Meet the Press: NCAA Volleyball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On the eve of its first round NCAA Tournament match, head coach Nicole Lantagne Welch and two student-athletes met with the media to preview the contest against College of Charleston. The Hurricanes and Cougars will square off Friday at 5 p.m. at the O’Connell Center.
Nicole Lantagne Welch
NCAA Press Conference
On being in Gainesville forthe NCAA Tournament and the region as a whole:
“We’re proud of the opportunitywe created for ourselves to be in the NCAA Tournament – one of only 64 teamscompeting right now. We’re excited to be in Gainesville and looking forward togetting on the court.”
On scouting Miami’sfirst-round match-up with College of Charleston:
“College of Charleston has acouple of big hitters. One of them is actually well-known in the NCAA world -Darcy Dorton – she led Penn State to that National Championship and we knowshe’s a big-time, big-game player. They also have an excellent right-sideattacker; they have some balance and we’re really going to have our work cutout for us. We need to focus on taking care of the ball on our side and takingcare of the things we can control, which is our game and how we play.”
On Miami’s consistencygetting to the tournament four straight years:
“It’s great for our program -our program only started in 2001. A lot of people don’t realize that and nowwe’ve established ourselves as a regular NCAA Tournament team year-in andyear-out and each year it’s been more certain that we’ll be there and in thatfield. That’s what’s exciting about the growth of this program.”
On Florida head coach MaryWise and her career:
“Mary Wise is an incrediblecoach and she’s done amazing things with the Florida program. Certainly goingthrough the coaching cycles and seeing her have that great success – she’sobviously done a great job with this program. She’s someone that everyoneadmires.”
On Miami’s weapons and whothe Hurricanes will rely on in the NCAA Volleyball Gainesville Sub-Regional:
“One of the most special thingsabout this year’s team is actually how balanced we are. We have great hittersin every spot – a couple of great middles, a couple of great outsides and areally good right side. The thing about us is any one player can come on at anytime and we’ve had that the entire season, where somebody steps up here andthen the next opponent focuses on shutting them down, but somebody else stepsup. We really want to rely on that kind of balance (on our team) to keep ouropponents off balance when playing us, not knowing who’s going to get the balland hopefully be real effective playing that way.”
On being in Gainesville forthe first time since 2009:
“The team is super excited toget out on the court again. I know it’s been a few years since we’ve been backhere, but actually myself and Nrithya (Sundararaman) have made that return, soit’s a new experience for everyone else. We’re embracing being in thetournament, the excitement that the tournament brings and getting out on thecourt.”
On Gainesville native ErynCroft:
“Eryn is an excellent teamplayer, she puts the team first and she really supports us. She works superhard. This is a homecoming for her – we have a Gainesville kid turned MiamiHurricane and we’re proud of that. It’s great to have her in our program.”
On Eryn Croft’s contributionsto the team, even when injured last year:
“Eryn puts the team first -that’s exactly the kind of person she is. Everything the team does, she’s apart of, whether or not she had a physical impact. She impacts us every day inpractice and helps make us better. We all know that, she knows that’s and she’sa part of every win and accomplishment this program gets.”
On Eryn Croft’s injury,recovery and return:
“She (Eryn Croft) had a knee injury right before theseason started last year and nobody wants to go through that. You look at it asa challenge, you go forward and deal with it. That’s the hand you’re given; itis what it is. You fight through it and that’s exactly what Eryn has done. Everyplayer in our program improves tremendously each year and that’s the whole goal- to play at your peak when you’re an upperclassman and entering your lastyear.”
Freshman Eryn Croft (Gainesville, Fla.)
On what it means to be backin Gainesville after going to high school here and growing up in Gainesville:
“It’s obviously exciting to bein front of my friends and family, but it’s good to be back here.”
On being a part of the Miamiprogram:
“It’s really special. I love theUniversity of Miami and I’m really happy I went there. Our whole team is afamily and it’s a great program to be a part of.”
On being back in Gainesvilleand having a number of fans supporting Miami from the O’Dome:
“It’s really cool to be able tohave my friends see us play. A lot of people don’t get to travel all the waydown to Miami during the school year, so it’s good to have my family here andmy friends.”
On what it means to be aMiami Hurricane:
“It’s really special. Thetradition is really strong and literally our whole athletic program is afamily. Everyone is really close – it’s amazing being a part of thattradition.”
On battling for playing timeas a younger player and also having been hurt her first year at Miami:
“I just need to work every dayto try to get better. It’s been hard coming off of an injury, but each day Itry to get better and earn my way. I know there are really good players infront of me and I can use them to learn from and get better that way, too.”
On her injury and battlingthrough it:
“It was hard. I had been atMiami only three weeks before I got hurt. Like I said, our program is a familyand you have support the whole way. I wouldn’t have rather been at any otherschool with the injury. They comforted me, helped along the way and I receiveda redshirt, so I didn’t get held back at all.”
On her summer in Vietnamteaching English and volleyball:
“It was an amazing opportunitybecause athletics helped me earn that opportunity – it was through the ACC.It’s an experience that I would never take back. It made me appreciate my lifehere. Going over to Vietnam and helping those children was a life-changingexperience.”
On what Miami has learnedabout College of Charleston through this week’s scouting:
“As Taylor (Hollins) said, theyare really high energy. They have some really good players – we have to beready and focused for them. They’re a really good team.”
Junior Taylor Hollins (Long Beach, Calif.)
On Miami being in the NCAA Tournament and getting the weekend started in Gainesville:
“I feel very lucky because I’ve made it to the NCAA Tournament all three years that I’ve been here. It’s really exciting. I’ve never been to Gainesville, so that’s really fun. We have some really good opportunities ahead of us this weekend.”
On Miami’s first opponent in College of Charleston and game planning for CoC:
“They are definitely a high-energy team. We’re really excited for that because it’s fun to play against teams that are really loud and crazy.”
On the type of teammate Gainesville native Eryn Croft is to the Hurricanes:
“She’s really helpful and she’s so energetic during practice. She tells us during games what she sees from the bench and what she sees open for the hitters, so very helpful.”
On the type of player she is and what she brings to the court:
“I try to lead by example. I’m not really one of the loudest players on the court, but I feel like I bring a sense of urgency and I feel calm during the game.”
On being in the NCAA Tournament for her third year and the program’s fourth:
“We’re really lucky. Not a lot of people get to experience this – I want to take advantage of every opportunity that we have.”
On the other two teams in the Gainesville Sub-Regional (Tulsa & Florida):
“It would really good to match up with either one of them if we take care of College of Charleston first. It will be fun.”
On winning 15 of their last 17 matches and how the Hurricanes are playing their best volleyball heading into the Tournament:
“We are doing really well and we are just really consistent right now. We’re on a roll.”
On Miami playing with speed and how the Hurricanes will use speed to their advantage:
“That’s important for us. We can beat people with our speed if they are bigger than us. It’s always good to have speed.”
Quotes courtesy University of Florida Communications
