Ohio State – Notre Dame Quotes – Ohio State Buckeyes
12/2/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Dec. 2, 2000
Recap| Box Score
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Notre Dame vs. Ohio State Dec. 2, 2000 Ohio State Postgame quotes
Head Coach Jim Stone
Opening Statement:
“I thought Notre Dame’s serving really caused us problems in games two and three. We were out of system and just hit the high balls and were out of rhythm. Things didn’t look good. I thought Sue Calligaris just took over the match. I thought her attitude got contagious. Our team started playing a little harder and little more intently. We started passing their serve better and kind of got back into our systems. A tip of the hat to Sue because she turned that whole thing around. She fought really hard tonight.”
On how it felt to see his team pull out the win:
“I’m happy for our players because I would have felt bad if we had lost playing the way we were. If we had lost the way we played in games four and five, it’s like, ‘Hey, that’s okay.’ So I’m glad we came back and fought the fight. I’m glad they were rewarded with the win.”
Senior Dana Sterns
Did you sense when you came back in the fourth game that you could win it?
“On of the biggest ways to pick up momentum is to block the ball and to dig the ball. Our offense was okay but we really needed to step it up on defense and not let the other team score. That’s why I think the momentum switched.”
What did it take for the team to come from behind and win?
“We had a couple five-game matches early on in the Big Ten season that we didn’t win. Then we had some matches towards the end of the season that we did win. We had confidence in ourselves. We had experience playing games like that. I think that really helped us.” Sophomore Sue Calligaris
On what it took for Ohio State to overcome a 2-1 deficit:
“The fourth game was all mental. I really, really wanted to win. At one point I realized that there was a chance we were going to lose. That was not planned so far. So I was really wanting to win. The fifth game I didn’t think about anything anymore. I was just on the momentum of playing well. I hope that as I supported my team, my team would support me. It worked. We worked really hard. I am really proud of my teammates.”
How big is this for your team?
“Now we have the chance to play against Nebraska. That’s one of the biggest things we could have hoped for this year. To just play with one of the biggest teams this year and just see how good we are.”
Thoughts on the first game falling behind 9-2:
“I think we are a confident enough team that we knew we could come back from a deficit like that. We have done it before. I was just to see that we fought through it.”
Notre Dame head coach Debbie Brown
“It was a very competitive match. It was one of those matches that seemed destined to be decided in a fifth game.”
“Each team had a game that they dominated. With such an emotional match, they had the edge in momentum after capturing game four.”
“I thought we played with a lot of poise in game five. I was really proud of the way our players fought to the final point.”
“The turning point in the match was when #12 (Sue Calligaris) got hot. We tried a number of things to slow her down, but on this night she was unstoppable “
