May 1, 2009
Recap |
Final Stats
2009 EIVA Championship Semifinal #2, April 30, 2009
Penn State def. George Mason, 3-0
Penn State Post-Match Quotes
Head Coach Mark Pavlik
"I thought this was a really good way to open up EIVA playoffs for us against a team that we have a lot of respect for. Mason's been here in this position many times. I think we all know that they can do some damage. I thought tonight Edgardo (Goas) did a really nice job of pumping balls to the antenna. The way Max (Holt) started the match with his serving start just really set a tone for us to be really physical with the ball. I was really pleased."
Service errors are usually a problem for you guys but tonight it didn't seem that way. How does it feel to have Max (Holt) back there?
"We'd like to have our percentage of missed serves down to about 14% and that's about where we're at. I think these guys are doing a pretty good job of recognizing that they don't want to be behind the line and cost our team chances to score. Serving is the one chance where you can be a little selfish and score those points. I think these guys have really matured into realizing what they need to do behind the line. At some point, during the game, they're going to get on a roll and bring some heat."
Joe Sunder had 15 kills tonight. How do you think he did?
"I think that they were trying to take away Max (Holt) and Max (Lipsitz) from us and Joe had some good sets and pretty good swings. Max (Holt) will tell you that when you pick someone up one-on-one, it's easier to play. When the middles are facing three blockers, that's when you need those outside hitters."
Juniata might be a little worn out on Saturday. Do you think that will be an advantage for you?
"This Juniata team is the best Juniata team I've seen. They came in had a match against Saint Francis that could have easily gone either way. I think they're realizing that they are the first Division III team that is essentially in a national quarterfinal match. I think they're realizing that they have the chance to make something happen and make history. We're not going to change anything that we do."
How important do you think it will be to get on Juniata early in the match?
"That's a bonus but I think more important is to stay physical over time and wear them down. At the beginning of matches, teams stay focused and then all the sudden something will happen to bring the momentum. We're tough to score on and I think that's what wears a team down. They try to do everything they can and then try to do more, but they can't get that same effect. If Max (Holt) wants to get us a big lead early, I certainly wouldn't object."
Senior middle hitter Max Holt
You started with four aces in the first six points of the match. Do you ever start to wonder how many you can get?
"I'll be honest. The only thing that gets in my head is how many points we can get. But I do think about it a little at the beginning of the match."
What does Dennis Del Valle mean to the team?
"A lot of people don't realize that the plays he makes aren't that easy. He's like our safety net back there."
Junior outside hitter Will Price
You got a few sets where you had an open court. What's that like?
"It's a lot of fun. There's a lot of stuff that I've been working on with my shot selection. But when you get out there and the shots you want to hit are wide open, that's when it's fun playing volleyball. Edgardo (Goas) made great set selection and that's why we had so much open court. He's running our offense around these guys, which is what we're looking for. And bouncing balls in front of defenders is fun."
Sometimes in the EIVAs you get to cruise along, but it didn't seem that way tonight. How did you feel working so hard in the playoffs?
"It's definitely more exciting so obviously we're going to punish our opponent and give them everything we've got. It's that time of year. These last couple matches are what we've been getting ready for. It's just a different level of focus. Every point is just as important as the one before it and the one after it. That's how we have to play against Juniata on Saturday. If we're going to accomplish the goals we've set, then that's the level of focus we have to maintain."
What was it like for you to play against George Mason tonight?
"I played one year at Mason. It's great seeing some of the guys and getting to play volleyball with some of my friends from there, but that was two years ago. I'm a Nittany Lion now and I have been for a while now. Playing volleyball with my friends is fun and that's what we get to do every day."
What does Dennis Del Valle mean to the team?
"The yelling. He just runs into cover, yelling. He's just an intense player and he brings that intensity to us. He was passing great tonight. He gets me pumped up to play. The digs that he makes get these guys some swings in transition ... those are the game-changing points. He's just an intense player."
George Mason Post-Match Quotes
Head Coach Fred Chao
"We got beat pretty bad tonight. We couldn't match up to their power. The statistics, they just verify that. You guys all saw the match, it was a bit of a bludgeoning. That's the way it goes sometimes. They have a lot of guys that are big, strong, powerful. You know, I'm happy that we got here. We had to pull off a couple of upsets to get here. So we're not going to hang our heads now. We made it here. We put up the best fight we could. We'll get back and get back at I next year for most of us."
What was the game plan coming in to tonight?
"Well, we were trying to block the shots that they could hit with a lot of heat. Which is depending on which way they were drifting, we wanted to take care of those balls, but we just didn't do a very good job. We didn't serve tough enough to make it difficult to set them. We didn't serve enough balls to make them have to do it over and over again so that we could get a little bit more practice as the match went on. If they're passing well and the Max's are up in the air, they're extremely difficult to stop."
What do you think of Max Holt's service game and what do you do against it?
"You hope that things fall into place for you. That you're in the right place at the right time, in the right posture. You hope that the ball pings off of you so that we can do something with it. It's hard to read, it comes very fast, it's a lot of power to try to control. Holt can move it around, it's not like he just locks in on one area so we can start to concentrate it. He'll move it down one line, he'll move it down the other line, move it in between the gaps and the seams with a lot of heat. No one else serves like that."
What's it like for you guys mentally when Penn State sides out so much?
"The reality is that they are one of the best teams in the country. This year we're not. Them siding out at that clip is just a reality of their performance level. So you go into this match knowing that they are at that level. You're surprised if they start making mistakes and are not siding out at that level. What's frustrating is not being able to control that first touch enough times so that we can just get some quality swings. We didn't get enough quality swings, enough times to make it challenging. Any team, I don't care who you are, if you feel enough pressure you'll start to break down. But, we are just not at a position to put any pressure on them."
What does a team have to do to beat Penn State?
"They need to serve lights out. They need to serve extremely well. They need to bring a lot of heat from the service line. It can't just be a float serve. They need to bring tough jump serves. If you can throw them a little bit out of system and you're big enough to block them, then you have a chance."
Senior outside hitter Kyle Gramit
How much different is this loss than the ones in the past?
"Well definitely, because it's my last match, it was a lot more meaningful to me, but every time you end your season, you feel bad. Especially the way we lost this time. They're bigger and they can side out. It's hard to win a match if you can't side out and put balls away."
What's it like for you guys mentally when Penn State sides out so much?
"It definitely puts you down a little bit. You're trying to do what you can with the pass and if we even get a good pass, a good set, it's hard to get past the big block, and if we do, they dug it a lot on us. Then they just come back at you. It's definitely not a good feeling seeing what they can do compared to what we can do."
