NCAA Volleyball Postgame Quotes
Hawaii vs. Missouri (Dec. 9, 2005)

Hawaii head coach Dave Shoji

What was the turning point in game three?
¡°We had been playing real well and had a couple points, but we made three hitting errors in a row. That was disappointing because we had been playing real well.¡±

On the body language of the team during game four.
¡°I know our body language probably wasn¡¯t good. I don¡¯t think we gave up and we kept pushing. There was too much of a deficit.¡±

What made Missouri¡¯s Na Yang so hard to block?
¡°She¡¯s got great vision. Wherever we tried to take, she did the opposite. She didn¡¯t hit for a great percentage but she had a lot of kills. She could always see where we were trying to block it.¡±

How far do you think Missouri can advance in this tournament?
¡°You have to give them a chance tomorrow night. I don¡¯t know how Harmotto being out affects Penn State, but we¡¯ll see in the next match. I don¡¯t see a weakness in Missouri. We thought maybe they were not a good blocking team, but they got 16 blocks tonight. That¡¯s pretty good. They pass great and solid ball players. If they play spirited and error free, they will be in the match tomorrow night.¡±

If you had a chance to change something out there, what would it be?
¡°I think overall they made more plays than we did. It¡¯s pretty simple. Tactically, I¡¯ll be second-guessing myself as far as line-ups and substitutions. But in the heat of the battle you try to push buttons. I know I¡¯ll be hard on myself for some of the decisions I made during the match. I can¡¯t fault any of my players.¡±

What can you say about Missouri¡¯s coaches?
¡°I think you can see they are well organized and disciplined. They have a solid formation, especially defense. There were very few teams we played who played perfect perimeter defense. I was very impressed with their organization.¡±

Junior setter Kanoe Kamana¡¯o

How much of an impact was Missouri¡¯s blocking?
¡°They¡¯re a great blocking and defensive team. It was pretty hard for us to put balls down. They were digging up every single ball. They did a great job of reading our hitters and putting it in the right spot.¡±

When did you see the match pull away from you?
¡°I don¡¯t think there was a point where I saw the match pull away. We always knew we were going to play tough and not give the game away. We knew to take over what we could on our side of the court. Missouri did a great job of coming back.¡±

Sophomore middle hitter Victoria Prince

What made Missouri¡¯s Na Yang so hard to block?
¡°She¡¯s a great volleyball player, and she just kept hitting the same spot.¡±

Missouri head coach Wayne Kreklow

Opening statement:
¡°Obviously I was very pleased with the way we played tonight. We played really well in game one; we played with a lot of energy and emotion. I thought Hawaii did a great job in game two of taking us out of the system, they seemed really tough and the game slowed down. They¡¯ve got some really great players and they blocked well. I thought we did a good job in game three of re-grouping and trying to get back to the basics for us. The third game was pivotal and I felt whoever was going to take that one, if we could get that one, that was a big game and it would give us some momentum going into game four. In game four we got off to a great start, we had some tough serves and it kind of separated right at the beginning but I was really pleased at the way our kids hung on. And when Hawaii came back, we were able to hang on and pull that one out.¡±

How does it feel to beat Hawaii, knowing their program and tradition?
¡°Well we talked in the first press conference, we talked about the programs in Penn State and Hawaii, the traditional powerhouses and I think one, just to be here and get a chance to play those kind of people is really a great honor for us and for everybody in our program. And to be able to come in and actually win the match with over a team like Hawaii, it couldn¡¯t make me more proud of our players. They are a great team. And I would have to say this has to be one of the biggest nights in the program up to this point.¡±

How do you feel about the team¡¯s defense and how they blocked Hawaii?
¡°Well we¡¯ve been working on it really hard for the past couple of weeks. Just trying to get better at it and I think going into the tournament there are just some things that we normally do well consistently, but blocking was a part of the game where we were pretty consistent. And we worked really hard at doing some little things just to try to pick up a few blocks a game and I thought that these guys did a really great job of concentrating in practice and even a better job of taking that and carrying it over into a competitive situation because sometimes that¡¯s hard to do.¡±

What do you know about Penn State and Tennessee?
¡°You¡¯ve got two great teams, we saw Tennessee earlier in the season so we are a little bit more familiar with their personnel. You know Penn State is just a great volleyball team, they are really athletic very skilled, they don¡¯t have, well I guess when you get to this point, nobody really had major weaknesses, or you don¡¯t get this far. So whoever wins, this next match is surely going to be a challenge and we will go out and watch them as they play right now. Quite honestly, we haven¡¯t spent a lot of time worrying about the possible next opponent at this point, you do that basic scouting and such but in terms of really in-depth things we haven¡¯t really done, but they are a really great team, both of them.¡±

Senior setter Lindsey Hunter

What do you credit the win to?
¡°I think we did a really good job of staying aggressive and like Wayne said, that game three was a really pivotal moment and we kind of took that momentum and carried it over into the fourth game.¡±

What are your thoughts about the program and going where it has never gone before?
¡°I think its really cool to be a part of something that keeps getting better every year. This is my last year here at Mizzou and its definitely going to continue once I leave, but its just really an honor to be a part of this a big changing point of the program.¡±

Talk about the play of Na Yang¡­
¡°I had a lot of confidence in her tonight and I thought she did a really good job. She¡¯s a really good player and even if she gets blocked, she keeps swinging. So I have trust in every hitter on my team and that¡¯s just awesome to have.¡±

What can you say about the play of the middles?
¡°Well I think the timing was off a little bit, whether it was them or me and we weren¡¯t really clicking in the beginning. I think game two was the strongest and games three and four were just awesome with the middles. That is something that we stress in time outs, get the ball more in the middle, try to connect a little bit more, so I think it started coming along a little later in the game.¡±

Junior outside hitter Jessica Vander Kooi

What point of the game did you feel you had the victory locked up?
¡°I don¡¯t think we ever felt that way until maybe game point, Hawaii is a good enough team that they could come back in positions like that. And they did come back. We just had to keep focused on each ball at one point in time and not look too far in advance.¡±

Sophomore libero Tatum Ailes

What was it that did it for you in the game?
¡°I had a lot of inspirations, my parents were supposed to be here tonight and they both got stranded, so this is something I wanted to do for them.¡±