Quotes
May 13, 2006 | Women's Tennis
Florida
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
“Obviously, we are really pleased with moving on to Palo Alto. We knew that this was going to be a tough test today. South Florida has had a heck of a year and they have talented players ? particularly in the top four slots in the line-up ? that can play with anybody. Their No. 1 player [Neyssa Etienne] beat us in February; their No. 2 player [Courtney Vernon] hasn't lost all year. Their No. 3 player [Liz Cruz] had beaten Whitney [Benik] earlier in the year. I certainly knew that we were going to have our hands full. I was really happy to see how well we responded to some close matches in doubles. The doubles point ? for the first 30 minutes ? could have gone either way. No. 2 was playing at a very, very high level, but at No. 1 and No. 3, they were matching us in ability the whole time. They had a lead at No. 3. I was really happy with our players and the way they were able to step up when it really mattered and out-play South Florida to earn the doubles point. That certainly sets a good tone going into the rest of the tournament.”
On his assessment of the team heading into the next round of the NCAA Tournament...
“I think we are playing well. If we can sustain and maybe improve on our doubles play, then we have a shot at doing something really good. With singles, as we have said all year long, if we can get the doubles point, it is going to be very difficult to beat us. I don't know if there are many teams that can win four singles spots right now the way our players have battled. If we can play like this, it's going to take a really good team to beat us, I think.”
On the possibility of playing Stanford in the NCAA Tournament...
“We worry about what we have in front of us. Whoever comes out of the Pepperdine-UCLA match is going to be plenty good enough to worry about first. All you can do is beat who you have got in front of you. We're going to take them one at a time. If we play good tennis, we have a chance to beat anybody. We'll take the next one first.”
On whether he is concerned because the team has not faced a top-five opponent all year...
“It doesn't concern me because I know who those top five teams are now. Frankly, I think that the way North Carolina played when we played them indoors at their place is as close to a top-five team as you are going to get in ability. Obviously Vanderbilt is very good and Duke is a very good team. It doesn't really concern me that much. I think we are battle-tested enough. Especially looking at how we were able to answer the challenges today.”
On having a balanced lineup...
“I think that that's the beauty of it. If you are going to win a championship, you need to be able to win at every spot. I think we can do that with this team.”
On his familiarity with the West-coast teams in the tournament...
“We have seen most of them play. Fortunately, there are not a whole lot of new players playing for those teams. I think we have a pretty good feel for what we are up against. We saw most of the UCLA players in Las Vegas in January. Pepperdine we are not as much familiar with ? we have seen a couple of their players.”
Boglarka Berecz, Senior
On how the 2003 NCAA Championship team compares to this year's Florida squad...
“We're very similar to that team competing wise. Whenever we have tough situations, we seem to pull it out. That gives us a good chance as we go into the tournament.”
Nina Suvak, Junior
On how it felt to get back on the court this weekend in the NCAA Tournament...
“It has been a long way to come here. This season was long. Between the last match we played at SECs and now, we worked really hard, so I think we were all really excited to play again. Just getting those two matches done was a great experience. Playing at home was awesome ? we feel comfortable. We just proved that we are ready to play out at Stanford. We are all really excited to get back on the road again, take one match at a time and go as far as we can.”
USF
Head Coach Augstin Moreno
“I'm proud of my team. It's a pity that due to the region we have to play a team like Florida, who I thought should have been higher ranked. I thought we competed well. There were a couple of big points in the doubles match that could have gone either way and maybe we could have pulled the upset.”
“I believe we competed well and to tell you the truth I don't think Florida is a No. 4 seed. I think they have a better chance of beating Stanford than anyone else, because they (Florida) have won NCAA championships and are really competitive positions one through six.”
Nesyssa Etienne, Senior
“To me they (Alexis Gordon and Diana Srebrovic) have different styles of game. Diana is more of a hitting person, she just goes out there and hits. Alexis likes to slice more. To me, I like playing Diana more because I like to bang and hit it. They are both awesome players, but Diana attacks a little bit more, her game is more attacking. Alexis' game is just slicing and hitting the corners.”
