St. John's University Athletics
LIU Pre-Game Quotes
11/29/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Nov. 29, 2007
QUEENS - LIU Pre-game quotes
LIU Head Coach Toby Rens
On seeding in this year's tournament:
"Number one, we are just very happy to be in the tournament. We are very fortunate to have won our conference and have had a great season. I am happy for the kids because they have worked really hard all year. I am also very excited that we are in our own backyard. I know we will be represented here a little bit tomorrow because we are within driving distance from our campus. There is a little bit of city rivalry. St. John's is a school we are familiar with and we look forward to the competition. "
On facing St. John's in the first round:
"We are going to work really hard to play to the best of our ability. We have got to play our best if we are going to be in position to beat St. John's. They are an excellent team who is very well coached and they have had a phenomenal season and they are heavy favorites going into this."
On the health of LIU:
"I feel now we are actually healthy and we have been battling with that all year in terms of little chronic injuries. No major injuries but things where we had to limit people in practice. Now in the past few weeks we have finally hit our stride a little bit more in terms of having everyone on the court, being healthy, and being able to work on some of the things that we need.
Senior middle blocker Trevon Dyson
On being in the NCAA tournament:
"I was very excited and we are hoping to do better than we have in the past two years. As a senior I want to play the best I can and hopefully do something our program has never done and make it to the Sweet 16."
On playing at St. John's:
"This is really good for us in that we are very close and do not have to travel. We have had more of a chance to work hard in practice and be ready. We are really excited and we look forward to tomorrow's match."
On game-planning for the Red Storm:
"Our gameplan is to come in here and leave everything on the court. We have five seniors and there is no point in holding back. We don't want to play scared, we just want to be focused and play our game and play as a team."
Sophomore libero Svetlana Simic
On being in the NCAA tournament
"We were really excited, especially for our five seniors. After last year's performance we are even more excited to be here and hope to move on."
On the attitude of the team:
"We are ready to give one hundred percent and leave everything on the court. We hope to play the best we can and play a good game to show everyone what we can do."