“I think we pride ourselves on blocking shots and defending,” he said. “It all boils down just to being diamond tough, just being very tough at all times, and I think building up from the spring and playing in England and then going through the fall and the preseason, that prepared us so well as a cohesive unit. Even though we lost the first game to Washington, it was kind of a turning point just to say, ‘We need to get better at communicating. Focus on defending. Make sure we’re tight and compact.’ And as we went through the season, we got better and better, and we just completely shut down the opposition in the tournament and found our place at No. 1.”