Notes & Quotes: #19 Michigan 3, #20 Kentucky 2
12/4/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Michigan is now 8-8 in NCAA tournament play and advances to the second round for the second straight season and seventh time in program history.
The win Thursday night over Kentucky marked the 25th of the season for U-M, the highest win total ever under head coach Mark Rosen.
The Wolverines are now 2-2 all-time versus Kentucky with both wins coming on Bluegrass soil.
Sloane Donhoff's four service aces set a new Michigan NCAA Tournament single-match record, eclipsing the markset by Nicole Poquette vs. Colorado on Dec. 5, 2003.
Lexi Zimmerman's 62 assists are the second-most by a Michigan player in NCAA Tournament history.
Q U O T E S
Michigan Head Coach Mark Rosen
Opening Comment... "I'm really proud of our team. We went out there and competed. I think that we certainly played our best match. And I think a lot of that goes to Kentucky. They are a very good team and I thought that they did a lot of things well to get us out of our comfort zone and we had to battle through a lot of that. We are a very young team and I thought we grew up a lot tonight in those critical situations. I'm just really proud of our team and how we played."
On Kentucky and Michigan being an equal matchup... "I thought it was a pretty good matchup. They are good. They are a good blocking team. Our whole mentality is that we try to be aggressive in serving. We are not the best blocking team, but we try to be aggressive serving and defending. They served the ball well and they did a good job at getting us off balance. That's something that's really hard to see on video tape. And I don't think we really thought they were going to be that aggressive on tape. They put us on our heals. I thought they did really well through that. I thought Kentucky really evened it because of their tough serving and defense."
On Kentucky's crowd affecting Michigan's play... "No, we play in the Big Ten and we play against big crowds every night. Wisconsin averages over 4,000, Minnesota is at 3,000, Michigan State set a record against us at 5,300. So we see that quite a bit. I don't really think that the players were affected by it. It was a great environment. The University of Kentucky's a great host and they have been doing a great job, and they had a great crowd that came out tonight. It was a fun environment."
Junior Outside Hitter Juliana Paz
On her thoughts on the match..."I knew it was going to be a really hard match. That first game was right there in our grasp. We knew that if we wanted to come back, we would have to play really hard. I think that's what we did. We never stopped pushing; we never stopped fighting -- even when things didn't go our way, we just kept fighting."
Freshman Defensive Specialist (and Kentucky native) Sloane Donhoff
On playing against her old coach in the upcoming Saint Louis game..."I have played for a couple of Kordes' (St. Louis head coach Anne Kordes) in my day. I'm excited about playing them, but it's just another team that we are playing against. I'm not taking into account that I am playing against someone I know. When a team is on the other side, it's just another team and I am going to play as hard as I can."
