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Opening Statement:
Rich Feller (Head Coach) –
“Obviously, we’re very pleased to be here in the NCAA Championships- first time for Cal in volleyball. We’re very excited to have our team represent the Pac-10, along with a couple others. It was a tough road to get here. We had two very long road trips. Looking back on that, I think it was maybe the best thing that could have happened to our team. It really prepared us for the travel and the organization and tournament format. Those trips got us very well prepared for coming here to Sacramento, and like I said, we’re very happy to be here.
Angie Pressey (Senior Outside Hitter) – On whether the team can sustain the momentum after upsetting Nebraska
“I think we were on such a high after beating Nebraska, but playing good volleyball is playing good volleyball. Sometimes it’s your night and sometimes it’s not, but hopefully if we do what we’re supposed to do and we do what we always do in practice, then that momentum will carry over into this week.”
Rich Feller – On finally making it to the NCAA Championship in 23rd year of coaching
“It’s something we as coaches always dream about and aspire to. Circumstances and long hard work and athletes like these three (to my right) and all the others (on our team) combined- everything aligns just right. There are a lot of coaches out there that have never reached this pinnacle and have coached for much longer than I have. We’re really kind of blessed this year with a great combination of staff, players and administration that have supported us and allowed us to build the right way to get to this spot.”
Rich Feller – On what’s different about this team
“Things came together. You’ve got to build from something. We returned the bulk of our team from last year when we went to the NCAA Regionals. We’ve got some incredibly gifted athletes that everyone knows about and we’ve got some incredibly gifted athletes that no one knows about. Every day in practice those 13 athletes are putting out every effort they can to make everyone on the team better. The depth of our team and the consistency and the fact that we stayed healthy this year, the structure of our practices, the timing and the length of our practices, our strength coach, academic coach and trainer- everything has combined throughout this year to get this group of athletes to play their best. It’s really that combination of things along with the years of planning to get to this point, and along with having some superior athletes that can carry a little extra load now and then. For us, I don’t think this is a surprise that we’re here. For us, we know last January that this could be a special team, and the way its played out its turned out to be true.”
Angie Pressey (Senior Outside Hitter) – On what’s different about this team
“Just to go along with that, we have one of the best recruiting coaches in the country in Chris Bigelow, and the caliber of athletes she brings here is amazing. To be nervous about your job after you’re named All-Pac 10, to have someone like Hana (Cutura) coming in is amazing, and I don’t think Cal had that before.”
Rich Feller – On what the match against Penn State will be like
“We had a few days to prepare, one videotape that we got to watch from the regional final. We have to do what we do best, and that is great blocking, tenacious defense, some really tough serving and set the ball to the right hitter at the right time. It know it sounds basic. We’re going to see a big blocking team in Penn State, but we see that all the time. We see that a lot on the Pac 10. Penn State’s going to see a big blocking team in Cal. I don’t know if they see it as much as we do, maybe they do. I think it’s going to come down to whoever can do their own jobs. When we played Nebraska I think one out of 10 fans gave us a chance to beat them. Anything can happen on any given night. My other assistant who I’ll mention, Matt McShane, does all of our blocking training and our blocking calls during games and he reads the other team. I know there’s no one better than him at doing that, and I think that gives us an edge. If there’s two good blocking teams against each other, I’ll take our team.
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