Dec. 1, 2007

Purdue Head Coach Dave Shondell

Opening Statement:

It was one of those matches that you really didn't want to have to watch if you are a coach, a fan or a player. It was not what I would have expected, but I think sometimes if you are going to play for high stakes, and have the goals and aspirations that we have, you are going to run into great teams like Cal Poly was tonight. I could sit here and tell you a lot about how bad we were in games one and two, but I think that it is important to give a lot of credit to Jon (Stevenson) and his team. They were much better prepared to play tonight than Purdue was and that was very obvious to anyone who watched the match tonight. Congratulations to them and I certainly think that they have a chance of advancing beyond the Stanford match. I think that team is awfully good. They are kind of sneaky good. They don't look like they have the great volleyball athletes, but they are so well-trained and they have a great system and we saw that tonight. I wish that we would have played a better match. I think that it would have been very entertaining to the crowd and I wish that we would have had more games like game three, where our team finally decided to go out and compete. But even then, Cal Poly was the better team.

On what he attributes his team's struggles in the first two games to:

I put a lot of it on the fact that they were very well-coached. We've had a couple of shortcomings all year. One of them has been in our serve reception spots, one of our backcourt spots, and they picked on that spot in game one. Some nights that spot has played well and on other nights, they haven't. Tonight, that position hurt us in game one and that kind of helped to set the tone a little bit. I don't know what the situation was with our setters tonight, but we have two really good younger setters, really talented setters. It wasn't their night tonight for a while - I felt bad for them myself, but just didn't know what exactly to do. As it wore on, they relaxed. It is a tough environment for a young kid, especially when things start to unravel. But our passing and setting was well below par in the first two games and those are two proven factors in this sport. I actually thought that we served the ball pretty well. Offensively, obviously they focused on a couple of key people, but even with that being said, we had to get more out of some of our veteran performers and that didn't happen.

On the play of Carrie Gurnell:

Carrie Gurnell ust really had a great weekend. About ten weeks ago, right before the Big Ten season started, we found out that she's got a torn labrum in her shoulder. We were close to her not playing this year and her having the surgery because we didn't know what she would be able to do. We would not be here today if she hadn't made the commitment to being able to play - there is no way we would have gotten here. She did that because she knew that the team needed her. It would have benefited her more if she had not played and sat out the year and had three more years to play. She made that commitment and then to see her go out and play the way she did this weekend and show everyone that she is an All-American-level athlete, it was very satisfying to me, because it worked out as well as I could have hoped as far as that is concerned.

Purdue's Kelli Miller

On how Cal Poly started strong in the first two games:

From the start, their serving game was really strong. They were mixing it up short and deep going at us. We had a two-man serve receive and they were going at all of our weaknesses. That caught us a little off guard at the start. They were just strong hitting. They kept coming at us, kept coming at us and never really gave us a chance to get into our offense and we didn't respond very well after that until after games one and two.

Purdue's Carrie Gurnell

On Cal Poly's ability to neutralize her in on the offensive set:

They were very good today with their blocking. They also knew that my power shot is hitting from an angle, so they tried to take that away from me. They knew I wasn't as confident hitting line - as you can tell, I hit a couple out. I think that they also did a good job of defending the shorter tips.

Cal Poly Head Coach Jon Stevenson

Opening statement:

We are on cloud nine right now, representing the Big West in the Sweet Sixteen. I think that a lot of people thought we were supposed to make it there and I think that for this team, my main point would be that we are looking to play at a certain level and not looking at what round we make. We think that we can beat any team in the country. If we play at the right level and at the right time, we can go as far as this run might take us. We're really excited for these girls because they've worked very hard and are playing really well at the right time.

On the game plan against Purdue:

One of the keys to beating Purdue was to deal with their serve-receive formation. They change throughout, but there is a bit of trend going on. There are a number of teams in the Big Ten that play with two passers. We played Kansas State early in the year and they played with two passers. It is not easy, almost like playing against someone who is cramping. You know that you have an advantage, but you don't know how much. You have to really execute well to exploit the advantage, but that can really turn the other way in that you can focus too much in spreading passers out. It was specifically - very important for us to serve very aggressively and to try serve the right person and to move them around. You are trying to make it difficult for them to pass a good ball. We are among the best serving teams in the country and I think that we have a varied rhythm to our serving. It is difficult on our opponents.

On his team's play against a Big Ten team:

If you look at the scores of the first two games - 30-12, 30-14 - against a really tough team, that is just amazing and it is a testimony to how well these girls are playing. I feel like we are hitting our stride at the right time. I do believe that this team could beat anyone.

On playing in the NCAA:

Coming into this weekend, it was about continuing the role that we have been on. We've won 18 or 19 matches and 12 in a row. We've gotten better and better and better. It is very easy in this kind of environment for that momentum to be compromised, but our kids didn't let that happen.

On being in the Sweet Sixteen:

I feel like this is where my team belongs. I think that we have the talent and I think that we work hard and I think that we work on the right things. It feels really great to be in the Sweet Sixteen. I think that we have worked to earn a place in that echelon of volleyball and I think that we deserve this.

Cal Poly's Kylie Atherstone

On her first reaction to realizing that Cal Poly had advanced:

The first thing that I thought of is that this is exactly what we have been working for all year. We had some troubles in the beginning and we fought through those and fought through our season to make it to this place. I think that I am so fortunate to be here because we worked so hard for this. Everyone on the team participated. For our whole team to work hard and be here is amazing, it is really special.

On her team's play this weekend:

I feel like we really elevated our level of play this weekend. We knew that we wanted to come out and get it done. We were really excited to come here to Ohio and really play in a different environment and we liked the gym and it was fun.

Cal Poly's Gaby Rivera

On how together her team played:

Overall, we have amazingly talented players on this team. It's not just the outsides, but we also have middle blockers that contribute so much to the offense. I think that we worry other teams because they don't know where the ball is going to go. They don't know who they are going to have to block. Kylie is a huge asset to this team, but everyone else is also a key player during the game.

On how the team has rebounded from a tough start to the season:

Early in the year was a really rough start for us. We had several team meetings and established our goals. During the season, we started to go uphill and we started to see everything that we could give on the court. Right now, our goal is to get to the Final Four at least. Right now, like Jon said, we are on cloud nine and we are just going to keep going until we reach our goal.