Emporia State - Truman Post Game Press Conference

Emporia State
Bing Xu :

"First of all coming out of the locker room I'm so proud of this group. We worked very, very hard and we made something happen. We were one step closer and we set some school records. We have to congratulate Truman, they played an awesome game tonight so we wish them good luck. We have a long way to go and next year we will come back."

"Yeah, I think we let something get into our heads in front of a big crowd. We had some times we could have taken advantage of things, but we just let the pressure get to us espeically on the other side. We were trying very, very hard tonight and just here and their and the game got away. When you don't show up at the beginning it's really hard to take it back."

"We tried to get something by putting them in, switching it up a little bit. It was a good time for the young players to taste something. They have another couple of years, and we want to show them we are here. And now we know what it takes to get there."

"I think it did, this was our first time, we played with our hearts and played with fight. We worked really hard to make it for our first time and I think we learned a lesson."

"I think it's probably heart, this team every day. I'm with this team every day and I can tell their passion. And I've seen them fight together. In the beginning of the season I was really proud of them, because we got together and played together and got alot of the school records. And now we move on together."

Arica Shepard:

"We probably were a little bit too nervous and we may have pysched ourselves out. We just didn't show up today and Truman definantly did, they played their heart out today and they did what they had to do."

"Yeah I mean they did it to us last year (won three times in a row) and we were kind of hoping to pay them back. It's really tough to win the third game you play because you know each others strengths and weaknesses so well."

"We're going to look back and be like wow we've had so many firsts, winning an MIAA Championship and making it to a regional Championship. We had an awesome season, but it's still going to suck because we wanted to win it."

"I'm going to remember this feeling, and hopefully not have to feel it again (next year)."

"I think this is definantly a building year for the program. All the first, hopefully we'll get alot more attention and more recruits that look this way. And hopefully we'll get alot better."

Megan Koster:

"I don't think we've ever been to a championship before, and I know our record was pretty good, I don't know if it's ever been that good. We were number one in the region, which might have been a curse, but I know we've come a long ways."

"I guess I never really thought about it, I mean it feels good to play in it (the championship), but in the end you kind of want to pull it out instead of...."

Truman State
Jason Skoch:

"I'll say I told them in the locker room that I believe alot of things are learning experiances, we've been here alot of times. As freshman we won it because we didn't know any better. And then as sophomores we were the team and we didn't win it, we were very much like Emporia. And last year, we just faced a team with alot of seniors and they out fought us. I think this year their are a few things, we peaked at the right time. As far a player personel we were focused and determined. Alot of it has to do with when you know your career is about over the intensity you bring to the floor. I told you guys that I was very happy we played UNO for the first round. I've told them for the last two weeks I'm happy we're playing UNO, because against UNO you have to bust your butts. And we got off on the right track with the win over UNO."

"Certain key players stepped up and did their job and executed tonight."

"After our first match we changed some things up when they came to us and we lost in five. I thought for them several players stepped up and alot of players for us did not, and I reminded them of that today. I used the same game plan as last time and I just felt like we executed better."

"The only thing I was a little intruiged about was that all week I have tried to stay away from them so that I didn't bring my stress to them. We got up big in game one, but that happened to us yesterday against Central and they took game two, so tonight we just tried to carry that into game two. Because Emporia, once they wake up, they are dangerous. So it was good that we played Central yesterday because game one we played them good and game two they tore us up. So today we realized we can't set their and relish game one that you need to be focused on game two."

"And that's why Emporia was so good against West Texas. They had never experianced her (Liu) and we had experianced her here, so it helped to know Emporia and it helped to know how good she was. Tonight we just executed better."

Allie Cherven:

"Yeah, I think so, I think our whole entire schedule is better than anyone's in the country. So we were prepared to go up against tough teams and do what we need to do. Other than Emporia, who'd beat us twice in the regular season, we just looked past that though. We knew what we had to do to win."

"Our blocking, well first off we just focused on the setter, Ting Liu, because she's so good. Coming from a middle blockers perspective she is really good, and she can just fake you out so well that it's just unreal. She's the best at that I've ever seen in the country. So we just focused on that and closing in on the block tightly."