Thought I would start a thread about volleyball since one seems to usually pop up around tournament time.

I just gotta say that we witnessed the biggest win in Iowa State history tonight in Ames. #8 ISU knocked off #2 and undefeated Texas in 5 sets, 22-25, 25-22, 25-15, 20-25, 15-12. Hilton was absolutely rockin' and our girls managed to knock off a team ranked in the top five for the second time in two weeks!

With an Elite 8 appearance last year and a 20-3, 12-2 record this season, ISU has come a long way from where we were under the previous coach. In the six seasons from 1999-2004, ISU was 8-112 in Big 12 play. No, that's not a typ-o. In the five seasons under our current coach, we're 55-39 in the league.

Even with Texas losing tonight, I don't think they'll drop from the #2 spot, honestly. Penn State is still undefeated and hasn't lost a match in nearly three years, I think. So odds are they will be the favorite as the tournament nears.

I have never been a big volleyball person before, but have gone to many games over the years here at Iowa State. This is the first year we've had season tickets, though, and it's been worth every dime so far!

I was part of an all-time state-of-Iowa volleyball attendance record last night. Iowa State played host to Nebraska in front of over 10,200 fans, breaking the old record by about 3500 people. Unfortunately, we didn't get the "W" as a thank you to those who showed up. In fact, we got swept in three sets. I think between the pressure of a capacity + crowd (for vball configuration), the rematch against NU (which the Huskers were prepared for) and the 11 game winning streak, ISU finally got overwhelmed. We did not show up in the first set at all, started competing in the second when it was too late (already down by 8) and lead in the third until NU took a 21-20 lead and won. It was our first home loss all season, but at least it was to a good team - no shame in that. It was just a disappointing effort to not give it our best shot.

I think new RPI and rankings should be out tomorrow. I will post what I can find then.

Ok, haven't seen the new RPI list, but the new poll came out this afternoon.

[rank, school, (record), points; previous week]
1. PENN ST (60) (26-0), 1500; 1
2. TEXAS (19-1), 1411; 2
3. HAWAII (23-2), 1397; 3
4. WASHINGTON (20-3), 1269; 4
5. ILLINOIS (20-3), 1214; 5
6. UCLA (19-6), 1146; 7
7. STANFORD (16-7), 1131; 5
8. IOWA ST (20-4), 1100; 8
9. NEBRASKA (18-6), 1005; 10
10. FLORIDA (20-3), 985; 9
11. KENTUCKY (24-2), 897; 11
12. CALIFORNIA (15-8), 847; 13
13. MINNESOTA (19-7), 811; 12
14. MICHIGAN (20-7), 663; 15
15. FLORIDA ST (23-2), 635; 16
16. OREGON (16-6), 617; 14
17. USC (15-9), 521; 17
18. ARIZONA (17-7), 448; 18
19. LSU (20-5), 434; 19
20. SAINT LOUIS (19-6), 300; 21
21. BAYLOR (20-6), 245; 20
22. NORTHERN IOWA (24-2), 174; 25
23. SAINT MARYS CA (18-4), 156; 25
24. NOTRE DAME (18-4), 90; NR
25. (tie) SAN DIEGO (16-6), 69; 22
25. (tie) WASHINGTON ST (16-8), 69; 24

Dropped Out: No. 23 TEXAS A&M
Others Receiving Votes: OKLAHOMA 51, DAYTON 50, TEXAS A&M
48, COLORADO ST 39, FLORIDA INTL 31, UC IRVINE 26, LONG
BEACH ST 25, OHIO ST 23, TENNESSEE 20, DUKE 12, PEPPERDINE
11, UC SNTA BARBARA 11, OREGON ST 7, TCU 3

Here's this week's rpi standings. Guess they came out later than they did last week...

(rank, team, record thru 11/8)
1 Texas 19-1
2 Penn St. 26-0
3 Florida St. 23-2
4 Illinois 20-3
5 Washington 20-3
6 California 15-8
7 Minnesota 19-7
8 UCLA 19-6
9 Stanford 16-7
10 Iowa St. 20-4
11 LSU 20-5
12 Michigan 20-7
13 Nebraska 18-6
14 Notre Dame 18-4
15 Florida Int'l 26-2
16 Colorado St. 20-4
17 Arizona 17-7
18 Florida 20-3
19 Oregon 16-6
20 Wichita St. 20-4
21 Hawaii 23-2
22 Tennessee 19-6
23 Kentucky 24-2
24 Long Beach St. 16-6
25 Ohio St. 20-7

The new RPI tally was released tonight. My Cyclones moved up a spot to #9 and another local team, Northern Iowa, rocketed from 31 to 19. UNI has won 24 consecutive games, not having lost since Iowa State beat them in Cedar Falls in the fourth game of the season (IIRC).

(rank, team, record thru 11/15)
1 Texas, 20-1
2 Penn St., 28-0
3 Florida St., 25-2
4 Illinois, 21-4
5 Washington, 21-4
6 California, 17-8
7 Stanford, 18-7
8 UCLA, 20-7
9 Iowa St., 22-4
10 LSU, 22-5
11 Minnesota, 21-7
12 Nebraska, 19-6
13 Michigan, 22-7
14 Notre Dame, 20-4
15 FIU, 28-2
16 Colorado St., 22-4
17 Arizona, 18-7
18 Florida, 20-4
19 UNI, 26-2
20 Kentucky, 26-2
21 Hawaii, 25-2
22 Duke, 24-5
23 Tennessee, 20-7
24 Ohio St., 21-8
25 Wichita St., 21-5

Interesting to note the three dominant conference showings: the four Pac 10 team bunched up at #s 5-8, the three Big 12 teams in the top 12, and the four Big 10 teams in the top 13.

It's important to keep in mind that these are the power ratings that will help decide which 16 schools will host NCAA 1st and 2nd round games. The regional sites are already set with Minneapolis, Omaha, Gainesville (FL), and Stanford hosting.

It's worth noting that the #2 rpi and #1 ranked Penn State vball team just won it's 92nd consecutive game - an amazing feat in any sport. I believe there are only a few winning streaks in any college sport that have gone on longer (but don't ask me what they are right now - does anyone else know?).

I thought this was pretty cool, so I'm posting it here from Cyclones.com:


"AMES, Iowa – Iowa State volleyball player Victoria Henson has been named the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Week. Henson becomes the first Cyclone to be honored by the AVCA since Erin Boeve in 2006.

Henson averaged 5.00 kills, 4.00 digs, 1.33 blocks and 5.92 points per set in ISU’s road sweeps of Texas A&M and Kansas State. She posted double-doubles in both matches, recording identical 15 kill-12 dig performances against the Aggies and Wildcats.

Against the Aggies, the Leavenworth, Kan. native added a solo block and four block assists as ISU won in College Station for just the second time in school history. She hit .355 against K-State and tacked on three block assists as ISU earned another sweep."


Since they were on the road for both games, I hadn't paid real close attention to how well Henson had done last week. Very cool!

The newest poll was released today:

AVCA Coaches Poll
1. Penn State (60)
2. Texas
3. Hawai’i
4. Washington
5. Illinois
6. Stanford
7. Iowa State
8. Nebraska
9. UCLA
10. Kentucky
11. California
12. Michigan
13. Minnesota
14. Florida State
15. Florida
16. Southern California
17. LSU
18. Oregon
19. Arizona
20. Northern Iowa
21. St. Mary’s (Calif.)
22. Saint Louis
23. Colorado State
24. Dayton
25. Notre Dame

Others Receiving Votes and appearing on two or more ballots: Baylor, Tennessee, San Diego, Washington State, Duke, UC Irvine, Pepperdine, Long Beach State, Texas A&M, Florida International, Ohio State, Louisville, UC Santa Barbara, Ohio, Oklahoma

The field of 64 was announced today. Here's the link for the bracket:

http://www.ncaa.com/brackets/2009/ncaa_bra...ball_women.html

The Big 12 got six teams in but got royally screwed overall. Of the six teams invited, FOUR of them are in the same region, including the teams that finished 1-2-3 in the league. Texas, Iowa State, Nebraska, and Texas A&M are all in the Omaha region, while Minneapolis has no Big 12 team and the other two regions each have one.

It has been an "informal" rule (apparently) that the selection committee not place the top two teams from the same conference in the same region - guess they decided to drop that this year. All they had to do was switch the #6 national seed (Washington) and the #7 (Iowa State) and they would have avoided the Big 12's 1 and 2 from being seeded together, spread out the Big 12 teams (a little) more evenly, and two of the three top programs in the country this year from NOT having the opportunity to reach the Final Four, regardless of which teams they are. Plus, Washington went 6-4 over their last ten including dropping their season finale after leading 2-0 over Oregon in Seattle, while Iowa State went 15-1 to end the regular season while knocking off four ranked teams along the way.

Michigan State got in - are you kidding?! They finished 17-15 overall and tied for last place in the Big 10 with Iowa. I'm not complaining about the record, but I think they could have found a more deserving team from a mid-major conference than one which finishes dead last in their league. Wow.

I was with the ISU volleyball team at a local restaurant when the bracket was announced and the reaction from everyone was definitely subdued almost immediately as people realized what the selection committee had done. We were happy to be hosting 1st and 2nd round games and to have the regional be nearby in Omaha. But once it set in that the Big 12's top 3 were all in the same spot, the celebration fell to a buzzing as everyone talked about the pairings.

Also, I guess I was incorrect about the top 16 seeds hosting as there are several national seeds which will have to travel for sub-regional games. I do not pretend to understand the reasoning behind this, but whatever. So have fun being on the road, Hawaii, California, Minnesota, Oregon, and Washington! I guess there is a sub-regional "400 mile" rule that requires at least two of the three visiting schools be 400 miles or less away from the host school, thus only needing one team to fly in, while the others charter a bus.

I certainly hope there are rule changes next year to make sure nothing like this bracket fiasco happens again (you don't see the top three Pac 10 teams all crammed into one region). Don't get me wrong - I'm not irritated just for Iowa State, but for all four Big 12 teams that were put in the Omaha region.

As for the top 4 national seeds, I think Penn State and Stanford have the easiest roads to the Final Four. I don't think Florida State necessarily deserved the national 3 seed, but the Minneapolis region could be favorable to them. The knock on them is that they are coming from a relatively weak volleyball conference (ACC) and not having played a ranked team since September 4th. Yes, their record is impressive (28-2), but it was not necessarily built by beating the best teams. The problem is that after the top two, exactly where do you draw the line between the next ten or so?

Ok, that was probably an excessively bitchy post, but I had my reasons!

What are other people thinking about the field this year? Are people happy with where their school/team ended up? General thoughts?

Final regular season volleyball poll:

AVCA Coaches Top-25 Poll
1. Penn State (60)
2. Texas
3. Hawai’i
4. Stanford
5. Iowa State
6. Washington
7. Nebraska
8. Illinois
9. UCLA
10. California
11. Minnesota
12. Florida State
13. Kentucky
14. Florida
15. Southern California
16. Michigan
17. Oregon
18. LSU
19. Arizona
20. Northern Iowa
21. St. Mary’s (Calif.)
22. Saint Louis
23. Dayton
24. Tennessee
25. Colorado State

Others receiving votes: Notre Dame, Ohio State, Washington State, Baylor, Duke, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, Pepperdine, San Diego, Florida International, Ohio, TCU, Texas A&M, Louisville, New Mexico State, Rice

I'm happy to say that Christy Johnson-Lynch (Iowa State) was named Big 12 Coach of the Year today. Also, Iowa State had the Big 12 Libero of the Year (Ashley Mass) and three players on the 1st Team, All-Big 12 (Victoria Henson, Kaylee Manns, Ashley Mass). The Big 12 Player of the Year was Destinee Hooker of Texas.

NCAA Bracket was announced. My Washington State Cougars qualified...

2009 NCAA volleyball tournament

First- and second-round matches will be played at 16 campus sites. A list of the first-round match-ups follows.

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA REGIONAL

December 4-5 at University Park, Pennsylvania
No. 1 Penn St. (32-0) vs. Binghamton (15-15)
Army (26-5) vs. Penn (22-5)

December 3-4 at Gainesville, Florida
Miami (18-12) vs. FIU (31-3)
Col. of Charleston (18-12) vs. No. 16 Florida (23-5)

December 4-5 at Columbus, Ohio
No. 9 California (18-10) vs. Lipscomb (28-3)
Cincinnati (25-10) vs. Ohio St. (24-9)

December 4-5 at Los Angeles, California
Georgia Tech (21-9) vs. Baylor (22-9)
Long Beach St. (22-8) vs. No. 8 UCLA (23-8)

STANFORD, CALIFORNIA REGIONAL

December 3-4 at Champaign, Illinois
No. 5 Illinois (24-5) vs. IPFW (20-11)
Milwaukee (16-14) vs. Dayton (29-3)

December 4-5 at Los Angeles, California
Southern California (21-9) vs. Oklahoma (18-11)
New Mexico (20-9) vs. No. 12 Hawaii (27-2)

December 4-5 at Ann Arbor, Michigan
No. 13 Michigan (24-9) vs. Niagara (23-8)
Ohio (26-6) vs. Notre Dame (21-6)

December 4-5 at Stanford, California
St. Mary's (CA) (22-4) vs. UC Santa Barbara (22-7)
Long Island (21-13) vs. No. 4 Stanford (21-7)

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA REGIONAL

December 5-6 at Tallahassee, Florida
No. 3 Florida St. (28-2) vs. Alabama A&M (18-10)
Florida A&M (17-9) vs. Jacksonville St. (26-7)

December 4-5 at Lexington, Kentucky
Kentucky (27-4) vs. Michigan St. (17-15)
Clemson (23-9) vs. No. 14 Oregon (19-9)

December 4-5 at Knoxville, Tennessee
No. 11 Minnesota (24-8) vs. Louisville (21-10)
Duke (27-5) vs. Tennessee (23-7)

December 3-4 at Fort Collins, Colorado
Colorado St. (23-5) vs. Middle Tenn. (25-9)
Northern Colo. (21-11) vs. No. 6 Washington (23-5)

OMAHA, NEBRASKA REGIONAL

December 4-5 at Ames, Iowa
No. 7 Iowa State (25-4) vs. George Mason (23-8)
Wichita St. (25-6) vs. St. Louis (24-7)

December 4-5 at Lincoln, Nebraska
Washington St. (18-12) vs. UNI (30-2)
Coastal Caro. (20-13) vs. No. 10 Nebraska (23-6)

December 4-5 at Baton Rouge, Louisiana
No. 15 LSU (24-6) vs. Tulane (18-9)
Arizona (19-10) vs. Texas A&M (18-10)

December 3-4 at Austin, Texas
TCU (26-6) vs. Rice (23-8)
Texas St. (22-12) vs. No. 2 Texas (24-1)

Round 1 results from Thursday, December 3rd:

Gainesville, Fla.
FIU 3, Miami 2
FIU advances to play No. 16 Florida in the second round on Friday Dec. 4.

No. 16 Florida 3, College of Charleston 0
No. 16 Florida advances to play FIU in the second round on Friday Dec. 4.

Champaign, Ill.
Dayton 3, Milwaukee 2
Dayton advances to play No. 5 Illinois in the second round on Friday Dec. 4.

No. 5 Illinois 3, IPFW 0
No. 5 Illinois advances to play Dayton in the second round on Friday Dec. 4.

Fort Collins, Colo.
No. 6 Washington 3, Northern Colorado 1
No. 6 Washington advances to play Colorado State in the second round on Friday Dec. 4.

Colorado State 3, Middle Tennessee 2
Colorado State advances to play No. 6 Washington in the second round on Friday Dec. 4.

Austin, Texas
TCU 3, Rice 0
TCU advances to play No. 2 Texas in the second round on Friday Dec. 4.

No. 2 Texas 3, Texas State 0
No. 2 Texas advances to play TCU in the second round on Friday Dec. 4.

Results from Friday, December 4th (via ESPN.com):

University Park, Pa.
Penn 3, Army 1
Penn advances to play No. 1 Penn State in the second round.

No. 1 Penn State 3, Binghamton 0
No. 1 Penn State advances to play Penn in the second round.

Knoxville, Tenn.
No. 11 Minnesota 3, Louisville 1
No. 11 Minnesota advances to play Tennessee in the second round.

Tennessee 3, Duke 1
Tennessee advances to play No. 11 Minnesota in the second round.

Lexington, Ky.
No. 14 Oregon 3, Clemson 0
No. 14 Oregon advances to play Kentucky in the second round.

Kentucky 3, Michigan State 0
Kentucky advances to play No. 14 Oregon in the second round.

Lincoln, Neb.
UNI 3, Washington State 0
UNI advances to play No. 10 Nebraska in the second round.

No. 10 Nebraska 3, Coastal Carolina 0
No. 10 Nebraska advances to play UNI in the second round.

Ann Arbor, Mich.
Ohio 3, Notre Dame 2
Ohio advances to play No. 13 Michigan in the second round.

No. 13 Michigan 3, Niagara 0
No. 13 Michigan advances to play Ohio in the second round.

Columbus, Ohio
No. 9 California 3, Lipscomb 0
No. 9 California advances to play Ohio State in the second round.

Ohio State 3, Cincinnati 1
Ohio State advances to play No. 9 California in the second round.

Ames, Iowa
Wichita State 3, Saint Louis 1
Wichita State advances to play No. 7 Iowa State in the second round.

No. 7 Iowa State 3, George Mason 0
No. 7 Iowa State advances to play Wichita State in the second round.

Baton Rouge
Texas A&M 3, Arizona 1
Texas A&M advances to play No. 15 LSU the second round.

No. 15 LSU 3, Tulane 0
No. 15 LSU advances to play Texas A&M in the second round.

Los Angeles
No. 12 Hawaii 3, New Mexico 0
No. 12 Hawaii advances to play USC in the second round.

USC 3, Oklahoma 0
USC advances to play No. 12 Hawaii in the second round.

Palo Alto, Calif.
Saint Mary's (Calif.) 3, UC Santa Barbara 2
Saint Mary's (Calif.) advances to play No. 4 Stanford in the second round.

No. 4 Stanford 3, Long Island 0
No. 4 Stanford advances to play Saint Mary's (Calif.) in the second round.

Los Angeles
Baylor 3, Georgia Tech 0
Baylor advances to play No. 8 UCLA in the second round.

No. 8 UCLA 3, Long Beach State 0
No. 8 UCLA advances to play Baylor in the second round.

I'm sad my Cougs went down to UNI but it was nice to make the tournament again...it had been a 7-yr drought!

NCAA tournament results from Saturday, December 5th:

University Park, Pa.
No. 1 Penn State 3, Penn 0
No. 1 Penn State advances to play No. 16 Florida in the third round.

Lincoln, Neb.
No. 10 Nebraska 3, UNI 0
No. 10 Nebraska advances to play No. 7 Iowa State in the third round.

Columbus, Ohio
No. 9 California 3, Ohio State 1
No. 9 California advances to play Baylor in the third orund.

Lexington, Ky.
Kentucky 3, No. 14 Oregon 0
Kentucky advances to the third round.

Knoxville, Tenn.
No. 11 Minnesota 3, Tennessee 0
No. 11 Minnesota advances to play Colorado State in the third round.

Ann Arbor, Mich.
No. 13 Michigan 3, Ohio 2
No. 13 Michigan advances to play No. 4 Stanford in the third round

Ames, Iowa
No. 7 Iowa State 3, Wichita State 0
No. 7 Iowa State advances to play No. 10 Nebraska in the third round.

Baton Rouge, La.
Texas A&M 3, No. 15 LSU 2
Texas A&M advances to play No. 2 Texas in the third round.

Los Angeles
Baylor 3, No. 8 UCLA 1
Baylor advances to play No. 9 California in the third round.

Los Angeles
No. 12 Hawaii 3, Southern California 1
No. 12 Hawaii advances to play No. 5 Illinois in the third round.

Palo Alto, Calif.
No. 4 Stanford 3, Saint Mary's (Calif.) 2
No. 4 Stanford advances to play No. 13 Michigan in the third round.

Tallahassee, Fla. (this game was one day later than the others, so the second round game is Sunday here)
Jacksonville State 3, Florida A&M 0
Jacksonville State advances to play No. 3 Florida State in the second round.

No. 3 Florida State 3, Alabama A&M 0
No. 3 Florida State advances to play Jacksonville State in the second round.

Florida State advanced in their second round match-up against Jacksonville State, 3-0. The final two sets were close as JSU lost those only 24-26, 22-25.

Northern Iowa got a good game out of Washington State. The Cougars went down in three close sets, 24, 21, 20. UNI got their butts handed right back to them against host Nebraska, losing in 3 sets, 14, 17, 21.

Iowa State gets to play Nebraska Friday night in Omaha as it's an all-Big 12 Omaha region final four. Texas, Iowa State, Nebraska, and Texas A&M all advanced out of the sub-regional they were in. ISU won both rounds 3-0 over their opponents. There was a girl from Iowa who plays for Wichita State (which we beat on Saturday) who said she chose WSU over Iowa State and UNI because Wichita was an up-and-coming program and they were going somewhere (paraphrasing here). Yeah, so Wichita State has yet to make it past the second round, ever, while ISU in in it's third consecutive Sweet 16. Good choice.

Top 16 seeds LSU, Washington, Oregon, and UCLA all failed to advance to the Sweet 16. Only two Pac 10 schools remain, while the Big 10 has four schools still competing, and the Big 12 has five.

Unfortunately, I will not be making the trip to Omaha this weekend to watch our next game due to too many other things going on this weekend. But I will try to stay on top of stuff, regardless of how well Iowa State does.

Here are the regional match-ups for this Friday in each of the four regions. All times are Central. I don't believe anything will be televised, but they should be floating around for web broadcasts. You're on your own to find them, though (I have no idea) - sorry!

Gainesville
California - Baylor 2:30
Penn State - Florida 5:00

Omaha
Texas - Texas A&M 4:30
Nebraska - Iowa State 7:00

Minneapolis
Kentucky - Florida State 5:00
Minnesota - Colorado State 7:00

Stanford
Hawaii - Illinois 7:00
Stanford - Michigan 9:00


Saturday Regional Finals schedule; all matches on ESPNU (times are Central).

Gainesville 3:00
Minneapolis 5:30
Omaha 8:00
Stanford 10:30

I know what I'll be doing Saturday...

predictions (because they're fun) for this weekend's regional finals:

Gainesville - Penn State vs Cal...winner: Penn State
Stanford - Stanford vs Illinois...winner: Stanford
Minneapolis - Kentucky vs Minnesota...winner: Minnesota
Omaha - Texas vs Nebraska...winnner: Texas

Rseults from Friday's regional semi-finals:

Gainesville Regional Semifinals
No. 9 California 3, Baylor 0
No. 9 California advances to play No. 1 Penn State in the quarterfinals.

No. 1 Penn State 3, No. 16 Florida 0
No. 1 Penn State advances to play No. 9 California in the quarterfinals

Minneapolis Regional Semifinals
No. 3 Florida State 3, Kentucky 2
No. 3 Florida State advances to play No. 11 Minnestoa in the quarterfinals.

No. 11 Minnesota 3, Colorado State 1
No. 11 Minnesota advances to play No. 3 Florida State in the quarterfinals.

Omaha Regional Semifinals
No. 2 Texas 3, Texas A&M 0
No. 2 Texas advances to play No. 10 Nebraska in the quarterfinals.

No. 10 Nebraska 3, No. 7 Iowa State 0
No. 10 Nebraska advances to play No. 2 Texas in the quarterfinals.

Stanford Regional Semifinals
No. 12 Hawaii 3, No. 5 Illinois 1
No. 12 Hawaii advances to play No. 13 Michigan in the quarterfinals.

No. 13 Michigan 3, No. 4 Stanford 1
No. 13 Michigan advances to play No. 12 Hawaii in the quarterfinals.

Sorry to report that Iowa State forgot to show up for their match against Nebraska.


Results for Saturday's regional finals:

Gainesville Regional Semifinals
No. 1 Penn State 3, No. 9 California 0
No. 1 Penn State advances to play No. 12 Hawaii in the semifinals.

Minneapolis Regional Semifinals
No. 11 Minnesota 3, No. 3 Florida State 1
No. 11 Minnesota advances to play No. 2 Texas in the semifinals.

Omaha Regional Semifinals
No. 2 Texas 3, No. 10 Nebraska 1
No. 2 Texas advances to play No. 11 Minnesota in the semifinals.

Stanford Regional Semifinals
No. 13 Michigan 0, No. 12 Hawaii 3 (ESPN had this score backwards on their page)
No. 12 Hawaii advances to play No. 1 Penn State in the semifinals.


SEMIFINALS
Penn State vs. Hawaii
Texas vs. Minnesota
DEC. 17 (I don't have the times - will try to change and post later)
Tampa, Fla.
ESPN2/ESPNU/ESPN360

CHAMPIONSHIP
DEC. 19, 8 p.m. ET
Tampa, Fla.
ESPN2/ESPN360

About Penn State from the Minneapolis-St. Paul StarTribune:

By GENARO C. ARMAS , Associated Press

December 14, 2009 - 2:41 PM

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - A record 100th straight victory has Penn State a step closer to an unprecedented third straight NCAA women's volleyball title.

The team's 100-match winning streak is the second-longest in Division I team sports behind only the 137 straight match victories by Miami men's tennis from 1957-1964.

Russ Rose is also one win away from 1,000 in his 31 years as the Nittany Lions' head coach.

But Rose doesn't like talking about streaks or milestones at Penn State (36-0). He said Monday the team's singular focus is on the national semifinal match Thursday night against Hawaii in Tampa, Fla.

Minnesota and Texas will play in the other semifinal, with the winners facing off Saturday night for the championship.

Semifinal results from last night:

Thursday, Dec. 17:

No. 2 Texas 3, No. 11 Minnesota 0 | Watch replay
No. 2 Texas advances to play No. 1 Penn State in the national championship match.

No. 1 Penn State 3, No. 12 Hawaii 1 | Watch replay
No. 1 Penn State advances to play No. 2 Texas in the national championship match.


This is probably the way it should have worked out when it started, so I can't say I'm too surprised by which teams are playing. The only modest shocker here is that Hawaii actually snagged a set from Penn State. They have given up a couple of sets this season, but have still dominated nearly everyone they've played. Still can't top last season when they didn't drop a single set until the national tournament semi-finals.


Finals 411:

Saturday, Dec. 19:

St. Pete Times Forum | Tampa, Fla.
8 p.m. on ESPN2/ESPN360.com: No. 2 Texas (29-1) vs. No. 1 Penn State (37-0)

Hawaii proved that the coaches poll should have been used in the seedings this year. With their only losses prior to losing to PSU being Texas and Cal- both teams in the Elite Eight. Florida State should not have been seeded as highly and likely would not have made the regional final without their relatively easy draw with their higher seeding.

The four Big 12 teams in one region was ridiculous. The seedings could have been shifted around to prevent that. Ultimately 1 vs 2 in the Final- although why does it seem dull?

Wow... that was some final. After they lost the first two sets, I thought it just wasn't their night. They didn't play well, and weren't adjusting to what Texas was doing. They just looked out of sorts, with little emotion. I wasn't worried after the first set, as they've sometimes been slow to get started many times this year, even when sweeping the sets. But they came out a different team, and won three straight sets to clinch that match and the title.

Penn State Women's Volleyball... they set many records in the sport this season. 3 straight National Championships (first time ever), 2 straight undefeated seasons (first time ever), third team to rally from 2 sets down in the championship game, current win streak at 102 matches (2nd all time in ALL NCAA sports, both men's and women's),142-5 over the last 4 seasons (best 4-year mark in Division 1 history). What a run for the seniors... we will miss them next year.

Congrats to Penn State, although I was pulling for the Big 12 team. I wanted to be able to say "we were the only team to beat the national champs!" but it wasn't to be. The finals were very fun and intense to watch on television. It had to have been a great atmosphere in person @ Tampa.

Texas is an incredibly good team, but I think their problem is that they don't adapt when they've been adapted to (if that makes sense). They came out and took charge in the first two sets, then Penn State adapted. Texas didn't seem like they adjusted to what PSU was doing in the final three sets, although they had ample chances to take charge and the lead in sets 4 and 5.

Again, good job to Penn State to remain undefeated the past two seasons!

The final poll of the season was released tonight. Iowa State and Nebraska were the highest rated teams not to make the final four. ISU only dropped one spot from the final regular season poll.

1. Penn State
2. Texas
3. Hawai’i
4. Minnesota
5. Nebraska
6. Iowa State
7. Stanford
8. California
9. Michigan
10. Illinois
11. Florida State
12. Kentucky
13. Washington
14. UCLA
15. Florida
16. Southern California
17. Colorado State
18. Oregon
19. LSU
20. Baylor
21. Texas A&M
22. St. Mary’s (Calif.)
23. Northern Iowa
24. Tennessee
25. Dayton

Others Receiving Votes: Arizona, Saint Louis, Ohio, Ohio State, Wichita State, Notre Dame, Pepperdine, UC Santa Barbara, San Diego, Florida International