2018 NCAA VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
LEXINGTON SUB-REGIONAL – LEXINGTON, KY.
POST-MATCH QUOTES
SECOND ROUND
KENTUCKY 3, PURDUE 0
Kentucky Head Coach Craig Skinner
Opening statement …
“A couple of things. One, it’s unfortunate that two teams ranked in the top 12 have to play in the second round and that one of us has to go home in a tournament like this. We knew it was going to be a battle and our team really stepped up and made a statement today. I’ve got to give our staff, Anders (Nelson), Carly (Cramer), Jeff (Fiorenza) and Connor (Zimmick) a lot of credit for the game plan that was put together to hold a team like Purdue to only 27 kills in a three-set match. That’s very difficult to do against a top program. A lot of credit to our staff and team for executing the game plan.”
On how big serving was in the match …
“Huge. I didn’t feel like we served great last night. We knew that was going to be important. Our team has been a great serving team all year, but eight aces, six errors against a top-15 team in the country is really important. We only hit .225, which is low for us, but getting those points on serving was a big deal.”
On what this win means to the program …
“We’re trying to solidify ourselves as an elite program in the country and you have to win matches when you are favored. It’s harder to do, so to speak. I think our team expected to play well, they prepared well and going into today, our team never seems to get phased by what’s next. So I think that’s an important step for the evolution of an elite program.”
On how the team holding leads has improved this season …
“I think you’re still trying to figure out what you’re trying to do as a player, individually, the first weekend, you’re trying to figure out what kind of system we’re playing, so you really can’t compete. And what I mean by compete is, the best competitors are ready to play the next point all the time. When you’re trying to figure out your role, trying to figure out your system, you can’t do that. Our team knows their roles, they know what to expect so they can focus on competing this point. I think that’s probably, mentally, the difference, that we’re more prepared to play each point.”
On if the bench players are prepared, should they be called upon …
“There’s no doubt. Practice is where we see their preparation. The group of people leading this team has everybody ready. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that if we put in a Merideth Jewell, an Avery Skinner, whoever, to play, they are just great competitors. Big moments don’t scare them. At any point in time, if it’s needed, they know that we’re confident to put them in and get the job done. And we’re going to need them, we’re going to absolutely need them, as we go through this tournament.”
On Alli Stumler …
“The stat that most people don’t see is serve receive. Alli Stumler and Gabby Curry, two of the best passers in the country. When you’re passing 2.4 on a three-point scale, which is big time for a volleyball player, and you only get aced one time against a team like Purdue, you stick with what’s working. We had other weapons step up. Brooke going 12 (kills) and hitting .430, Leah 13 kills and (Caitlyn Cooper) going behind, we had options. I kept encouraging Madison (Lilley) to get more involved, and she did as the match went on. When you pass the ball to the net to a setter like Madison, that’s really important in big matches.
On what the program taking the next step looks like …
“Keep winning. It’s not going to be easy, we know that. We expect to prepare well enough to give ourselves a chance to win the next match, which is the Sweet 16. That’s all you can ask for. I can’t get too far ahead of what’s next. We want to compete for a national championship and we’re not there yet. So our next chance to make the next step is Friday night.”
On contributions from first-year players …
“I think it goes back to what we just talked about with the people that lead this team. Guys, this is what’s going to happen, this is what to expect. Last year, the crowd was nuts. Again, how about our crowd tonight being there for us and being behind us? The talk and the continual information from the people who have done it before helps prepare them. The other side of that is that those three people have played at high levels of volleyball their whole career. Caitlyn Cooper won a national championship her junior year in club. Alli Stumler’s team always competed for a national championship in club. Lauren Tharp played on a high school program that won a national championship her freshman year, I think, when Merideth Jewell was on the team. So, they just have been in those moments, so this is just amplified. But the combination of those two things I think are the biggest reason.”
On the seniors getting a farewell with the crowd …
“I’ve seen a couple of other programs do that with their seniors in the last match. As a staff, Anders, Carly and I said hey, let’s put the seniors back out there, a special moment for them. I’m really proud of what they’ve done and how many wins they’ve added to the program history.”
On his message to the team as they go on the road …
“You’ve got to stay the course of what we’ve been doing all year. We’ve played in great venues and against great teams all season, so we know what the Sweet 16 was like here last year, so we have a good idea of what it’s going to be like at Minnesota and the crowd that they bring to the match, it’s fun. It’s fun to play in matches like that.”
Kentucky Student-Athletes
#10 Caitlyn Cooper, RS, Jr.
On how the team regrouped at the end of the second set after the mental errors …
“Well, we’re a really good team when it comes to that. We just tell each other just be aggressive and keep on doing what you are doing. But, at the same time know what you have to do and get it done. I feel like this team does that really well. That’s what we always say to each other.”
On her first NCAA tournament …
“It’s been crazy and wild and my teammates and coaches have been helping me and supporting me along the way and I just can’t wait to go further and get the job done. I’m all ready to do what I got to do to help my team.”
#12 Gabby Curry, L, So.
On Purdue’s Sherridan Atkinson and if they took that as a personal challenge since she is so talented …
“For sure. I think that our coaches made a good emphasis on telling us her shots and kind of letting us freelance on that. I think the biggest thing for us was taking care of the other people and if we can stop them, if we can limit them then she won’t make that big of a difference. I think that by stopping them she didn’t have that great of a game either.”
On muted celebration…
“I would say that we’re kind of working on being steady on anything that happens. We talk about weathering the storm and I was saying after the game, I never felt like we were down. I think that at one time during the second set we were down three points, and I couldn’t tell and so I think that’s important. Maybe we don’t cheer as much for the great points and things like that, but it just shows that when we’re down we don’t show anything either so steadiness is where we’re trying to get and progress to that.”
#3 Madison Lilley, S, So.
On what they did to combat Purdue’s blocking …
“They were a really good blocking team. That was really good for us to see considering we’re going to be playing really good teams like that later on in the tournament, so that was really good. Then, just kind of using my peripheral vision at the net to see where they are scheming to and then obviously setting the other way. It took us a little bit to settle in, but once we did we were getting kills on the one-on-one block situation.”
On all the options that she has to set to …
“Yeah, no doubt. I think we definitely knew this team was going to be really good blocking going into the match. I think everyone was kind of on their A-game. Caitlyn (Cooper) was going on the right, Leah (Edmond) and Alli (Stumler) were going on the left, and then getting our middles involved is a lot of fun too. Having all the options available, even against a really good blocking team is really reassuring. That’s something that we’re going to continue to focus on this week in practice, knowing that that’s what we’ll be seeing later on in the tournament too.”
On the possibility of playing Nebraska again…
“Having all week to prepare is really going to be key for us. Last year we came off a five-set win against BYU and we turned around and faced them and took a set off of them, and I think a week to prepare is really going to help us. I know that we’re really fired up and we’re excited to go to Minnesota and play there. That’s going to be a really fun atmosphere and it’s going to be a really good match up. We’re excited about it.”
Purdue Head Coach Dave Shondell
Opening statement …
“Thank you. I’m certainly disappointed with the outcome tonight, of the match. Kentucky played at an extremely high level. Congratulations to Craig (Skinner) and his staff, who we have so much respect for and the way that they played tonight. We wish them the best of luck as they move forward. We have a young team and at times, we didn’t respond as well tonight as we needed to. That being said, this has been a fabulous season for our program. We graduated four seniors, three of which are playing professional volleyball at a high level right now in Europe. And we had some people take the leadership role—two of them are here with us right now—and take a group of very young players and had a great season. Competitive athletes, whether it is at the high school, club, adult rec level, whatever it might be, it’s really, really strange because you can be on top of the world one night and you can be on the bottom the next. And that’s exactly how we have felt over the last two days. But again, the credit goes to Kentucky. Craig—I hope the people here know what kind of job he has done and what kind of coach that he is. We’ll pick the pieces up and we’ll be ready to go very, very quickly.”
On whether he was surprised by Kentucky’s balance …
“No, I was not surprised by their balance. A big part of our focus was (Leah) Edmond and (Alli) Stumler, who have been playing very, very well. I thought we actually contained those two at a reasonable level. (Brooke) Morgan, who played great last night, played very well tonight. I think she’s certainly one of the most improved players in the entire country. (Caitlyn) Cooper is a handful; just a great athlete. We did seem to have a good feel for what we needed to do to contain her, but we didn’t expect to go out and be out of system all night. I mean, if you wanted to put a reason on why the game was lop-sided, it was their passing compared to our passing on this particular night. And that’s a credit to their serving, could be a credit to their—it’s a large gym that they’re used to playing in and—we play in some large gyms too, but very few of them have that much space at the end of it. And we just didn’t pass the ball at the level that we needed to stay in the match tonight.
On his evaluation of the season …
“Well, I think we were picked eighth in the Big 10 to start the season and it was a really tough Big 10. We finished sixth and went 12-8. I never would’ve dreamed we would be whatever we are. 24-9 was never in my mind to start the season—never even close. I would’ve taken 19 wins, easy. I would’ve jumped for joy, knowing what we were dealing with to have 19 wins. It’s a tough time because you lose a match, and really the toughest loss we’ve had. We may have had two other ones in tournament play that we got swept and just didn’t compete the way we needed to. But to look at the season we had, it’s very encouraging. And obviously you lose a player like (Sheridan) Atkinson who’s first or second team All-American this year. But, you know, some of those freshman who are young, and sophomores are going to be a lot better. And we’ve got a great class coming in, so the future’s very bright.
Purdue Student-Athletes
#16 Sherridan Atkinson, RS-Sr., OH
On what makes Kentucky so difficult to defend …
“Kentucky’s hitters definitely required us to be focused and to continue to talk at the net. I think that when we serve well, we put their hitters out of system and then their setter isn’t able to run what they want. It can be either way. They might not be as good if we are serving well, or if we are not serving well, then they have all of their options. It was kind of more on our control and the ability that we gave them to run their plays. That’s where we lacked tonight. But, that’s no credit taken away from their talented hitters.”
On what made Kentucky so effective at the service line …
“I guess you could say that their balls were dropping in front of us. Something that we had struggled all year on was playing the balls that were in front of us. Unfortunately, that caught up to us tonight. I think that on balls that were on us, we were pretty good at handling, but balls that were coming right at us – especially from Morgan, where it’s coming from such a high point – those disrupted what we wanted to do and wanted to run.”
On her final message as she concludes her career …
“That God is amazing, honestly. Starting from where I started at Long Beach, having no confidence, having no faith in myself and thinking that I couldn’t put a ball away or doing any of the things I’m doing now is honestly amazing and astonishing. That goes full credit to Purdue and the staff and my teammates for believing in me, but I definitely didn’t believe in myself and I definitely didn’t think I could do a lot of the things I’m able to do now. So thank you God, thank you to my trainers, thank you to Stephanie (Medina) for keeping me healthy and to Dave (Shondell) for always pushing me to be better and this isn’t the end of my career. I’m really excited to see what else is in store for me but just to have somewhat an entire community and an entire state, for crying out loud, that really believes in you whether you win or lose is something I have never seen before and something I am truly grateful for, so thank you Boiler Nation.”
#17 Blake Mohler, RS-Jr., MB
On what Kentucky did on defense to disrupt their offense …
“I think they were serving us really well. You could see (Alli Stumler) had a bunch of aces and they just really put a lot of pressure on us. Our passing held up really well and I just think there were some plays where we could have executed a little better. That’s something that we can learn and take from it and move on to next year.”
On having to face two Big 10 teams in the NCAA Regionals …
“Those are two of the top, consistently good, power-house teams (Minnesota and Nebraska) and I’m not going to lie – Minnesota is a really tough place to play at. We kind of struggle there every year. It’s a scary gym. Not being in the Big Ten seeing that every night, I’m not sure how they are going to face them. I wish them good luck, but I am going to be rooting for the Big Ten.”
