Sept. 22, 2008
Recap | Final Stats
Head Coach Arlisa Williams On the quick turnaround from the Wildcat Classic... "No excuses, no complaining. We came out and we won in three and that's the bottom line. When you look at the stats we hit .305, we had 63 digs, we had five aces, so we were able to do some good things out there. We weren't as crisp as we needed to be, but it's going to be a long season and if we don't learn how to be crisp all the time it's going to be a long and unpleasant season."
On battling back in the second set...
"I think that's something our team has shown all year, in that when the chips are down they are going to come out with their dukes up and that's exactly what they did. They had their backs against the wall and they did exactly what they needed to do to execute."
On Sara Manley's play in the second set...
"That was huge for us. We're always excited when she plays well. A lot of balls are going to go to the outside and for her to be able to terminate, as well as the rest of the team when we have those long rallies, we've had some difficulties in those areas, so to see what we did tonight was a good thing."
On Kiersten McKoy in the starting lineup...
"Kiersten is a workhorse. She loves to play, she loves to be on the court and when she gets the opportunity she takes advantage of it."
Senior Captain Caitlin Boland
On the strong defensive play of Howard University...
"I'm not surprised, they've always been fighters, but they deserve a lot of respect they not only fought hard, but they played well and dug everything. It's frustrating to play a team that plays defense that well."
On playing behind in the second set...
"We all knew we needed to take that set. We didn't want to go into the split on even ground and give up the momentum, so we wanted to make up those three points then instead of having to make up another full game."
On the hitters...
"They hit great. The numbers show they just took some great swings against a really good defense."
Freshman Outside Hitter Sara Manley
On her strong second set...
"I think we got comfortable with the lead and let them back in, but we did a really good job finishing the set."
On the team's mentality...
"We just have that mentality where we play to win and were really aggressive at the end of the sets and I think it paid off."
