NCAA Round 1 Postgame Quotes
Wisconsin vs. Oregon
December 3, 2015
UW Field House – Madison, Wis.

UW Head Coach Kelly Sheffield
Opening Statement:
"That was a heck of a battle. That is a really, really good team and it's unbelievable, as you go through and you're watching a team, I don't know how many matches we had of them, but you see the type of team that they were for half of the season, two-thirds of the season, and what they were the last part of the season. 
"That's a really, really good team and obviously really well coached. They put you under an incredible amount of stress when you're out there, with the speed of their game and with their serving. Their serving was really good coming out of game one, those last three sets I thought they were really putting up a lot of pressure on us. 
"I thought we came out probably a little bit hyped. Low ball-handling error, we missed two overpasses, I think we had some indecision on our serve. That's kind of your 'Welcome to the 2015 NCAA Tournament' type of deal. But then I thought we settled down after about a minute and a half, I thought it was the best defensive match we've probably played all season. I thought we were just great in the back court. A lot of toughness, I thought we scrapped, kept balls off the floor. I thought both teams did. I thought we got some really good shots and those guys were digging lips as well. We're happy about moving forward and I'm real happy with the way that we played."

On what Oregon did differently in the second set:
"I thought the biggest difference for that set was they amped up their serving and really put a lot of pressure, especially Frankie Shebby. She was just putting some wicked serves in there and I really think that got them on a bit of a run. They were really starting to vary the planes of their serves. That was something we did for most of the match, except for set two. 
"Part of that may have been my calls, but I think we weren't doing a good job of moving it around. We put it on their lap quite a bit. I'd say that's probably the biggest thing. The other thing, I thought we had some indecision at some times that probably cost us some points. Those things can happen when you're feeling a little bit stressed, with the speed of their game and the fact that they were in system a lot, I thought that kind of had us not reacting the way that we needed to. I thought most of that had to do with the serving game for both teams. They got stronger in game two, I thought we dialed back a bit in game two."

On playing an intense first match in the tournament:
"If you sit where we sit, I think every match kind of feels like that. You're in the tournament, it's go time. I think the mindset is, 'Let's go!' That's what I told them down there, is that every match is going to feel like that. Competitors love that feeling of the struggle, the battle, the back and forth, the other team playing very, very well. Competitors embrace that stuff. You don't expect to see that type of stuff, when we first saw the bracket, you're like 'Whoa, that's a little bit different.' Then when you're first watching them you're like, 'Whoa.' It happens very, very, very fast, and you get into that it doesn't matter who we play. What's important is how we play. We got locked in on that, that how we play is way more important."

On the game's attendance:
"I'm fired up about that. It's a great crowd, great numbers tonight. But even more than the numbers was just how into it they were all night long. From the very first serve I thought our crowd was just into it and that was awesome. We've got one more home match in front of us that we're excited about, fortunate to be playing again, and we hope that each of them will bring a friend tomorrow."


Lauryn Gillis
On her performance:
"With the hitting, I saw a lot of one-on-ones, whether our middles were taking the middle blocker away or Lauren's (Carlini) decision making was just spot on. I saw a lot of one-on-ones which made it a much easier for me. I see the court much better that way, everyone does, and I just tried mixing it up. I also had Taylor Morey and Kelli Bates talking to me in the back court, telling me what shots were open which really helped."

On Tionna Williams and Haleigh Nelson adding to the attack in the later sets:
"Again, it opens it up a lot. The middle blocker on the other side of the net has to focus on all three hitters rather than just the pin hitters. Whenever they get rolling, it gets the momentum going also because they get on fire, they really get going."

On how the crowd's energy affects the game:
"It really is amazing how well they know when we need that little spark and like Lauren said, we want to play for them. Whenever they get going for us, we want to perform and do our best for them."


Lauren Carlini
On her career-high seven blocks:
"It's always exciting getting a block, especially if it's you and someone else and you both touch the ball. It's very personal. It just goes straight down and it's just a good feeling and it creates a lot of momentum for the team. That's one of the parts of the game that I've really been working on the last few weeks and so I think it's finally starting to come together and it's starting to show."

On how the crowd's energy affects the game:
"It just really helps with momentum, and knowing that people are supporting us and backing us and that they're cheering for us. When you start to hear the crowd get riled up, you want to play better because you know they're rooting for you. They've been like that all season and they were great tonight and they knew right at the exact points that we needed that little boost and that little extra help and they did a great job I thought."



Oregon Head Coach Jim Moore
Opening statement:
"First, congratulations to Wisconsin. Great team, obviously, with the best setter in the country, there's no question about that. They played great defense and did a lot of really good things, so congratulations to them. I think they played a perfect third set. When they got to 23 points, they had make zero errors and we had given them eight to that point in time. That hurt us in the third set. I expect to make some errors, but we probably gave a few too many points. Other than that, we played well and they played better."

On the difference between the first and second set for them:
"We're a little young. We looked very anxious yesterday when we came in to practice. I wasn't really surprised, but we were just bad in practice yesterday in the beginning, but we settled down and got through it. I actually semi expected it. We didn't pass, we didn't do anything well then we settled down. They calmed down and played much better. In the second set, we didn't give as many points. In my book, we still gave away five, which I'm okay with. I just thought we calmed down and played much better, with serve-receive mostly."

On the level of play tonight compared to what he expected:
"The level of the match was exactly what I thought it would be. I think most people that I've spoken to felt that Wisconsin was playing better than any team in the Big Ten. They believe that this is a Final Four team. I knew that the level of this match… I felt that we were going to play well and we did play well, but this was going to be volleyball at a pretty high level. The first six points of the first set, I said 'this is really bad volleyball.' But after that it calmed down and everybody played well."

On how they got themselves in this situation for the first-round match:
"What we did to get Wisconsin in the first round is we did it to ourselves. We did it in the middle of the season. We dropped some matches we shouldn't have. We started off 6-3 and we shouldn't have been 6-3 before conference, then we ended up going 5-8 in the middle. That'll get you Wisconsin in the first round. We ended up 5-2 coming out down the stretch, but I knew it was a match where if we played really well, we'd have a shot. We had a shot but Wisconsin played very well and was able to beat us."

On how this match compared to how they played against Washington a few weeks ago:
"Similar. I thought we executed on the block better against Washington than we did tonight. I thought we were a little better offensively and we didn't give as many points away. That's probably what hurt us a little bit. In terms of the level of play, I thought it was very similar."

On how tough it can be for a young team like Oregon to come to an atmosphere like the Field House has:
"It can be real tough. I think it's great for them. It's not great for Martenne (Bettendorf) and it's not great for Chelsey (Keoho). I don't think there's anything better than playing in front of crowds that are like this. That's what it's about. When I was back in the Midwest, people show up and that's part of doing it. I'm glad they're here. I was glad the little kids lined up even in an NCAA match to slap their hands to warm up. Anything to support the sport is great, and the fans were great."

On the impact Martenne Bettendorf on the Oregon program:
"This is not about winning and losing. We love it and it's our avenue, but these are my kids. All three of them sitting up here at different ages, and the three of them were in my car on the way up to Portland when we went… those are the things that I remember forever. This match will fade away, but that drive will never fade away. The things that she's done for this program and for me as a person are things I'll never forget. These are my kids. That's why I do this."

On what excites him looking forward to 2016 with all of the players returning:
"Taylor Agost hit some balls tonight… it's silly sometimes. It's a joke at times. Are you kidding? She goes up, over, down. It's unbelievable. I'm really excited for her. Lindsey Vander Weide… wow. There's no question that's the best freshman I've ever coached. I guess it's happened once that Oregon has had an All-Pac 12 kid make all-xonference. I always consider the all-conference team special and she did it as a freshman. It's the first time I've had anybody do it or be close to doing it. I'm very, very excited for what the future holds."

On comparisons between Wisconsin and the top-caliber teams in the Pac-12:
"I think Southern California and Washington are legit Final Four teams. Southern California has Samantha Bricio. That's an X-factor. Wisconsin has a pretty good setter. That's an X-factor. Washington is interesting because they don't have that X-factor, but they may be the most balanced team that I've seen. They've done some things offensively to make them balanced and they're all putting the ball on the floor. They have middles getting more attempts out of serve receive than anybody else on their team, which is really rare. It's very difficult to defend. If they stay in system, they're pretty tough. They don't have an X-factor player, but as a team they're playing really, really well."