John Blackburn Quotations

We were tougher today in facing the adversity, knowing that it is going to come and how you deal with it. A good example was in the two doubles match and Chris Thomas pulled a muscle in his abs. He didn't quit and kept battling and that was probably one of the biggest matches today.

This win was important; it puts us towards our goal of 10 wins. The purpose was to improve from last season and finish at least .500 to help turn the program back to the winning side.

I was surprised at our play in doubles against Samford. We usually are very competitive in doubles and it is our goal to improve our doubles play before our next match.

We are focused on our double play. And we are improving on tactics and point construction in singles.

Jill did a great job of getting the team to gel and mixing the old players with the new.

When I first came here I didn't have a single expectation for anyone. But I saw right away that Jill had great leadership potential in addition to her outstanding athletic ability.

We competed well in non-conference play and have had solid practices.

We saw the women at the fall in the Evansville tournament. They had some pretty quality players so it should be a close match.

The thing about tennis is even though you play as an individual, you still have to work as a team to win.

They (Murray, Samford, and Jacksonville) are three of the better teams in our conference. The Murray State women are outstanding. Our goal for the end of the season is to attack within every point, be aggressive and try to point pressure on our opponents without making errors.

They are a very deep team all the way down. They are a great team and all of the guys will need to play well and step up at the same time.

Instead of going all the way to Alabama, Murray was kind enough to give us some neutral courts so we could meet Jacksonville and Samford half-way.