Nebraska (30-0, 20-0 Big Ten), the No. 1 overall national seed, will host Long Island (15-17, 10-4 NEC) following the Wildcats and Toreros match with the winners facing each other on Saturday, December 6 at 7 p.m.

First and second round matches will be streamed on ESPN+. The NCAA Championship will take place at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo., December 18 and 21.

 

Below is a short transcript of the press conference.

 

JASON MANSFIELD, K-STATE HEAD COACH

Overall statement…

“Well, obviously we’re super excited for the week and grateful that our names got called on Sunday. We started the prep yesterday, and we’ll watch film and practice today and tomorrow, and then be off to Lincoln. But I’m really proud of our team and what they’ve accomplished this season and how consistent we’ve been. We’ve grown a lot and battled through injuries, but I think we’re as healthy as we’ve been, and just excited to compete on Friday against San Diego.”

 

On tying the team’s five Top 25 wins record…

Yeah, again, I’m really proud of the group. And we just felt it pretty early in the spring, you know, that something special was happening, and the chance they had to kind of build trust together in the spring. We had some good matches there and then it carried into the summer and obviously the start of fall camp. So, yeah, I think that I believed that this team could be great pretty early and well before the season started. I just really liked how we were playing together again in the spring. And I think, really, when we beat North Carolina, I think that that was the match where I think it gave, hopefully, everybody a lot of confidence that we could compete at a really high level on the road against a good team. And at that point, I knew that special things could happen this season.”

 

On characteristics this team has compared to championship programs previously worked with…

“A lot. I mean, I think you have to have senior leadership. You have to have veterans that really understand what it’s like to play at a high level. I think that’s obviously where this team separates itself from a lot of teams, is just the experience we have and that we just have a lot of girls that have been urging this whole season and wanting this team to be great. You got to be good on both sides of the ball. You have to be a good offensive team, and you have to be a really good defensive team. And I think we have both of those things. And then I think at this point in the season, much like for all of the season, you got to make plays, and you have to do it over and over and over again, and we’ve proven that we can do that, and that’s what great teams do.”

 

On how the Big 12 schedule helped prepare for the NCAA Tournament…

“I don’t think there was a single team in our conference that we couldn’t play our best in order to win. And I think that even some of the teams going in what they were quote-unquote not supposed to be good with new coaches, UCF and Cincinnati, both those teams were really good this year, and Colorado kind of came out of nowhere. We obviously know about the other schools, but I think, it prepared us a lot that we couldn’t take a match off. We needed to prepare and I think we did a great job of that with our staff and our team in every match. But yeah, it felt like it’s an NCAA tournament pretty much every match that we played and hopefully that helps us on Friday.

 

SHAYLEE MYERS, SENIOR, OH/OPP

On what was going through her mind when K-State was called…

“It’s a feeling like the hard work has paid off. Going to Lincoln, Nebraska in general is fun. I’m from Lincoln. I live 20 minutes from Bob Devaney Center, so I think that’s going to be so exciting. And I mean, a bunch of my hometown friends will probably be there, hopefully in this crowd, so we’re going to convince them to wear purple. But it’ll be fun.”

 

On something people should takeaway from this K-State team…

I feel like there’s so many things I don’t even know how to think about one. But I think we’re very passionate. I mean with everything that we do, we’re going into every practice with passion. We want to win. We want this. Even going into film thinking the same, or with how we treat each other, we’re passionate about it. We care about it. So just like, I think how deeply we do those things is really special.”

 

AVA LEGRAND, SENIOR, S

On playing in her hometown state of Nebraska…

“I think just how excited I am for us to go to Nebraska. We have three of us from Nebraska and it will be such a cool experience. I know how their fans are. It’s such a great environment in Bob Devaney Center. And I think it’ll be such an awesome experience for, hopefully, the start of what becomes a tradition in this program. And so, what better way to start that in Lincoln?”

 

On making it into the NCAA Tournament…

“I don’t think I ever didn’t think we’d make it. I was pretty confident from the beginning. I feel like everyone was bought in, and coaching staff, players, support staff, everyone. And I knew if we just stayed healthy, stayed committed, stayed bought in, that it was always a possibility.”