Thursday, November 19
12:00 p.m. - Gangelhoff Center - St. Paul, Minn.
No. 2 seed #13 Southwest Minn. St. (25-8) vs. No. 7 seed #20 Metro State (25-6)
BOX SCORE - PHOTOS - SMSU PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO - METRO PRESS CONFERENCE VIDEO
RECAP: ST. PAUL, Minn. - No. 20 Metro State advanced to the semifinals in a game that went down to the wire against No. 13 Southwest Minnesota State 25-20, 16-25, 16-25, 25-23, 15-13. The Roadrunners came from behind down two sets to one on Thursday afternoon in the NCAA Central Region Quarterfinals played at Gangelhoff Center on the campus of Concordia University, St. Paul.
Metro State started out strong, taking the first set from the Mustangs 25-20. The Roadrunners were led offensively by Anna Mapes and Bri Morley, who each accounted for double-digit kill counts in the match. Mapes crushed the ball all over the court notching ten kills while hitting at .625 percent clip.
The Roadrunners had a strong showing in their own end of the court with four players recording more than ten digs a piece. Amy Watanabe led the Roadrunners with 22 digs. Ngoc Phan pitched in on her own end of the net adding 16 digs.
Gabrielle Curtis recorded 38 assists in the game to give her 3,274 on her career. That number moves her up the list as she now ranks third in school history, passing Lora Houdek who set the previous mark of 3,267.
Southwest Minnesota State dropped to 1-2 against Metro State and 3-7 all-time in NCAA Tournament play. The Mustangs were led by Cara Carson who recorded 48 assists in the match to go along with her 14 digs. Tory Brouwer finished the match with 16 kills hitting .353 percent.
Southwest Minnesota State Match Notes: The Mustangs went 3-1 in 2009 against teams from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) in regular season play ... This is the sixth straight NCAA Tournament appearance for SMSU ... SMSU is 3-7 all time in NCAA Tournament play ... The Mustangs advanced to the semifinals in 2008 and lost to Minnesota Duluth ... Of the 16 players on the Mustang roster, eight players have played in an NCAA Tournament ... SMSU is now 1-2 against Metro State ... The Mustangs achieved a season high 14 blocks on the season.
Metro State Match Notes: This was No. 20 Metro State's 10th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament ... This was Metro State's 17th appearance in the NCAA Tournament ... The Roadrunners are 8-16 in NCAA Tournament play ... Metro State's ranking of 20th in the NCAA Division II AVCA top-25 is their second time being ranked since Sept. 5, 2005 ... Gabrielle Curtis now ranks third in Metro State Volleyball history with 3,274 career assists ... Metro State won its fifth RMAC Tournament in 10 years ... The Roadrunners are now 2-1 against the SMSU.
SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE QUOTES:
Head Coach Terry Culhane:
Opening Statement: “Lets be honest this was a very disappointing loss for us. We had opportunities to shut them down and take this game but we didn't handle the pressure very well. We simply committed too many errors to overcome, ten errors in the first set is a tough spot to put yourself in." Credit Metro State for handling the pressure of playing in a big game better than we did.
Senior right side hitter Tory Brouwer
On her career playing college volleyball: “It was a big step for me to jump from high school to college. Coach Culhone is such a great teacher."
METRO STATE QUOTES:
Head Coach Debbie Hendricks:
Opening statement: "To be honest it was probably not the cleanest match that we have played." "I really feel like we played with a lot of heart." "The second and third game were not pretty, we definitely broke down in serve receive." Southwest Minnesota State put forth a great effort, they beat us in every statistical category. We really kept our composure and I am very proud to get this win."
On serve receive after first set: "They served us very aggressively we were able to get to the ball a lot and we ran our offense well. They were able to hit the ball where they wanted in games two and three they really took us out of our game just serving across the court. Typically our ball receive is one of our strengths, but we were able to rebound and make a comeback.
On hitters adjusting to SMSU's blocking game: "We were relying on our outside hitters, they did a nice job blocking, fortunately we were able to overcome their blocking with better passing. We really had to rely on our outside hitters in this match. We had a few players step up and have big games which was great for us."
Junior middle blocker Anna Mapes:
On opponent SMSU being tough defensively: "We knew going into the match that they are a very strong defensive team. This week we talked about just winning the match. My goal was just to get good shots out there, sometimes I can be a bit tentative. I just did my best to swing as hard as I could and get the ball over. It was fun to be back in Minnesota so I wanted to have a good game."
On comparing match to RMAC competition: "We played cleaner and stronger in the RMAC. The match reminded me of our game against Kearney if things weren't going well we just waited until they did and we took the opportunity and won the match."
On what helped the team strike a come from behind win: "We've been working on the whole patience thing all season, at some points of the season we kind of crumbled. Staying calm and waiting for the opportunity was a big part of our preparation for this game."
Senior setter Gabrielle Curtis:
On errors affecting the team: " I definitely tried not to let it affect me. I tried not to let mistakes hurt my game, if I made a mistake I just told myself to let it go. If we're not getting passes, my mind set is to set it perfectly. I wanted to go we needed to help take the pressure off of our younger players."
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