Dec. 4, 2010

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Stanford Head Coach John Dunning
Opening Statement

I'd like to congratulate Colorado State on a great season. I have a lot of respect for them and I'm really happy we're sitting here. I'm very happy for Cassidy. She's had a great senior season along with the rest of her teammates. This was really a good win. This was a team that had 26 blocks last night. They're one of the best blocking teams in the country. That we had more blocks than them tonight was a really good thing for our team. Now we move on to the next step. We've got a few final exams and papers to take care of, and then on to the next match.

On Cassidy Lichtman...

When we recruited Cass, she was already just a player. She had a really high IQ, and she talks and thinks about volleyball a lot, perhaps more than a typical player. What you want is someone like that to touch the ball consistently, and that's what she's done for us her whole career. There are very few players like her, and so what a joy to coach her and have her in this program.

On Ohio State...

We know that Ohio State comes from a great volleyball conference. The Big Ten has been really good for a long time. They play a tough match night in and night out. They play in great venues with lots of fans. They are experienced and they know what to do this time of year. I think we showed for a minute that we were a little bit worried about tonight's match and felt it in game one. Teams like ours, teams like Ohio State, what we go through helps to not let that happen. They're very good, I know their coach, and they'll prepared for us.

Stanford Senior Outside Hitter Cassidy Lichtman
On playing away from home for the rest of the tournament...

We like playing at home and playing in front of our fans. But there's something nice about being on the road after we finish finals. It's kind of like we get to hang out like it was preseason again. We get to hang out and be together, do arts and crafts. We kind of forget during midseason that we really had fun together, so its kind of refreshing in the end, even though we're in front of a different crowd. We're excited [to move on to the next round].

Colorado State Head Coach Tom Hilbert

Opening Statement...

Congratulations to Stanford. They have a great team and I'm sure they will have a great future in the next few weekends in the NCAA tournament. The match started out and we had some practical things that we wanted to do to make them uncomfortable. I think we succeeded at that. We were able to keep their point runs down and score on them by mixing in a few short serves to a few people and blocking some balls. That put us in a position at end-game to possibly win, but they were able to pull that out. The second game, we got stuck in what is our rotation five for what was a seven or eight point run. After that point, we played some decent volleyball, but it wasn't enough to come back. In the third game, we were staying with them early and then we got stuck in our rotation five again. They do a very good job of blocking, but not just stuffing balls, but what they do really well is slowing, funnelling, and transitioning to certain players. They got on a well and we just didn't defend as well as I'd like to against them. We don't see too many teams with this many weapons too often, so it's a deal where I'd like to play Stanford a bunch of times to the point where the more we play them, the better we get.

CSU Senior Outside Hitter Jacque Davisson

On the future of CSU volleyball...

It has been an honor to be a part of this program the past four years and to be able to do with the program what we've done. We've put a huge emphasis on being changers of this program. Everyday, I think we walked into the gym trying to make this program better. These kids are going to do great things. They're absolutely phenomenal players. I think they can reach Sweet 16, Elite Eight, at least. I think they're going to have a great season next year. I think it's going to keep happening for them next year and in the future because we keep getting good players like them.

On ending the season...

To lose to Stanford the last match of your senior season at Stanford fighting, if I could choose a way to go, that's what what I would want to go. It was a good moment for all of us and a learning moment for the young kids.