on out. That’s as exciting of a sporting event as you’re going to see. I’ve said it before, I think there’s a movement in our sport of people wanting to watch this game and watch how exciting it is. It continues to grow year in and year out. We’ve had great crowds, and the last two days these crowds have been unreal. They’ve willed us. I don’t hear the crowd very often to be honest with you, I’m trying to manage the game, but there’s a couple times I heard tonight them chanting “Go Big Blue” and it was certainly motivating. No question.”
On his team’s depth …
“Every one of those players in that locker room can play in this match at a very high level. I’m not afraid, at all, to put them in in situations. This match called for Merideth and Brooke. We get to see it every day in practice, so when you make the sub, you have no doubts that they can make an impact, and they did.”
On Brooke Morgan …
“Brooke is one of the most dynamic right-side blockers in the country. Darian (Mack) allows us flexibility in our serve receive patterns and to hit some combination plays. Brooke, whether she blocks the ball or not, someone who is hitting against her thinks about her. She can change how a hitter thinks as they attack the ball.”
On his message at intermission …
“There’s nothing to get upset about. We had to slow down number seven, we had to get transition kills and we had to serve them out of system more and get them to pass behind the 10-foot line more. And if we did those three things, we would have a chance to win the match.”
Kentucky Student-Athletes
#7, Kaz Brown, MB
On what she feels turned the match around….
“I don’t know. I think we’re a team that responds to defensive plays, so anytime we get a big block or a one-handed save or anything like that, defense is what gets this team going. I think once we shut down their hitters a little bit with our blocking defense, that’s what kind of changed the momentum and had things going our way.”
On being where your feet are …
“I think that was massive for his match just because it’s easy to get ahead of yourselves in those ones. Especially going down 0-2, it’s easy. You just have to take it one point at a time. There’s nothing you can do. No matter how spectacular the play is, it can only get you one point. So I think that’s something we focus on, and I think that’s something our team did really well on. We have a lot of young kids out there, but they don’t show their age at all. They’re remarkable and I think everyone saw that tonight.”
On what she had working tonight …
“I think I was able to get up in transition and get behind the setter. That all goes to our passers. Our passers are incredible, and they work really hard day in and day out. It’s really hard to get the middle of the ball and be efficient in the middle, but that all goes to passing. I have to give them and our setter Madison (Lilley) a lot of credit.”
On the determination to not have her career end tonight …
“There was so much. A lot of it is this team. This team is really special. I love this team, and I’m going to do everything in my power to keep playing with them.”
On her emotions upon seeing the crowd …
“I kind of am at a loss for words still. Just from my freshman year to now, to see how much involvement the community has given. We have to give them a special shout out because the fans were amazing. Everybody, anywhere I’ve went in the past week, I’ve had people come up and congratulate us and I think that’s really special. We play really hard for each other and for our fans. Their support has been unmatched this season and we can’t thank them enough.”
On if this potentially being her last match entered her mind …
” I mean for a split second maybe, but with this team, I like to think that we’re the best game five team in the country so going into it I have nothing but confidence in my teammates. I think when we’re on that we’re really hard to stop. Like we said, we like to play in big games. We like it when the crowd is involved. I think that’s something I thought about maybe for half a second, but if you let those thoughts into your mind then it’s game over.”
On why she believes Kentucky is the best game five team …
“I think we play hard and we play to win. A lot of teams, when they get into game five, play not to lose and that’s really different than playing to win. This team plays to win at all times.”
#13, Leah Edmond, OH
On if close games every get worrisome …
“No. Not with this team. I’m never worried or concerned about how the outcome is because I know we’ve all got each other. That makes me love these matches even more.”
On her knee …
“Yes, it’s fine. It’s just a little sore. A lot of jumping.”
On how satisfying it was to have a home crowd …
“It’s incredible. I love seeing so many people form Lexington getting so involved in our game. No person moved. Even after we went down 0-2, so that’s really big in showing how the game of volleyball is growing, especially here in Lexington. “
On the pressure she felt during the fifth game …
“None. I never really feel pressure when I’m hitting because of our back row, and they always give me good calls and tell me where to hit. I also know they’ve got me and my back so if I hit a ball and it goes in a block, I know they’re going to cover me. I never really worry, I just go out there and swing my best.”
#15, Brooke Morgan, OPP
On how she remains prepared to enter the match …
“(Darian Mack) and I always help each other. When she sees something, she tells me about it, and when I see something, I tell her about it. These past few games I’ve always be kind of ready, but (Darian Mack) has been doing really good lately.”
On the atmosphere …
“We actually had a lot of people here today. That always makes it fun though. I like big crowds. It makes the environment, like Leah said, fun to play with. The sport of volleyball is growing in Lexington, so it’s always fun to play a lot of people.”
WKU Head Coach Travis Hudson
Opening Statement …
“First of all, the reason Taylor Dellinger is not with us – she had to go see the doctor. She had an eye injury that she took late in that match, so my apologies that she’s not out here. She was just grabbed by our trainer to go see the doctor. I’m usually not a person that has trouble coming up with words but this is one of those times. Our kids played their guts out. They gave me everything that they had and Kentucky played like champions. We gave them our best shot. Kentucky is a high-character group of kids. Kentucky is a high-character staff. They’re well coached, we knew they weren’t going to go away. We certainly didn’t think we were going to cruise on out of here in three games. I have nothing but respect for what they did and what they accomplished in coming back and winning this match. I was counting points, and I think they scored 103 points in this match and we scored 102. That makes it pretty tough to swallow. That’s the way things go sometimes. As I told our kids, there are 63 teams in this tournament that are going to go home disappointed, but all the reasons they hurt so bad right now are all the reasons that I’m so proud of them because they were invested in this, they poured their hearts into this, and certainly have no regrets.”
On what is said in timeouts ….
“Again, we knew this was going to be a long match. We knew. We were up 2-0. We were up early on and we knew we had three big punches left to try to land one. We tried to land one and so our kids…. this is a special group of kids. Let’s not forget in that second set, they punch back and took a 20-17 lead and we stood up and dusted ourselves off and come back and took that set. We weren’t going to go away. We knew they weren’t going away. They’re equally competitive kids, equally high character kids and so we knew we had three punches left to try to land one and we just didn’t connect.”
On the level of the match tonight…
“It was an incredible volleyball match and an incredible high-level volleyball match. As I said in here the other day, Kentucky is very deserving of the seed that they got in this tournament. I don’t want to hear this stuff that there were other teams that should’ve been. I don’t want to hear that. Kentucky went out and earned what they got and deserved the seed that they got. But, I also don’t want to hear, quite frankly, I don’t want to hear about how scrappy our kids our and how we recruit to our system. I don’t want to hear all that stuff. We got good volleyball players. We got really good volleyball players and they’re very, very proud to wear that WKU across their chest and we are not out thinking anybody or out toughing anybody. We are out playing really high level volleyball and there is a lot of things that go into that and this was two teams, I have tremendous respect for Craig Skinner and what he does with their program. I would hope he has the same for our program. If not, then there were 3,620 people that had a chance to see first-hand what our program was about too and Kentucky won this match tonight. We did not lose it. That is the way I feel about it. Kentucky won this match. We did not lose this match. Our kids fought. How many times do we have to stand up to the bully? They are the four seed in the tournament. How many times did you see our kids stand up to the bully in this match? Our kids didn’t lose this match. Our kids ran out of time. Kentucky won this match. Our kids didn’t lose it. “
On the respect coming to Western Kentucky Volleyball …
“Well, that is something that I fight for, quite honestly, a lot. I am in a profession where I have been at the same institution for 23 years and I can’t tell you how many times in those 23 years there have been people in this profession that think I need to move somewhere else and put different letters on my chest to be good at what I do and I believe that the kids that you coach are the same no matter where you coach them. They are the same kids with the same problems and the same issues and they’re trying to grow and come adults and do things with their lives and I don’t think you have to have a certain set of letters across your chest or coach in a certain conference to be a quality volleyball coach and be good at what you do. So, I am incredibly proud to wear that WKU across my chest and I don’t need validation. My kids are what give me the validation and to see them go out and play at the level that they played tonight is all the validation I need.”
On this year’s players…
“Well, they’re good. They’re good volleyball players. I am going to say that again. I don’t want to hear, again, how scrappy we are and I don’t want to hear all that stuff. They are good volleyball players and that is where it starts. You know, I have coached a lot of great kids. I say in recruiting all the time, one of the kisses of death in recruiting is when somebody calls you and says she is a great kid. If that is what they lead with, then all right. That is not always the best sign in recruiting. They have to be able to play. We got kids who can really play but they are great kids. They are really great kids and they care a lot about our institution and about WKU and we have a bunch of kids in that locker room that were being recruited in the Big 10 and the SEC and all those places and they came to play for me and they came to play at our university and they’re high character kids. I have been at Western Kentucky for 23 years. We have 100 percent graduation rate in 23 years that I have been on that campus and in 23 years we have had one kid transfer out of our program at a day in age when there are kids transferring left and right and that is what speaks to the kid of kids that we bring into our program. They are high character kids. We’ve got 14 kids on that roster that can all really play and had to make sacrifices for us to be what we were out there tonight.”
On Jessica Lucas becoming the all-time assist leader…
“They touched on it. Just the attitude, the positiveness that that kid goes through life with. I am up pleading with her. Kentucky started pounding us cross court and I am up begging her to move inside, move inside and she is looking at me and smiling the whole time and I am thinking I am not smiling I don’t think. She is a coach’s kid. Her mother was a coach and she is a coach’s kid and she gets it. She gets that every push and prod a coach gives you and every pat on the back and kick in the butt that a coach gives you is to try to make you better and she is a kid that always has the persona. It does not fade. That smile is genuine and it is something that impacts the kids around her every time we take the floor.”
On this senior class…
“Well, it is going to be hard to top. You know, I really like our team coming back next year but there is a legacy there. There is a legacy there for these kids. It is incredible. They have played college volleyball for four years. They have won four regular season championships. They won four tournament championships. They went to four NCAA tournaments. They went to the second round twice and were as close as they were tonight to getting to the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history at a university that prior to 2002 had never been to a NCAA tournament. Their legacy is large and it is lasting and they are all high level students as well. They have laid a foundation and hopefully continue to catch the attention of people in the country that WKU has got a pretty special volleyball program.”
