Dec. 11, 2005

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Dec. 11, 2005

On the game:
"I can't believe it. It's just amazing. It's amazing how we played tonight. We played the game to win and we found a way, we worked a way. If you look at the stats I think we lost in every category but we found a way to win, and I think in athletics that's the way you play the game. You teach your girls to have some heart, work hard, be smart and never give up and that's what they did tonight. I had a great feeling going into deuce games, we practice it all the time, and we felt comfortable in a deuce game, we really did. I knew we were going to be able to be steady mentally and emotionally and we were going to take and make the right swings and it paid off for us. I can't give enough credit to this team about finding a way to win, being creative, playing outside the box when Arizona did a really great job against us tonight. They took us out of our comfort zone all night long, and we made being uncomfortable comfortable, and I think that was the difference in the match. I can't say enough about the program at Santa Clara, the support we get from the administration, the crowd, our fan base was awesome today."

On the senior class:
"Four years ago, they made this happen at Santa Clara, and my belief is that they wanted strong commitment, wanted things done here and they wanted to be successful. We got great kids in that recruiting group, and they made it happen. Cassie Perret, Kim McGiven, Caroline Walters...how about those digs by Caroline Walters tonight? I could go on and on, I tell you this is a great victory for our school, our program, but more importantly though for these girls that worked so hard to make it happen, they deserve it."

Santa Clara Outside Hitter Kim McGiven

On the fan support:
"The fan support we've gotten has been amazing. Our school has really pulled together and shown a lot of spirit. The students have taken a lot of pride in our program and come out to support us all year and it really showed tonight."

On being a point from elimination in Game Five:
"I'm going back thinking, `I want this set and I want to hammer this ball.' That's what every hitter and every passer is thinking that we hope they are serving this ball to me."

Santa Clara Opposite Hitter Cassie Perret

On being a point from elimination in Game Five:
"Just being aggressive and staying focused and swinging harder. Every game is a clean slate, you just start aggressively and the most aggressive team will win."

Santa Clara Libero Caroline Walters

On going to the Final Four:
"During the game you try not to think about that, but still, you're in shock. It's the most amazing thing I've ever been a part of; tonight was one of the most amazing nights of my life."

Arizona Head Coach Dave Rubio

On the game:
"Well you never like losing, but I don't mind losing to a good friend who's done a heck of a job at Santa Clara in a match that went down to the wire. I'm proud of the way that we played, I'm proud of the seniors. Santa Clara really played well tonight and it's just disappointing to lose."

On Game Five:
"In terms of what was on the line, certainly. When all the marbles are on the table, we had a swing to go to the Final Four, and you can't ask for more than that. Unfortunately we came up just a little bit short this time."

On Kim Glass' performance:
"All year long, Kim's been our go-to person, and she's been the one putting us on her back, and tonight we just didn't get that one swing down to the floor. Sometimes that's the way it goes. Unfortunately it didn't go down and we just couldn't seem to side-out enough to get that last point."

On Santa Clara's adjustments after Game 1:
"They did a nice job, we were playing a cat-and-mouse game all night. We had a pretty strong idea about their tendencies and I thought in Game 1 that we really exploited those tendencies but they immediately in Game Two changed their strategy. Interestingly enough, their strength is really in the middle with Cmaylo and Muratore, and the two people who beat us were McGiven and Lowe. We were trying to block the line all night and they were hitting the ball through the low seam."

On Game 5:
"We've certainly been there enough times to not ever panic when we're down two games to one. In the fifth game we were down 4-0, and we came back and put ourselves in a position to take a swing to go to the Final Four and so I don't think we're ever going to back down in that situation with the group that we have, we just weren't good enough at the very end to make things happen and go our way."

On Arizona's struggles in the match:
"When you start to rely on just your outside hitters to carry you, it's going to end up hurting you."

On Santa Clara's chances in the Final Four:
"Anything can happen in the tournament. The thing I like is that they're playing on a neutral floor and Jon's going to prepare his team really well. One thing this tournament's shown you is that there's no certainty in anything. There are two teams now in the Final Four in Santa Clara and Tennessee who would be 100-1 shots in Vegas in the beginning of the season. You have a team like that going to the Final Four and that says a lot about our sport."