Aug. 29, 2008
Head Coach John Dunning
Opening Statement
"I would like to say congratulations to the AVCA for putting on the event that they have and for the Nebraska fans for coming out like they always do. It is an amazing place to play. I thought the Cornhuskers did a great job today. I want to congratulate them. They have a lot of new players on the court, and I thought they did a great job together. Other than that, I think we have some work to do and that is why you come to play in tournaments like this. It's great to be here, it's exciting and you want to find out where you are and what you need to do next. We definitely know more, but congratulations to them."
On his team's passing against Nebraska
"Yes, it's definitely a game of dominos, that's for sure. I thought they served really well and very aggressively right from the start. They took us out of it early. We had a hard time recovering, but once you get knocked on your heels, it's kind of hard to figure out how the game's going to go your way. I thought we did a good job of fighting back in game three. We blocked some good balls, and I thought we played some great defense in game three."
On his expectations of Nebraska this year
"It's a great program, with great coaches and they've been good for a long time. You don't replace people, you just find a different way to do it. They did a really nice job tonight."
Senior outside hitter Cynthia Barboza
On how Nebraska came out
"The first match of every season is pretty interesting. It give you a good gauge of where you are and where you need to be. They came out and played really, really well. They were serving tough and pushed us out of system. That tells us that we need to improve our out-of-system offense. I was really proud of the way that our team kept talking and communicating and adjusting throughout the match. We saw early on what some of our weaknesses are and I think a big difference from last year is that we kept talking, where as last year in a situation we would freeze up. That gives me a lot of hope for the matches to come, that we are able to adapt as the match progresses and keep working on stuff. I don't think anyone in our locker room is hanging their heads right now. I mean, you'd obviously like to win every match, but we did some good things. Jessica Fishburn came in and played some great defense. We just want to focus on the things we did well and now we know which areas of our game need to get better. That's a good thing going into the next practice. You always want to have stuff that you can be improving, because you want to be your best at the end of the year, not the beginning of the year."