Nov. 30, 2007

2007 NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT
FIRST ROUND
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2007
GALEN CENTER - LOS ANGELES, CALIF.

Long Beach State 49ers

Head Coach Brian Gimmillaro

"Well looking at the stats right away, nobody hit particularly well. Serving was average. I thought the fight of UNLV was very good. I thought they fought very hard. Emotionally they were in charge of the match, so we had to overcome that with execution and performance. It looks like we hit fairly well, .250 in the last game which is better than the match. I thought there were so pivotal plays in the fifth game that took control for us. First was the defensive play by Talaya [Whitfield]. Second was the block by Michaela [Hasalikova] and Alexis [Crimes] and the last was the ace by Nicole [Vargas] to end the match. I told the players at the beginning of the fifth match that they [UNLV] were in control of the game emotionally and it is very rare that a team wins when you are not in control of that. So we had to overcome that and not hide from it. We needed to face it and overcome it by doing the things that they do everyday in practice. We didn't start out really we ll, but then we started playing well. I see statistically that Michaela had a big hitting performance. The hitting percentage for both teams was way down. That happens, I don't think it was an exceptionally great defensive game, but the hitting percentage was way down. Sometimes that happens and you just don't execute well offensively."

On getting out to a large lead in game one:
"I felt that we were going to run out to a big lead and I really didn't want to. I wanted to have the lead grow. I thought it could cause some real problems for us by jumping out real quickly. I wanted it to be a steady match where our lead could grow as it went on, not this blitz of points at the beginning. That was a concern of mine even at the beginning and even as it was going on."

On the large lead in game one leading to a lull in their play:
"I thought that it did. The response by UNLV was good to it emotionally and it turned into hustle and execution and we were not responding at that time."

Middle Blocker Alexis Crimes

On playing well in game one:
"I believe when we play any team it is going to always get harder as the game goes on. They are going to play us a little bit tighter, harder and with fewer errors."

If it seemed UNLV was nervous to play in the NCAA tournament:
"In the first game a little, but that quickly went away. After the first few points it is not just an NCAA playoff game but it is just another game to go on."

On their blocking game:
"All last week we practiced blocking. I think we knew that it was a part of our game that we needed to get better at so we really started to focus on that, each day getting a little bit better, working our positioning, making sure that our middles worry about what they have to take with the outsides and focus on helping the defense because where ever we block the defense has to go so we really tried to work on that."

On teamwork:
"I think when you get into the NCAA playoffs your game has to go beyond what it has been before. Not to say that you were not playing at that level before but in this tournament it is single elimination so there are very few chances for error. So I think we come together more as a team, especially after our conference tournament. I think we are communicating well and talking. Out there it is only the six of us so talking and communicating makes things that much easier and everybody's job easier."

Middle Blocker Michaela Hasalikova
"We really worked on the blocking. Sometimes when we think about the blocking then it does not really work anymore. I think it is more to feel confident about the blocking. When we block the first couple of balls then we feel it is going to be better as the game goes on. Alexis had a great blocking game today. She was a star."

Setter Nicole Vargas

On her serving:
"I have been working on my serve a lot. When I go back I kind of think of it as the point it to get the other team in trouble. Not so that they get an ace every time, but make it so they have an off play or maybe we can get an overpass and get a kill off of that. I try and change it up a bit sometimes and it seems to help. I am pretty confident in my serve now, more than I was earlier in the season."

Playing under mother Debbie Green's retired number:
"It was a little weird but kind of fun. I want people to know my name, not just me as Debbie Green's daughter. I am playing here for Long Beach State and I am not Debbie Green who played at USC and is in the Hall of Fame. It is good to see her name up there, but now she is coaching me at Long Beach State and that is even better. I was with her when they unveiled [her retired number] it. It is nice."

UNLV Rebels

Coach Allison Keeley:
"Sure we were disappointed with our loss, but I thought we played well, we stuck to our game plan. It was a great match, but we just didn't catch a couple of breaks in the fifth game."

On what the team did well:
I agree our transition game was very good. They served very well. When they kept us off the net that was when we got in a little bit of trouble.

On the keys to rallies in second and fourth games:
"We served a lot more aggressively in those matches and we also hit more aggressively and made better choices."

Senior Middle Blocker Lauren Miramontes
On being nervous at first NCAA tournament appearance:
"I think definitely the first game I could feel amongst the other girls a little bit of apprehension. I think as we got to play we just got into a rhythm and just kind of forgot about the crowd and just started to play our game."

On opponent Long Beach State:
"I think that they have a long history of success. You always think about that when you are playing a team like Long Beach. You think about how strong they are and how comfortable they are in these situations because they have been here before. I think as the game went on our confidence was building because we saw that they were just another team. They make mistakes just like everyone else and they were definitely beatable. We knew that we could have pulled it out but we just did not get any breaks in the fifth game."

On what they did as a team effectively:
"I think in transition we were most effective, especially when we could get our middles on. Erin [Greenwood] was getting up there and she was definitely a threat because in transition I do not think that they were expecting a lot of our balls to go up the middle. They were expecting us to shoot them outside. We were getting the balls up and they were at the net so I do not think they were expecting us to send that many up the middle."

Sophomore Outside Hitter/Setter Jessica Walters

On being nervous in first NCAA tournament appearance:
"I agree that early we were hesitant but as the game went on we started to get into our rhythm more and we gained more confidence with every good swing and finally we just saw it as another game."

On opponent Long Beach State:
I think Long Beach is a very good team. They have the tradition and they expect to win. They have a very good presence. Their blockers are very big and their whole game is a bit bigger. It is not at the net it is above the net."

On the effectiveness of their play and the play of Long Beach State:
I think our setter made really great choices in hard spots. I think Long Beach dug a lot of balls that would normally go down on other teams. We were swinging hard and they were putting them up some how. Even some that should have been aces on other teams they were playing scrappy and getting them back up."