Wisconsin Postgame Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Michigan
November 6, 2015
UW Field House – Madison, Wis.

Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
On his opening statement:
"There's not a lot to complain about tonight. I was proud of the way that we battled in game one even after they came back and they're battling with us. We had a couple service errors by both teams there kind of toward the end, and each time we responded the right way with a good pass and didn't side out. Like I told them down in the locker room, I thought we did a great job of getting back to work. That game one was a heck of a battle.

"We came out in game two and a lot of things were going our way that sometimes haven't. Haleigh Nelson came out and had a career match in the first set. Having nine kills in the first set… so we were kind of riding her in the first set. She came into the match with a lot of confidence, and it's good to see her holding on to that throughout the start of the match. We're excited for her. She did a nice job."

On if it took the life out of Michigan when Wisconsin won the first set:
"I didn't see any loss in fight from those guys at all. We know that those players are very competitive over there. We know that staff is very competitive. It's just kind of the nature of our sport.

"We've got it taken to us by some teams at times in some sets, and we've taken some other teams. We've been on both ends of it. I don't think that had a lot to do with them. It was just the crazy game of volleyball. 32-30… you've been around a long time and you've seen us win those marathons and we turn around and lose the next one.

"It's a crazy sport. Sometimes its match ups and sometimes somebody gets on a run. It'll be interesting … we'll see them here in about five or six more days. The match will have a very different feel. We'll probably see some things on film and attack them a little bit differently. I'm sure that they'll defend and attack us a little bit differently and that'll make things interesting and fun with such a fast turnaround."

On not letting Abby Cole go too crazy on them tonight:
"She hit .368, that's a pretty good night for anybody. She didn't have 18 kills or anything like that, but that's still a pretty high percentage. We're going to have to feel her out exactly what she was doing and hopefully bring that number down a little more. She's capable of having a really, really big night. I thought coming out of the locker room, she was pretty effective."

Haleigh Nelson
On what the entire first set was like for her:
"It was really fun. We had the game it felt like, but then when they started fighting back towards the end, I kind of got excited and played well. I don't know how to explain it, I was just having fun."

On what coach said during the timeout when the team was down 21-17 in the first set:
"He told us that we weren't hitting the shots that we were supposed to be hitting, and that's why we weren't scoring. Then, four swings out of the next six went to the zone we were going for and we were able to come back. Follow the game plan and then we started rolling."

On seeing now what they're capable of based on the last few matches:
"I think what stands out most to me is how fast we respond now compared to the beginning of the season. We would get in lulls and it would take maybe even a whole set for us to get back in our groove. Now, like towards the end of that first set, we had to come back and we had maybe two points on them, and we had the opportunity to win, but they fought back and tied it up. I think maybe earlier in the season, we wouldn't have been able to still pull out that set in the end, but you could see the poise on our side of the net. We've really come a long way and made that a lot better."

Lauren Carlini
On using this type of set to establish that they can battle:
"I think it's a good challenge for us when games like that happen because it builds confidence with each other. It makes us play harder and it makes us be disciplined towards the end of those sets. Sure, we made those service errors and we made those errors at the end, but we battled back, we stayed with it, and we didn't let that rattle us in any way."

On using Haleigh Nelson so much in the first set:
"As a setter, when you recognize that someone's going off, you just feed them as much as you can and give them the passes. I kind of had that mentality going in … give Haleigh the ball, she's open, and if they're working hard, then they deserve it."

On all the other outside hitting options throughout the night:
"I want to give a props to Lauryn Gillis. I think she did a great job tonight of recognizing what was working and kept laying it on them."

On if it took the life out of Michigan when Wisconsin won the first set:
"I think it fired us up. I don't know if it deterred them at all, but I think we started switching up our serving zones and keeping them off balance. I think that was one of the main factors in game two and why it seemed kind of lopsided there for a while."