May 13, 2001
Notre Dame head coach Jay Louderback
On his team’s doubles play . . .
“It was scary at first, we were down 6-4 in both No. 2 and No. 3 doubles. I felt that if we could just win in doubles, it would make it a lot easier in singles because there is not so much pressure on the girls. Doubles was really important, and both of the comebacks were great.”
On the changing of strategy in doubles . . .
“(Assistant Coach) Liz (Barker) had our girls go two back, with both girls playing the baseline. When you do that, you give yourself a chance to get to a lot more balls. We probably should have done that a little earlier. When we went two back I saw us making a lot more balls and it made it a lot more difficult for their team to put the balls away.”
On the weather . . .
“It wasn’t windy today. Yesterday was just great weather for Tulane because they make you play every single ball and you have to finish points. With the wind and some cold, it is harder to do that. With a little warmer weather and no wind, we can be really aggressive and go after the ball and hit winners in the match.”
Notre Dame junior Nina Vaughan
On being down 5-0 to start the doubles match . . .
“We just had a little bit of a slow start. We started missing some returns and giving up some free points. When we started taking our time and making them play a little bit, things started to go our way. Once we started playing at our pace, it wasn’t a problem.”
On the slow start today . . .
“We weren’t tight, I think it was just a little bit of a slow start because once we got out here and started rolling, we were really rolling, which you can see from our doubles. Overall everyone came out aggressive and really excited today.”
On advancing to the Sweet 16 . . .
“Every year it is our goal to get to it (Sweet 16). Our next goal now is to get to the Elite Eight. We definitely have a roadblock in Florida. We are a great team and we can compete with anybody.
Tulane head coach David Schumacher
On his doubles play . . .
“We have struggled this season in doubles play against the top competition. Had we been able to steal the point in doubles it would have been an unexpected pleasure.”
On the competition in singles . . .
“Notre Dame recruited well, practiced hard, had a work ethic and a desire and a motivation, had tenaciously competitive young women who wanted to win badly and they have done so all year, they deserve to win.”