Post-match quotes vs. Illinois
Saturday, Oct. 8, 2016
UW Field House - Madison, Wis. 

Head Coach Kelly Sheffield

Opening Statement: 
"(It was) kind of an unusual match there. You have one team that comes out and kind of puts it … there wasn't a whole lot we could do wrong. You're siding out at 81 percent and their hitting zero and tables got turned there for the second (set) and we really struggled with our passing and they couldn't really do a whole lot wrong. And then it was two teams just going from there."

"Obviously that third set was the comeback. It was pretty big. I liked how we started playing clean, which we hadn't really played clean for most of the third and second sets. Our passing wasn't real great, we weren't serving real well and then our serving got us back into the match. We started playing some defense and then we started feeling good about ourselves in the fourth."

"You look at the stats and a few things. Tionna [Williams] and Nelly [Haleigh Nelson], those were two of our 25 and 24 attempts and they were up there for the number of attempts we had. You're only doing that if your ball control is pretty good and for most of the match I thought our ball control was real solid. I thought Lauren did a great job of setting and just moving our slide hitters around an awful lot. I thought that really kept them off balance."

"This was a big team win. A lot of different people came in and we were able to change a lot of different things over there. Mac [Amber MacDonald] came in and really put some pressure on with the serving and got us a lot of points there as the match went on. I thought that was huge as well."

On if it was good to be challenged by a team like Illinois: 
"I don't ever think it's good to lose. You're battling, it's the Big Ten and you're playing against some great teams. You're going to get smacked around at times."

"The thing we talk about a lot is how you respond in those situations, it's not just volleyball, its life as well so when you get knocked down, you've got a choice to stay down or get up and punch back and so I thought our team did a pretty good job of punching back. You hit .329 against a defense like that, they're really good defensively, they're so disciplined with their block.  (Brandi) Donnelly, their libero, 25 digs, it's hard to score on her, and I thought we didn't get stuffed very much."

"That team can really put the hammer down on you with their block but I thought we hit very efficiently against a team that was really good. We weren't forcing it, even a player like Molly [Haggerty], you look at a player like Kelli and those guys, our left sides, were just getting garbage pretty much tonight because it got to a point where any time we could get the balls to Tionna, Haleigh and Romana (Kriskova) we were trying to do that. I thought they were really good and I thought our outsides managed their swings versus a really big block that was well set."

On the atmosphere of the crowd: 
"We expect it now. I think we've gotten to that point where I don't know if we necessarily need to praise them constantly. It's just that they're into it. They're showing up. They're showing up early. They're into it. It's one of the best places to play in college volleyball. We don't ever take it for granted. They've got our backs. They're part of it. That 25-15 (win in the first set), part of it might have just been listening to the national anthem, that little guy got our team so fired up there. I'd like to give a game ball to the little man. He was fantastic out there. We need to get a CD or something."

Senior Haleigh Nelson 

On how the team turns the game around when faced with a tough match: 
"As a team, kind of how we always have been is whenever we're playing and even when our backs are totally against the wall and we're down by quite a few points, we always altogether believe that we can win any set no matter what the score is. It just takes a clean, aggressive game and a lot of communication by everybody. When you know that all six people on the floor and all nine people on the bench believe that you can win a set, then you can really do anything. So, even though you're down in that third set and things look pretty grim, nobody on our bench or on our side of the net thinks we're going to lose any set ever."

Sophomore Amber MacDonald

On mindset as she approaches the end of a close match when serving: 
"In practices we do a lot of serving, and I think a lot of it is putting yourself in that mindset every time you get a chance to practice serving. I have a lot of confidence in my serve and in my team so in those situations I just feel like if I can put in a good ball, my team can handle anything. I think it's something you definitely have to think about, but I have confidence in putting in a good ball with a strong serve."

On how important it was to get back out and contribute on the court tonight after missing three matches with a head injury: 
"Amazing. I mean at Purdue I wasn't even allowed to be in the gym so I was sitting in the hotel by myself watching my team compete and that was one of the hardest things I've ever done. But, I was lucky enough that it wasn't that bad and I was able to practice a couple days this week. To be able to get back out there and battle with my team is the best feeling."

On the team's ball control in the first set versus the second set: 
"We kind of talked about it in the break. It was mostly a serve and pass game, so in the first set they weren't serving very aggressively and we were passing nails every time. In the second set, they started to serve a little more aggressively and we struggled passing so in those situations it's hard to get the ball to Tionna and Nelly who were obviously hitting very well tonight. So really, it was just a serve and pass game."

Sophomore Tionna Williams

On her career high 18 kills tonight: 
"I felt like our offense was really strong. We talked about it a little bit in the locker room after the match, but a lot of my success goes to our passers because without the pass, Lauren's [Carlini] not able to set me the ball, and Nelly too [Haleigh Nelson], so a lot of the credit goes to them."

On the overpass set-winner in the third set: 
"Well one I'm thinking, 'Oh it's an overpass so I've got to be ready.' Two, don't stand in the net, don't touch the net. We work on it quite a bit, overpasses thanks to this guy right here (Sheffield). Sometimes he prefers us to hit it, but if I see an opening, which I did where I placed it, then I normally try to swipe it. Be a little aggressive, but smart at the same time."