Post-match quotes from Chicago’s quarterfinal win over Carnegie

They said this day would never come….  Actually, nobody said that, but here are some quotes from after today’s win over Carnegie.

Jennifer Kung (first-year, two singles, two doubles)

• “The number-three doubles match was really close. They kept going back and forth, and our team was cheering really hard for them to try to get them to win.”

 

• On coming from behind late in doubles play:  “It’s hard, I mean, Carnegie is a really strong team. It’s always hard against good players, but our team has been in tough situations before so we know how to handle pressure. Tiffany and Carmen really came through for us today and built up a lot of momentum, and we went into singles knowing had three wins and only needed two more.”

 

• On the importance of winning all three doubles match: “We know that pretty much all of the teams here…are really strong in singles. Getting the huge edge out of doubles is really important because I feel like it would be really hard for any team to take five singles if we were able to do so well in doubles.”

 

• “Going into my singles match I was a little nervous. The girl I played was one of girls in Carnegie’s three doubles team and watching her play in doubles I was a little intimated because she looked really strong.”

 

• On watching Chrissy Hu clinch the win: “We were really excited. We knew a lot of the people on our team were down in singles and to see Chrissy about to cap off the win for us was really motivating.”

 

• “We’re really excited. Today after our match, our team was just really excited, pumped up about tomorrow. I definitely think we have what it takes to go all the way.”

 

• “We don’t know much about their team really, but we still think we have what it takes to beat them. It’ll probably be tough since they’re the number-one team, and we’re not expecting to just crush them, but I definitely think we have what it takes to win.”

 

Carmen VacaGuzman (first-year, three singles, three doubles)

• On the three doubles match: “One doubles and two doubles, once we saw that they won… that really made us kind of really focus on every individual point. We were down 6–7, and we just played two amazing games. We had no errors, just really good points.”

 

• On playing singles up 3–0 in the match: “Everyone’s match counts. We don’t need two of the matches, we need to win all of them.”

 

• “Seeing all of teammates down a set and…they’re usually up, anything could happen. They [Carnegie] could win all of the matches.”

 

• “We do not know much about them [Amherst] at all. We were talking about that today; it can either be a good thing or a bad thing…. You can’t think about what they’re going to do, you’re in control of what you do.”

 

• “They are one in the nation, but we’re a really, really strong team. We really go out there and fight, we try really hard, and we won’t give up until we’ve got it.”

 

• On advancing to the semifinals: “It’s definitely really exciting, I know all of the girls on the team have worked really hard this year…. We’ve definitely matured throughout the season. You have all these people talking, and we could easily get distracted, but we’ve stayed focused. We’re really, really excited. Our coaches have done a great job of keeping ourselves in moment and not thinking ahead.”

 

• “We just want to enjoy it, enjoy the time we have together because this is last time we’ll have same team.”

 

Marty Perry (head coach)

 

• “The only nerves were only in singles a little bit, you know, when you’re up 3–0, you’re expected to win, and the matches got tight. They had to overcome that, did a good job of fighting the nerves off, and we actually put ourselves in a postiion to win every match.”

 

• On the win at three doubles: “It was good because our one and two doubles were off so quick they had to sit and wait for three to finish. Carnegie could have used that for some momentum because one and two were done relatively quickly. Getting that third one gave us that 3–0 lead; that’s the most important thing. It gave us even more momentum going into singles.”

 

• “Carnegie has been very strong at three doubles, and so have we, but it was good to beat that team.”

 

• On winning singles: “It definitely took all six girls gutting it out, grinding out, whatever you want to say, and doing their best to give us a chance to win that. If a few let down, Carnegie could have won five of six.”

 

• On the team’s reaction after clinching the win: “There was no jumping or anything like that. Five and six couldn’t even see it; they were on the other side of the field house, and the umpires had to be called by radio…. We were happy, but there wasn’t a celebration.”

 

• “We played well, fought hard, and beat a really good team 5-0, so that made for a very good end of the day.”

 

• On the keys to tomorrow’s match against Amherst: “I’ve kind of said it from the beginning, we just have to play very strong doubles, play together, play confident, fight hard, and be resilient to compete in doubles. That kind of sets the tone for the match.”

 

Jeff White (assistant coach)

• On three doubles: “It was just back and forth. Nobody could really gain an upper hand. I just felt like we were in control virtually the entire time, if we could just get one break and one hold…the match would be ours. Carnegie didn’t just hand it to us; Carmen and Tiff had to go out and really get it.”

 

• On the late deficit and comeback at three doubles: “It means everything. It showed them that they’re ready, that they can compete at this level, that they’re one of best teams in the country. They were relaxed and confident, and they went out and got that win, that hopefully will translate into their Wednesday and Thursday matches.”

 

• “It’s incredibly tough to win, especially at this level, to win five out of six singles. It can be done, but that just took a lot of pressure off our girls. They knew they could relax and go out and play their game, and if they lost a point, they lost point. They didn’t have to press at all. You don’t ever want to feel like you have to get this point, you have to win.”

 

• On Amherst: “They’re clearly a good team; they’re tested. The key to tomorrow has to be doubles again. If we go out and we take it to them, and show them that we’re not afraid, anything can be done.”