December 09, 2005
The 3rd-seeded Washington Huskies are one win away from their second straight Final Four appearance after a 30-25, 30-19, 30-20 win over No. 14-seed Purdue Friday evening in the NCAA Volleyball College Station regional semifinal at G. Rollie White Coliseum on the Texas A&M campus.
The Huskies (29-1), who have not lost a game since their only match loss of the season on Nov. 12 at UCLA, advanced to meet No. 11-seed Wisconsin in Saturday's regional final. The Boilermakers (25-9) saw their season come to an end after making their first round of 16 appearance since 1982.
Washington trailed just once in the entire match when it lost the first point of game three. Purdue's best chance to take a game came in the first frame when the Boilermakers trailed 26-24, before UW scored four of the next five points to take the game.
For the match, UW out-hit Purdue .315 to .229. Each team posted seven blocks.
Sophomore outside hitter Christal Morrison led all attackers with 19 kills. Pac-10 Player of the Year Sanja Tomasevic hit .414 with 14 kills while Brie Haggerty added 10.
Stephanie Lynch was Purdue's only player in double figures with 14 while hitting .500 and adding four blocks.
No. 14 Seed PURDUE Post-Match Quotes
PURDUE
Dave Shondell ?- Head Coach
Opening Statement?...
?It?â„¢s disappointing when your season ends, especially when your season ends with a great group of players like we had. We weren?â„¢t very good four years ago, and we turned into a pretty good team. It?â„¢s because of the attitude and the commitment that our players made. We?â„¢re not happy to lose a match, but I believe that the University of Washington was one of three teams that, at the beginning of the year, I thought could win a national championship. One of the others got beat tonight, so I believe (Washington) has a great chance to advance on. The (Wisconsin) Badgers will have their hands full against one really talented volleyball team. It?â„¢s just disappointing to lose, but we?â„¢re proud of the way we played tonight and the way we played all season. Despite some adversity throughout the season, we advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, which is something that our team has not for a long time. We?â„¢ve got a lot of young players. I think we?â„¢ll continue to improve. We?â„¢re just very proud of the way the kids played tonight.?
On Match-up Problems ?...
?The biggest problem we had tonight is we didn?â„¢t pass-serve very well. We felt if we could play to our strengths, which was serving, passing and playing defense that we could stay in the contest with them. We felt like we had to go with a bigger lineup tonight, but it took a little of our ball control away. We didn?â„¢t have a choice. We couldn?â„¢t compete with their size and experience without that. I thought defensively we played very, very well. I was very proud of the way we played. Our blocking scheme was outstanding. We hung in there defensively. We just didn?â„¢t pass the ball like we normally do.?
On Toughness ?...
?I think that?â„¢s one of the characteristics of our team. We?â„¢re pretty tough. We had three ACL injuries this year that kept three probable starters out of the lineup all year. We filled those spots with freshmen and sophomores. Most of the year we played a 5?â„¢6?â„¢?â„¢ backcourt player all the way around. We never gave up against anybody. I think if you talk to people who play us, we play with a lot of heart and determination. We have a lot of confidence in what we do. We believe in our system.?
Renata Dargan ?- Sr. S
?This program is going to be great the next few years with the recruits they have coming in. The players we?â„¢ve had this past season didn?â„¢t play like freshmen and sophomores. This truly was a season that was a great way to finish my senior year. Everybody rose to the occasion. Looking back, I don?â„¢t think anybody would have expected it. If you would have asked me four years ago if I?â„¢d be sitting here talking after a Sweet Sixteen match, I probably wouldn?â„¢t have expected it. It?â„¢s bittersweet for me. I?â„¢m done, but at the same time I?â„¢m really proud to say that I took part in this.?
Stephanie Lynch ?- Fr. MH
On The Size Match-up ?...
? It was tough because we play a lot of big teams in the Big Ten, but they just have good players all the way around. They don?â„¢t have a weakness. Their outside hitters are really good. I thought overall tonight we did a pretty good job defensively trying to defend them, but they just had a lot of talent all the way around.?
No. 3 Seed WASHINGTON Post-Match Quotes
WASHINGTON
Jim McLaughlin ?- Head Coach
Opening Statement?...
?Purdue was awfully good. The (Notre Dame-Wisconsin) match was a dog-fight, and it took us a while to settle into our offensive rhythm (after the five-game match preceding Washington-Purdue) . Then we did and we were okay. Our serve receive was awfully good. We were passing the ball at a very high level which allowed Courtney (Thompson) to do the things she needed to do. Purdue came out a little differently than we thought they would, and it took us a while to get on those tendencies, but when we locked onto to what we wanted to do, we were really good points wise.?
On his team?â„¢s prolific offense?...
?When we?â„¢re passing well, we just have options and there are a lot of hitters coming at you. Courtney did a nice job of pretty even distribution. Even I didn?â„¢t know where we were going sometimes and I thought she kept them off balance.?
On the Elite Eight match up with Wisconsin ?...
?They are very good. We?â„¢ll get into the details tonight. They have some weapons and good fire power. They have a good coach. They?â„¢re good, but we?â„¢re good, too. We have some weapons, too. We?â„¢ll figure it out tonight, but we?â„¢ve got some work ahead of us. (Our players) need to rest.?
Christal Morrison ?- Sophomore Outside Hitter
On her play against Purdue ?...
?Courtney set the ball really well tonight. She spread the offense out and I think that was because our passing was so good. I felt good and comfortable at the beginning. I made some mistakes I usually don?â„¢t make, which was frustrating. But we?â„¢ll come out tomorrow and focus on making those mistakes again.?
Sanja Tomasevic ?- Senior Outside Hitter
On the team?â„¢s mindset coming into the match ?...
?We stepped on the court thinking there was one more thing to take care of tonight and we played one game at a time. We weren?â„¢t thinking about sweeping them in three. We were just thinking about playing our best. They came out strong, and it was a dogfight in the first game. But we caught some energy and that kept us going through the end.?