Head Coach Rob Patrick

Opening Statement:

"We're very excited to be here. I think a lot of people doubted us at the beginning of the year. I think we played a very tough schedule and I thought that tough schedule enabled us to do the things that we wanted to do to be successful at the end of the year. We're excited to play Penn State. We know they're a great team. They're physical, they're very well-coached, and we're looking forward to playing tomorrow."

On the first thing he notices about the Penn State squad:

"Their size. They're just big. They present a lot of problems at the net for any of the teams they play. When I watch film of them, I just see a lot of teams making hitting errors and you wonder why. But once you figure out that they have a 6-5 player, two 6-3 players, a 6-2 player all the way around, you realize that people are just trying to stay away from the size they have at the net. Maybe the only team we've seen this season comparable is Louisville. Louisville is the same size as Penn State. Florida might not be as tall all the way around but they're athletic where they play above the net at the same height that Penn State does. So we have seen some teams that have presented the same type of height and physical-ness at the net. One of the things we did at the beginning of the year is play some of these teams and I think that has prepared us for what we might see against Penn State."

On Penn State freshman outside hitter Nicole Fawcett:

"What's impressive is that she has the statistics that she has against the caliber of competition she's facing. That's what's impressive. Everyone knows that she's going to get the ball and she really hasn't gone through the weightlifting and strength training that I know she's going to get in her career at Penn State. For her to be that successful, that's something that I'm very impressed with. She could have picked anywhere she wanted to go to school, obviously, and she picked a great school with a great tradition and great coaching, and that's something that we're building at Tennessee. These young ladies have really put Tennessee on the map. We're one of only nine schools that have made it to the sweet 16 two years in a row and we got to host two years in a row, so we at Tennessee owe a great debt to these players and the players that have come in over the last couple of years to build our program up and get some tradition here, which we haven't had. In the future, I think that will lead to landing a player like Nicole Fawcett at Tennessee. But I wouldn't trade any of these kids for anybody in the country."

On the biggest challenges facing them tomorrow:

"There's going to be two things. We're going to have to try to figure out a way to slow Penn State down. Their top hitters are hitting over .300 and they're hitting those percentages against very good competition. The other thing is, we have to figure out a way to negate their physical-ness at the net. With the matches that we've played in the SEC, we have some very good teams in the SEC and something that we're real proud of is that six teams from the SEC got in [to the NCAA Tournament]. I thought they deserved it. They're physical teams. And then we went out of conference and played some physical teams. Missouri, who is here, we played earlier in the year. Louisville, who is in the regionals, Florida is a top-five team every year. So it's not something we're going to be intimidated by but it's something that we have to watch and figure out a way to slow them down. You're not going to stop Penn State. If we can try to figure out a way to slow them down a bit and we can sideout, those are two of the things we're going to have to do against them."

On the crowd during the match with Penn State:

"We've played some very good teams on their home court. Notre Dame, Louisville, Florida. You name it, we've gone there and played in front of them. These kids, they don't even know. I think half the time they think that the crowd is cheering for them, even though we're playing an away match. This team has seen it all and there isn't anything that is going to intimidate them. They've been in the lion's den, having people calling them names and crowd yelling at them when they're serving and they've done it for four years and I think they're really going to block all of that out and play some great volleyball."

On what he will be looking for out of the match, besides a win:

"One thing I look for every time we play, we're the type of team that just plays hard all the time. Every match we play, it's just there all the time. That's something that I expect now from these players. They just go in, they play as hard as they can, they leave their heart out on the court, and that's all we've ever asked them to do. To go out and give 100%. What's really neat about our team is that each of the players could have an off day and we could still be successful on the court because of the depth that we finally have in our program. That's something about our team that I really enjoy. We can have someone have an off day and we can have a team shut down Kristen [Andre] or Sarah [Blum] and we can still be successful because of the other players we have in our program. I love watching this team play. I've had so many people come up to me and tell me that they enjoy watching this team play more than any team they have ever watched, and they are very emotional. They play that way."

On senior libero Amy Morris returning to play at Penn State after she transferred to Tennessee following her freshman season at PSU:

"Amy is excited. I know a lot of people are trying to make a big deal about her being here. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. We're really excited that she came to Tennessee. She has friends on the Penn State team. It's a situation that we're in the sweet 16 and we have the opportunity to advance further into the tournament, so she's excited about that. But then she also wanted to come back to Penn State and play. She enjoyed some of the things, a lot of the things, that happened here. From what I can tell, she's excited to be here."

Senior middle hitter Kristen Andre

On the size of Penn State:

"My family is pretty tall. I personally like going up against a challenge. Them being really, really big and me being small compared to them, I like a challenge and I think it's going to be fun to play against them tomorrow."

On Penn State freshman outside hitter Nicole Fawcett:

"I've never really seen her play, but I know one of our players [freshman libero Chelsea Noble] has played with her so what we know is what Chelsea tells us and from the little clips we've seen on film."

On how the middles are going to try to approach the match with Penn State:

"I think we have a good mix. Sarah [Blum] is more of a big block and I'm more of a quick offense. For us to kind of pick up the other part of our game, I think that's going to be key. Especially when you're getting into the regional matches. It's really important to start picking up parts of your play."

Senior setter Julie Knytych

On the pressure of the match:

"In general I'm more of a pressure player anyhow, so I'd rather play in big games. Under pressure I think I perform better than when I'm not under a lot of pressure just because I like the intense atmosphere. I think it's going to be really exciting for our team to play in front of a huge crowd and we're all really excited about it. Coming into this match, we've all got an advantage over Big Ten teams because to us, Penn State is just another team. But to teams in the Big Ten, they can be more intimidated by Penn State. We're not too worried about Penn State the name, we're just worried about what they are as a team and how they play. We're all really excited and it's going to be a fun game. I don't think there's really that feeling of pressure or nervousness."

On facing Penn State setter Sam Tortorello:

"I used to play against Sam in high school and club and we would play almost every weekend. It's not really that big of a deal to me, to be honest with you. I'm not really worried about people having names and people doing anything. I think the biggest statistic you can have as a team is a win, so that's what we're looking for as a team."

On the crowd during the match with Penn State:

"The crowd is going to be good for us. I think we can feed off the crowd. The boos and stuff, if there's any of that, that's just going to make us want to beat them even more."