Postmeet Quotes: NCAA Championships - Semifinal Session I
4/18/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
April 18, 2014
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Michigan Head Coach Bev Plocki
On the meet... "I don't think there's anything we could have changed. We performed up to our potential on three events. Balance beam is the great equalizer of all teams. I don't know what the answer is. We've been training very well. We warmed up like we could do no wrong. They didn't appear to be nervous. It just wasn't our day there, apparently."
On Joanna Sampson... "There's one thing you can always be sure with Joanna. If she has a bad meet or a bad event, she's going to come back pretty ticked off. She was outstanding today."
On her message to the team following the meet... "It's been a pleasure to coach this team the entire year. It's truly a special group of women. They've been incredibly selfless. They've played whatever role they've been needed to play and have done it so well. They're a team. It's been a great season. I do feel terrible that we weren't able to have these seniors finish their careers at the Super Six. You deal with disappointment, but in looking at the big picture, I seriously doubt there's a lot that our seniors would want to change about their college experience."
On the freshmen's performances... "Both were great once again. I don't think Talia (Chiarelli) had a fall the entire season, and Nicole (Artz) had one. What else can you say? They've been incredible. It bodes extremely well for the next three years of their careers. They came in here to their first NCAA Championships and didn't seem rattled at all."
U-M Senior Joanna Sampson
On the meet... "Even though it didn't end the way we wanted, we have so much to be proud of. We've overcome so many things. Between losing Annette (Miele) early and losing Austin (Sheppard) here more recently, others stepped up into those roles and did such an amazing job. Everything we went through this preseason, from the Navy SEAL training to the practices to the little things that happened along the way, this team never stopped fighting. We fought from the very beginning and kept on doing it here today."
On the last half of the meet... "Coming out of that bye, we had the mentality that it wasn't over until it's over. There were still teams to go after us that could have made mistakes to allow us to slip in. We had to go back out and compete. I thought we did a tremendous job going back on floor and then fighting on vault and floor. That vault rotation might have been our best of the season. We never gave up."
On competing one more timeon Sunday... "I'm going to do everything I can to represent Michigan the best way I know how. I'm going to do it for my team, just like I did last year. They'll be in the stands cheering me on. It'll be great to have Sachi (Sugiyama) on the floor, too. There's still a lot to look forward to. There's business left to do."
U-M Junior Sachi Sugiyama
On the meet... "I think we started off so well on uneven bars. It really hyped us up going into the next three events. Then we had some hiccups on beam, but we knew we still had two solid events that we're really good on. Maybe we could turn the tables. It wasn't over until it was over. This team proved that we're a group of fighters, and we've proven it several times this year. We never thought it was out of reach."
On what Plocki said in the locker room after the meet... "She said that she couldn't be more proud to be a coach of this team. We came back strong and fought for everything. We gave away little things. It wasn't one person. We rise and fall as a team. It's just going to make us go back and train even harder."
On making her first appearance in Individual Event Finalson Sunday... "It's exciting. I had a good feeling going into that vault. There was no doubt in my mind that I would finally stick. I knew I had to get the ball rolling. It's a snowball effect. Once one person sticks, the rest of the team often follows that lead. It'll be my first event finals. I couldn't be more excited. I don't know what to expect. It'll be a hard competition. It's the best of the best. All I can do is try to bring the same intensity. Joanna will be there, and I'll definitely lean on her to help me out with how it goes and how it all works. I can't wait to be out there with her to represent this team."
