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Flash Quotes

General Quotes

(Italian quotes interpreted by Rita Crockett)

About the tournament standings:

Laura Bruschini (ITA):

"We have to wait for the game tonight between USA (Arce/McPeak) and Germany to see what the outcome is.  We'll look at the points (differential in the standings) and hopefully we'll be in the semifinals."

About the team's overall play in the tournament:

Annamaria Solazzi (ITA):

"The main thing is our service has gotten much stronger, so it's much easier (for us) to defend and the opponents can't attack."

About gaining confidence in the tournament:

Annamaria Solazzi (ITA):

"Our confidence has become much better going into the match vs. Germany (Thursday) and after that match, we had a lot more confidence going into the match today.  We felt very confident today."

About today's match:

Laura Bruschini (ITA):

"Our side-out was better.  We had to side-out, and it was difficult because the Czechs have a very heavy serve."

About the difference in size (CZE) vs. speed (ITA):

Annamaria Solazzi (ITA):

"The sand made a big difference for the smaller teams because the Czechs are usually a power team.  They hit a lot.  With this sand, it's hard for the Czechs to pound the ball so much, so we can play defense against them.   And when we're on defense, we can get the short balls a lot quicker than the Czechs.  The Czechs moved much slower than we did."

About the match:

Eva Celbova (CZE):

"Our game on this court is not good.  And the Italian team played very well. They had a very good short serve."

About finishing 0-3 in pool play in the tournament:

Sona Dosoudilova (CZE):

"We did not play as good as last year, so it wasn't a big surprise to us."

About the court at Wollman Rink:

Sona Dosoudilova (CZE):

"For us, it's better when (the sand) is not deep because we can't hit here so good.  And the Italian team is more technical than we are."

About the match:

Shelda Bede (BRA):

"We started to play very well, but we were tense because we want to win. Sometimes, it's difficult to have concentration for all the match.   After we were up 10-1, we made a lot of mistakes.  We gave them points because we made mistakes.  After that, we took three time outs and we tried to return to the match to make good serves and to make good side-outs."

About gaining a big early lead:

Adriana Behar (BRA):

"We were surprised because we know all matches are so hard because the teams that are playing here are great.  I think the score at the beginning of our match is not normal."

About not making mistakes in matches:

Adriana Behar (BRA):

"It's impossible.  We are human, and we always make mistakes.  But if someone makes less mistakes than the other team, they will win.  I think to play beach volleyball, you have to play well, and have good technique.  But you can't make mistakes.  This is the secret of beach volleyball. The team that makes the fewest mistakes will win."

About level of competition in the Goodwill Games:

Adriana Behar (BRA):

"I think here, we have the eight best teams in the world, and it's so hard. We know each match will be hard because (the eight teams here) are the best. We know if we don't play our best, we can lose."

About the toughest team to play in the tournament:

Adriana Behar (BRA):

"For us, the next team we're going to play is the most difficult team to play. We don't think about going to the final, we just think about the next match."

About the match:

Liz Masakayan (USA):

"Obviously, our slow start was not intentional.   I think Karolyn and I got into our game plan and started serving them tough.   We kept the ball away from Adriana because we had trouble getting points off of her.  It really helped us steady our side-out."

About the adjustments made when down 10-1:

Karolyn Kirby (USA):

"That's when we decided to start serving Shelda.   We weren't particularly trying to serve Adriana.  We were trying to serve to the middle, but Adriana was picking up the middle.  So we actually adjusted from where we were serving the middle (to Shelda).  And then Shelda started passing the middle ball at that angle versus the other angle.  Once we started getting points, it was really the old Liz and Karolyn started coming back where we started gaining some confidence and we had something we could work with.  It's just too bad we didn't think of that a little bit earlier.  It would have been nice."

About Brazil stopping the USA rally:

Karolyn Kirby (USA):

"What happened at the end was the difference in serving.  Adriana's serve was coming across court and confusing us.  It was close to Liz, but it was ending up to be mine, and we were crashing in the middle trying to pass that tough float serve.  We basically just didn't handle that middle ball very well."

Liz Masakayan:

"That's also how they got up so much.  About three or four of Adriana's serves were points that we shanked.  What happened at the beginning of the game for them to get a big lead is exactly what happened at the end of the game when they got their last five points."

About the setup of the pools determined by FIVB:

Karolyn Kirby (USA):

"Overall, the pools were very unevenly distributed.   With Australia, Brazil and us being in one pool, and Holly in basically with nobody over there, that was kind of a drag."

Liz Masakayan:

"I don't think Karolyn and I have ever lost to any of those teams in the other pool.  We're more familiar with the teams in our pool, but we also know they're a lot tougher."

Karolyn Kirby (USA):

"I don't know how they even (set up the pools), but as soon as we got the two pools, we thought ', Oh, Holly, don't even bother.'  I think it should have been either Australia or us in (one pool) with Holly, and the Brazilians and Australians or us in the other pool."

Liz Masakayan:

"I actually know what happened.  The tournament in France last week was the first tournament we've seen the Germans play.  They've been out all season because I think Danja (Musch) had a bad back.  The reason why they didn't play in the few tournaments before (France) was because they didn't want to lose their seed.  They protected their seed by not playing in tournaments by not playing with another partner.  They came into the tournament as the third seed, and us and the Australians are seeded fourth and fifth.  W seeded properly, 1, 4, 5 and 8 are in (our pool).  And 2, 3, 6 and 7 is the other pool, which is exactly the correct seeding.  But I think the Germans, who haven't been playing, protected their seed.   That kind of determined the way the pools were structured."

"It makes it a little unfair.  It's a smart move by them, actually.  They lose money by not competing, but they protected their seed.   I would have done the same thing."

About improving during the three-day tournament:

Kristine Drakich (CAN):

"Each time, we get a little bit better, but we don't build on it.  It's like a different part of our game gets better (each match).   I think the difficulty that we had in each of our games was finishing the game off.   We stayed in the game for about five points vs. Brazil, and for about nine points vs. the U.S. (Kirby and Masakayan).  We stayed in the game for about 12 points today, but not for the entire match."

About the match:

Kristine Drakich (CAN):

"We were able to sustain a good side-out game for a little bit, but it just ran away from us.  I had difficulty siding-out.  They were serving at me, so it got pretty difficult."

About going 0-3 in pool play:

Guylaine Dumont (CAN):

"I'm disappointed a little bit, but we have to be realistic, too.  These are the top teams in the world, and we're (ranked) in the mid pack, so we did our best.  It's disappointing, but that's all we can do."

Kristine Drakich (CAN):

"We came here probably ranked eighth. But hopefully, we can come out of here finishing seventh (by defeating the Czech Republic Saturday)."

About the match:

Pauline Manser (AUS):

"I guess today we just wanted to come out and play really strong and kind of show that we can play a lot better than we did yesterday (15-9 loss vs. Brazil).  I'm not too sure if we really did that well, but we won and we're in the top four and we have to be happy about that.  We know we have to play a lot better tomorrow (in the tournament semifinals) to get into the top two."

Kerri Pottharst (AUS):

"When you're playing a team that's not ranked as high as you, they really have nothing to lose.  They can go out and do anything they want.   As a high-ranked team, you expect that from a team like that.  Kristine (Drakich) particularly played very well.  We put most of the serves on her, and she handled that pretty well."

"I didn't have any thoughts of losing the game.   I was just really thinking about how well we could win."

About Saturday's semifinal (vs. either Germany or USA team of Arce/McPeak):

Kerri Pottharst (AUS):

"We going to go in confidently against whoever we're playing, and I think our concern is to make sure we play our best."

About their team's strengths:

Pauline Manser (AUS):

"Teams know they have to come out and serve strong against us because we're such a threat at the net.  So we have to learn to pass a lot more consistently than a lot of other teams.  If teams serve weakly at us, we're too big at the net and too much of a threat.  So they'll go out there and bomb serves, which puts more pressure on our passing."

About the match:

Maike Friedrichsen (GER):

"We did a little better than yesterday, but we should have done our point balls better.  We had so many chances to make a point and didn't make it.  We made a mistake in our hitting, or just hit the ball too easy over the net, which was not good."

Danja Musch (GER):

"We really wanted to try to win.  We had beaten them the last time we played them in Rio, so we knew maybe we could.  But we're disappointed because although we didn't win, we could have done better."

About needing just 10 points to clinch the top seed in Pool B:

Lisa Arce (USA):

"I knew it.  I remember when we were kind of struggling and holding at 11, I was like, 'We're already in, let's start practicing for the next game.' Basically, we go out for 'Ws' and that's what we're concentrating on."

About the match:

Holly McPeak (USA):

"At the beginning, we were just trying to figure each other's game plan.  I struggled personally with my side-out.  They were serving me some tough floaters, moving me around and making me hit from all areas of the court. Early, I wasn't seeing the court as well as I usually do.  So we had to make a small adjustment."

"Lisa served and blocked great, and I think they were easy ways to score points."

About Saturday's semifinal match vs. Australia:

Holly McPeak (USA):

"They're a big team.  We usually serve Pauline Manser.  She's a lefthanded player who plays on the right side.  We need to move her around.  They're both big, and if we serve right at them, they don't have to move and it's an easy game for them.  So we need to serve them tough and force them to play into our defensive plan."

About the pool draw:

Holly McPeak (USA):

"The pools were selected based on rankings, and because we're the second-highest ranked team in the world, we got put in this pool (B).   I think their pool (A) was a little tougher than ours, but we had some good teams as well. I think there were three pretty tough teams (in pool A).  We have Germany, a pretty tough team, and ourselves in our pool.  And Italy is getting better all the time."