Dec. 7, 2007

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2007 NCAA Volleyball Championship
Post-Regional Semifinal
Penn State/Michigan Press Conference
Friday, December 7, 2007

Penn State

Head Coach Russ Rose
Opening Statement
I thought it was a good match for us this evening. I thought we handled the ball well. Other than the last half of a dozen points of the match where we got blocked three or four times. I thought we did some of the things that we prepared to do against Michigan. We were familiar with some of the things that they were going to do. Every team that gets to this situation is playing good volleyball. It was a match where we needed to play well. I thought we did a nice job offensively. Not a lot of scary moments in the match this evening. We were in control by the middle of all three games and did a nice job blocking. It was a good match. Roberta did a nice job digging and I was pleased with what I saw from our side of the net.

You always hope for a good atmosphere, talk about the crowd tonight.
I thought it was great. The crowd was great. I thought there was a great crowd for the first match, which is nice because I've been to a lot of regionals where in the first match there are only 50 people watching and the crowd doesn't come until the home team plays. I was very appreciative of the fact that our fans were supportive of the first match as well as providing great energy for the night-cap.

Did your familiarity with Michigan help?
You never know how people are going to play. We had a good game plan and I thought we did a real nice job. A great deal of it was where we were supposed to be positioned for blocking and digging. Last time we played Michigan, we had a very bad serving evening and we enabled them the chance to extend the match. They've got some veteran players, some good arms, and a great setter. It was important for us to make a statement early and give the crowd some excitement. I felt like we did those things.

What did you think of the service game?
I thought we did a nice job serving. We had eight aces and eight errors. A couple of times I asked people to back off of the serve a little bit because they didn't need to use it since we were in control. It's silly to burn yourself out since we need to play another important match tomorrow. When we're serving well, we have the chance to establish our block in a little better position. If Megan would take my request and go back there hit the ball as hard as she could, we'd have a little something going on here. But for some reason she likes that 50-foot roll shot. I don't have to say anything because I know her mom and dad are here so that's the first thing they'll say.

Kate took a pretty nice dive into the stands...
It's interesting. In the first match, a girl from Middle Tennessee made a great defensive play. I said to our team, 'you know, we don't have anybody who ever does that.' And they're like, 'oh yeah?" (laughter). So Katie looked for a couple young guys and just flew on out there (laughter). Body surfing is nothing new for Katie Price. So it was nice. The crowd liked it. She didn't get hurt, so I liked it. The ball was in play and that's nice. The crowd gets excited about things like that, surprising. As they do as rock concerts, they do at sporting events.

Were you glad for a timeout after Katie's play to settle her down?
I think the team was happy. They were playing hard and getting good results. Young kids should have the opportunity to have fun like that.

Did your team play their best match of the season so far?
No, I don't think it was our best match. We did some things very well. It's always different. You have a big crowd and you're going to play a little harder and have more fun when things are going well. The way we ended the game wasn't very good and that's what I remember. They ended up with five blocks and got three of them in the last four sets. You let your guard down like that in rally scoring and a number of things can happen. We were fortunate to win despite the fact we got a little careless.

#7 Arielle Wilson, Fr., MH
How exciting, as a freshman, was this for you?
This was so exciting. Just the chance to get to play in Regionals and it's exciting for me because I never dreamed of this happening. It was amazing.

Were things predictable in setting up blocks?
Last time we didn't block the slide as much. So this time it was a benefit because we knew they would run the slide a lot and block on the outside. So it was easy.

#11 Megan Hodge, So., OH
How big of a boost did the crowd give you right out of the gates?
They were great tonight. I think everybody was just excited for the match and had a lot of energy. I think we fed a lot off of that.

Offensively, did you have Michigan fooled?
I think that's more Alisha Glass than me. She and the middles are holding the block and making good sets. If she sees a block then she sets me the ball. I don't think it has as much to do with me, I'm going to be ready to hit. That's more the setter and the middles. (Coach Rose): I think she hit a few over the block. And that's her.

You've mentioned how the offense has sped up a lot. How much of a weapon is that?
I think it's a big weapon. Especially with a team like BYU tomorrow that does the swing blocking and having balls go pin to pin every play. It's hard to get out there. I think, with Michigan tonight, we took advantage of that too. It's just running balls to the pins and making sure that we're really hitting.

Michigan

Head Coach Mark Rosen
Opening Statement
You will like the sound of this: Penn State is phenomenal. Tell the media they can run with that, they are very good. I give them all of the credit in the world. They played extremely well tonight. We have seen them twice before live, we have seen them on tape numerous times this year. They are playing their best ball of the season right now. There is not question about that. They were a buzz saw tonight. I give them a tremendous amount of credit. They did a lot of things to frustrate us. We tried to make adjustments throughout the night. I don't think it was because our players couldn't make adjustments, but I think they had a lot of answers and I give them a ton of credit. The first time we broke open any type of run was right there at the end of the match and that is a credit to Penn State. I am really proud of our team, they fought hard all night. It is really hard to see that when the score is as broad as it became, but I don't think that is a reflection of our team giving up, getting frustrated, or stopping, that was reflection on Penn State. I am really proud of our team, not just for tonight, but for what they have done all year long. It has been one of the most fun teams to coach, one of the fastest seasons, and seasons can drag sometimes, but not this season because I enjoy coaching this team and watching what they can do as a group.

How frustrating was their block for you guys?
I think their block is really related to their serving. They served as well as I have seen a team serve all year, and we are a good passing team. That is something we have been able to hang our hats on all year and I think they served us extremely well. Blocking is a product of that, we started limiting our offense on what we can do or running the offense from 10, 12 feet off of the net, that block becomes a lot better. I think they certainly set up their block well with how they served.

What caused your team to make more errors then you usually do?
Penn State. They caused the errors. They blocked 16.5 balls. They served tough. I don't think our team was unprepared, I don't think they played poorly. I think Penn State forced them into a lot of errors. That is what a team will do, when you are playing as well as Penn State is doing.

What changed at the end of the game for you guys to go on that streak?
Momentum is the big thing. We got some momentum going, and it looked like we got rolling a little bit.

Was there anything from Penn State that you were not expecting?
They really didn't do anything new. That is something we have said about Penn State. They do what they do, and they plan to do it better then you. Tonight, they did what they did. They ran the same things, they didn't do anything we were surprised by, they just did everything really well tonight, their ball control, their serving, their passing. They were at the top of their game, it was clicking. They are a team that when they are on their system they have people coming at you from everywhere. We kind of joked about it in the last rotation that, 'hey we have the perfect rotation for them; we have Brown on the right side, Harmotto in the middle, and Hodge on the outside, just the perfect rotation to run points.' We were being sarcastic because, that is a pretty good rotation. That is what they bring at you. If they are hitting at all cylinders it is pretty hard to affect that. They just did what they did and they did it well.

Is there any team that can beat Penn State?
I haven't seen them all. I know Nebraska is very physical, Stanford is very physical, Texas is very physical. Those teams are all at a comparable level to Penn State. But, the way they are playing right now they are not just physical, they are extremely skilled. I certainly bet on them and I think they are going to represent our conference very well.

Did you see a difference from Penn State in today's game then in the past time you have seen them? Did they just step it up this time around?
I think they were much more consistent then they have been. They were very steady. They didn't make that many errors, they made 26 errors for the match in all categories and to this point they have been averaging 11, 12 errors per game. They were well below their error number, which tells you how consistent they played. The term 'fired up' is a good term. They were very focused, I thought, they were very steady. I think they have kind of gone in and out at times this year, and they seem to be playing their best volleyball right now. They were not in and out at all tonight. They were at a pretty competitive level all night.

#14 Lyndsay Miller, Sr., MH
What changed at the end of the game for you guys to go on that streak?
I mean the whole game we were putting it all out there but the last five points we just said 'you know what at least lets end on a good note.' I think that is the main thing and we just went after it hard core. We were going hard all game, I just think we wanted to finish on a good note, let's finish playing Michigan volleyball.

#1 Katie Bruzdzinski, Sr., OH
Did you expect the atmosphere and the intensity from Penn State?
I expected them to play really well tonight and I think we all did. They have always had good crowds when we come here so, obviously tonight they had more fans but, yeah that is what I expected.

It seemed in the third game you guys were getting down on yourselves. Do you think that was due to frustration?
I don't think we were really getting down on ourselves. We were just trying to think of ways to do something different and maybe get on them a little bit more. I think that some people came out and we started different things and I think that helped a little bit. I don't think we ever gave up on ourselves at all during the match.

#16 Kerry Hance, Jr., DS
Did you see a difference from Penn State in today's game then in the past time you have seen them? Did they just step it up this time around?
They just seemed more fired up. Being in the Regional Semifinal is a huge deal and it seemed that they came out fired up and the crowed helped them out. They obviously didn't have that many people before-hand in the last two matches but, it seemed like they were just out of control.