From the Lockerroom

Dec. 5, 2003

PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
Dayton 3, Michigan State 2
East Lansing, Mich.
Jenison Field House

Dayton Head Coach Tim Horsmon
Opening comments:
"We had a pretty good performance tonight and I really enjoyed watching our players. They have put forth good effort all year, and I think that it has all come together tonight."

Middle Attack:
"We really stuck to the game plan of trying to handle the ball and getting to the center of the ball and trying to get to a situation where we can attack the ball. We did a good job of establishing that early on in these matches."

Playing at Michigan State:
"Michigan State has great atmosphere and a great facility here. I think we were able to use that energy but still stay focused on what we had to do. We have had a great year and we're having a great ending."

Senior Shanna Pressler
On being a senior and first time in the NCAA tournament: "I could talk for days about this experience I've had. It has been so exciting and it is what we've been working for. Our senior class realizes that we've known to be too soft and that we're pushovers. But all of a sudden this coaching staff has come in and challenged us. When they came here they told us, 'You know this is what everyone is saying and you know what has happened in the past, are you going to take this?' We said 'No,' and from that point on everyday at practice we knew what we had to do to get it done."

On tonight's game: "We started off 2-0 against a tough team and you can't expect them to roll over and die in that last game. I think we were getting excited after that second game and into that third game we started to taste that win, but we've learned that you can't taste the win before it's there. Game four was when Michigan State used their momentum to challenge us, and that lead into game five where we just laid it all on the line."

Michigan State Head Coach Chuck Erbe
Opening Statement: "I want to give Dayton a lot of credit. I thought they played really hard and very consistent and really stuck to their game play. They did a great job of attacking us. I thought we had a lot of momentum after game four but we got into game five and they played error free. They had no passing errors, no hitting error and no serving errors. That's the way you have to play game five. It shows a great deal of maturity and resolve on the part of the Dayton team. They did a really nice job against us tonight.

"It's tough to lose, especially for our seniors, who have meant so much to this program and have so many wonderful moments in their career. I think the last thing in the world you want to do is lose in the first round. It's a tough pill to sallow right now. I thought they were courageous in the effort in coming back and taking it to a fifth game. I'm very proud of all of them for doing that and fighting as hard as they did. They showed a great deal of character tonight and they are competitive forever tonight."

On Dayton's attack of the middle:
"They went right after our middles. Every single opportunity they had tonight, they went right at them. They were very successful in their game plan against us. What you hope to do is serve them tough enough so where they have to set the outside and be a little bit more predictable. They passed well tonight and their setter did a great job of setting quick against our middles and our left sides. We could never get into any kind of blocking rhythm against them."

Jenny Rood
"Our team is made up of fighters. We will never go down with out a fight. These girls showed a lot of character coming out of that locker room and being down 2-0 and fighting they way that they did and I'm proud of them for it."

Nikki Colson
"It's been a ride. We have had good times and bad ones too but it's been a lot of fun. We talked with the team in the lockerroom and we said we had nothing to lose. We couldn't come out and play scared. We just had to lay it on the line, and we just missed the line."

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