St. John's University Athletics
NCAA Second Round Post Game Quotes
12/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 2, 2007
QUEENS, N.Y. - St. John's Post Game Quotes
Head Coach Joanne Persico-Smith
On heading to the Sweet 16:
"It is a dream come true and I am blessed to be here. Since the first day I arrived on campus, everyone has been as supportive as a family and that is what St. John's is. What really makes this special is all the people that have been here since the beginning that were here tonight. This is just a great moment that I will remember for the rest of my life."
On hosting the first two rounds:
"We had record breaking draws and great people working the games. We are proud of the presentation of this event. We put out a top notch, professional event both nights.
On turning it around against Delaware:
"We put some subs in which helped until our blocking came alive. We did not make as many serving errors as we did early on and we put the ball in play. Our Libero had 30 digs and was fantastic. She was the steadiest players over the past two days and really kept us in it."
Senior Outside Hitter LaToya Blunt
On facing an early deficit:
"There have been a lot of games where we have been down, but coach has told us to not get frazzled and to push through because they are a good team and they are not just going to give it to us."
On being in the Sweet 16:
"It is amazing. Never in a million years did I think we would be at this point. I am just glad that we are here with this team and I would not change a thing."
On playing against Delaware:
"They are an amazing team. They fought hard the whole time. They started the game off tough and played with us the whole time."
Senior Setter Wioleta Leszczynska
On changing the momentum:
"I think that the second game was very important for us. When we won that game, it gave us momentum and we started pushing forward. We were close with Delaware the whole time, but after that point we believed we could win."
On facing an early deficit:
"I knew that we had to play one point at a time. Once we started getting points back and got closer to Delaware we started to get our confidence back. I never believe that it is over. I always try to think positively. Even if we are down by a lot, we know we can come back.
Junior Outside Hitter Valeria Kovaleva
On stepping up in the game:
"I told Wioleta to set me again and she did. I was ready to hit the ball hard and I got the kill."
Delaware Post-Game Quotes
Head Coach Bonnie Kenny
Opening Statement:
"I'd first like to congratulate St. John's and thank their administrations for their support of this tournament and the sport overall. I felt it was run very well, very professionally and they were welcoming. It's emotional because it was an absolutely stellar season and I was fortunate to be the coach. As hard as the team played tonight, is as hard as they train everyday and that's what makes them pretty good. I thought the experience on the other side of the net was obviously the difference. I'm proud of my team, I'm proud of our program, I'm proud of our administration for helping Delaware volleyball get to where we are. It was a well-played volleyball match and they were a little better than we were. They beat us; I don't think we lost the game.
On playing against Hui Ping Huang:
"We knew where she was on the court. Sometimes it doesn't matter what you know though. They moved her to the right side but Dennehy lit it up over there. We went into this match saying that whatever we do on our attack we're going to consider it a kill if they don't run their middle attack. I thought when we stayed patient it frustrated them. As good as they are, when we frustrated them we were patient."
On playing against their first nationally ranked opponent:
"We talk about how everyone put their spandex on the same way but I tell you that we're not that far away and it makes us feel pretty good. I hurt for them because I'd love to coach them for another week. If someone would have asked us if we would be in this position at the beginning of the season and have the season we had, I would have chuckled."
Megan Welch
On losing an 18-10 advantage:
"I think we were running a fast offense and executing our game plan. We were stopping their middles and forcing other people to step up. We were a little rattled because they made some great plays and ended up taking the lead."
On the season:
"As a senior, its sad to go out but I'm proud of this team and this program on where we've gone."
Michelle LaLonde
On losing an 18-10 advantage:
"I think Meagan hit the ball well, I don't think she stuck to one person, she distributed the ball well to make it hard for St. John's to know where the ball is going."
Katie Dennehy
On the season:
"It's an awesome team. Everyone loves the sport and loves each other."
