LYNDSEY BENSON
Head coach

“I think we’re tougher right now than when we played them the first time. We definitely made some adjustments, too. We missed some matchups, where we were exploited that first time, and I thought we had some better matchups tonight.”

“I’m really proud of our defensive effort tonight. Defense is what wins championships, so we really stress that as coaches. Bre (VanDerMost) did a great job tonight. She was flying all over the court; she did a great job tonight.”

“Being a great defensive team was one of our goals at the beginning the season. We feel like we are a good defensive team, and we have to out-dig a team to give our offense a chance. We’re good offensively when our defense sets us up in good opportunities. We feel like we have to out-dig to be successful.”

“Kenzie’s one of our go-to hitters, and she’s a big player for us. Even when she’s not scoring, her physical presence opens up other opportunities for our team. And Lauren Carter, who is our captain, does a great job of knowing where Kenzie is and setting her and the rest of the girls in good opportunities.”

“It’s not going to be the same Sac. State team we faced when they were here a month ago. They’re going to be a tough, tough matchup.”

“We would love to get everyone’s best effort the rest of the season – Montana played very well tonight – because it makes for an exciting match. We’d rather have matches that are competitive because they bring out the best in us, and that’s what we need.”

BREANNA VANDERMOST
Junior defensive specialist

“Our first match at Montana was our first Big Sky Conference match, and I think we had some nerves going in that one. I don’t know if we panicked, but I think we really wanted to show people in this league that we were good. And tonight, we were a little more focused and we just played our game, and the better team won.”

“We just have to know that our opponents are always going to play their best against us, so we can never take a game off. When you’re middle of the conference, you can always not play your best game and it’s just kind of an, ‘Oops,’ and you can also be the team to come out and knock off a high team. But when we’re in the position we’re in now, we take every game with the approach where we have to be ready. We just have to be a mature team and respect each of our opponents.”

TAYLOR SMITH
Junior middle blocker

“We just have to go into every match knowing it’s going to be a fight and that anybody can beat anybody. We can’t take anything for granted. Even though we are No. 1 right now, we still have six more games to go, and they’re against really good teams.”