In my class I’m a much easier grader than I am in practice. I’d say in the last couple of matches, we’re a “C.” I don’t think a “C” goes very far in the NCAA Tournament, because people care. Everybody cares — it’s how much do you care.

Head Coach Russ Rose after Penn State’s 3-0 win over Indiana

Match Wrap

Yes, it was a sweep.  And yes, Penn state moved to 16-1 in the B1G and 26-1 overall.  But Head Coach Russ Rose clearly wasn’t happy with his team’s performance in their 3-0 win over Indiana Wednesday night (25-21, 25-16, 25-16).

Coach Rose acknowledged that Penn State blocked well (13.0 team blocks for the night).  And he singled out the play of three players — Tori Gorrell (hitting and blocking), Ali Frantti (passing), and Haleigh Washington (hitting and blocking).  Other than that, he wasn’t pleased, as is clear from the quotes below:

Coach Rose Post-Match Quotes

On the team’s performance

We’re appreciative of the people that came to the match.  I think we came out and didn’t play with the enthusiasm and passion that I would have hoped to have seen across the board.  I thought Tori [Gorrell] played a terrific match.  She hit and blocked very well.  Haley had to know where to block and hit better, and was involved in some blocks.  I thought Ali’s passing was good.  It surely wasn’t a great performance by everybody today.  That’s disappointing because we’re trying to get some momentum.  Heading down the stretch run, you’d like to think that you’re able to start your own engines, and get out there and do it. . . . I thought we blocked well and served poorly.

On the team’s readiness with three regular season matches to go

In my class, I’m a much easier grader than I am in practice.  I’d say in the last couple of matches, we’re a “C.”  I don’t think a “C” goes very far in the NCAA Tournament, because people care.  Everybody cares — it’s how much do you care.  I don’t think we played with much passion or purpose the last two matches.  In the [Maryland] match, we had over 6,000 people in the gym.  You would think in a situation like that, the players would have played their best match.  [Against Indiana at Bloomington] we hit .500, and today we hit .300, and certainly .300 is better than the .140 we hit in the second game, but I’d be misleading people if I said I was pleased with how we played tonight.  But I don’t think the craft is especially hard.  Sometimes you have a group of people that want to do great things, and sometimes you have a group of people.

Match Stats

(Courtesy of GoPSUsports.com)