EWU-NC postgame notes

LYNDSEY BENSON
Head coach

“I don’t know if it is the best we’ve played all year, but we certainly played solid all three games. We didn’t have a letdown for more than a three-point run, which was an improvement for our team.”

“I’m very proud of us defensively. We talked about it for three straight days: blocking, defense, blocking and defense -- on all their hitters, it wasn’t just Hills. She’s certainly been leading their team in kills. I’m very proud of how our team responded to our preparation this week.”

“We’re very well-rounded this year. That showed up tonight, where we had four players high in kills. And that started with our defense. We got a lot of transition kills. I don’t that we were great in serve-receive scoring, but we were great in transition scoring.”

“We’re tough to stop when we have three hitters coming at you that fast that hard off a dig.”

“Lauren had a great match for us. She was definitely a senior leader. She did a great job blocking. You would have never known she was 5-7 by the way she blocked tonight. She made some net plays like a 6-footer tonight. She just really played big tonight.”

“(Butler-Hancock) really should be becoming a place that opponents are nervous to play in. It’s been that way since we were Division II. It’s a tough place to play. We’re very comfortable at home, it’s a great environment and we’ve had great crowds so far this year. It’s a fun place for our girls to play. We’re playing well at home right now.”

“We have to improve, though, if we’re going to reach our goals. There’s definitely room for improvement. But I like where we’re headed. We keep getting better each week. We want to be peaking in November, and we’re nowhere near our best right now. We want to be near our best in November.”

“Portland State has hands-down proven that they are the best team in the conference so far this season. So we’re going to have our hands full with them. But we’re playing really well in Butler-Hancock right now, and I like our chances going in. It’s going to be a fun match.”

TAYLOR SMITH
Junior, middle blocker

“Offensively and defensively, this was one of the best matches we’ve had all season.”

“The middles just got up as much as we could and just tried to make ourselves available because they were just camped out on our pin hitters, and so we were open more. And then they started camping out on us and then it opened our own pin hitters.

“We just tried to make ourselves a weapon as much as we could.”

“We had a lot of errors in the first game, but we calmed down during timeout and between games and were like, ‘OK: fewer errors, fewer errors.’ So I think we progressed and made fewer errors in game two, and that really helped.”

“It’s going to be a huge match Saturday night. We haven’t beat them yet, and we’re ready. We’ve been getting better every match, and we’re excited to welcome them in.”

“We focused on a couple of their primary hitters, and it seemed like they didn’t get set as much tonight. We really focused on Hayley Hills, and it seemed like she didn’t get set as much.”

“Our main focus was to take care of their (outside hitters) Hills and No. 12 (Alysha Cook). And I think we really did that.”