Week Fourteen Selected Match Highlights:
Five of last week's Top 40 (Western Kentucky, San Diego, Milwaukee, North Dakota, and Yale) were idle, as many teams wrapped their regular seasons early. On the other hand, the major conference teams played, although many had just one game all week, while others concluded with nonconference matches.
Appropriately, most of the top matches involved either the best team (Hawaii) or the best conferences (Big Ten and Pac-12). In a whacky WAC tournament in Las Vegas, Hawaii had to fight off a pesky Fresno State team, 3-2 (23-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-11, 15-10), before steamrolling a more talented New Mexico State, 3-0. Then, the Rainbow Warriors outfought the Titans of Cal State Fullerton, 3-1, in an inconsequential nonconference match on the long way home. However, Hawaii should get used to Big West foes, for next year they'll be back in the conference (in all sports except football), creating more epic grudge matches with Long Beach State.
In the Pac-12, USC swept the season series with crosstown rival UCLA, beating the Bruins, 3-1. They also took the conference crown with superior overall play: hitters who do more than hit, blockers who do more than block, and setters who do more than set. Hoping it was the beginning of a 2011 Final Four run, Cal-Berkeley pounded a recently underachieving Stanford squad in Palo Alto, 3-1 (24-26, 29-27, 25-23, 25-14).
Up north, Washington mashed Washington State, 3-0, at home, but the Cougars took the Huskies to five sets (21-25, 23-25, 26-24, 25-19, 15-4) in the return match before falling in Pullman. Oregon State got clobbered by their superior in-state rival Oregon, 3-0, as well on the road, but the Beavers displayed even more mettle at home, upsetting the Ducks in their return match, 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-19).
In the Sonoran desert, a superior Arizona squad shut out Arizona State at home, but the Sun Devils gained revenge in a 3-1 (20-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-23) upset to make their season.
Elsewhere in the west, Long Beach State had a great pre-Big Dance week, toying with Loyola Marymount, 3-0, and defeating New Mexico and far-from-home foe Central Michigan (fresh off an upset MAC tourney title) by identical 3-1 scores.
In the Big Ten, Purdue, Illinois, and Penn State all looked good in avoiding upsets, the Nittany Lions even humbling a suddenly red-hot Michigan State Spartans in Lansing, 3-1. Nebraska wasn't as fortunate, as the Cornhuskers fell to Northwestern in Evanston, 3-1 (25-20, 9-25, 25-21, 25-23).
On a lesser scale, Ohio State upset Michigan, 3-1 (25-20, 25-22, 16-25, 25-20), not to say that such a victory warranted an NCAA tourney bid (more on that in a separate blog, coming tomorrow).
The ACC and SEC each enjoyed one great showdown match. Host Miami (FL) defeated Florida State, 3-1 (25-16, 33-31, 21-25, 25-22), while host Tennessee got by Kentucky in four sets as well (28-30, 25-20, 30-28, 25-18).
Conference-USA had one great match:SMU (14-17) upset Tulsa(27-5), 3-2 (25-19, 20-25, 11-25, 25-8, 15-12). In a surprising nonconference upset, Ohio U. knocked off Big East powerhouse and host Cincinnati, 3-2 (21-25, 26-24, 25-21, 27-29, 15-13).
Week Fourteen Selected Individual Highlights:
Since the anti-West bias reared its ugly head again in the NCAA volleyball selection committee's seedings and at-large berths, allow this section to start in the West and work its way eastward.
Hawaii had a great three-win week to cap its regular season. Most responsible for the victories over Fresno State, New Mexico State, and Cal State Fullerton were Kanani Danielson (54 kills, 43 digs, 4 blocks), Jane Croson (42 kills, 2 aces, 37 digs, 3 blocks), Brittany Hewitt (26 kills, 9 digs, 9 blocks), Emily Hartong (22 kills, 12 digs, 10 blocks), Mita Uiato (137 assists, 26 digs, 4 kills, 6 blocks, 1 ace), and Emily Maeda (43 digs and 5 assists).
Long Beach State had an equally impressive three-win week, including a decisive win over visiting MAC champ Central Michigan, and triumphs over Loyola Marymount and New Mexico. The principal 49ers were Janisa Johnson (33 kills, 32 digs, 5 blocks, 1 ace), Caitlin Ledoux (29 kills, 27 digs, 4 blocks, 3 aces), Haleigh Hampton (27 kills, 3 aces, 17 blocks, 6 digs), Alma Serna (28 kills, 19 blocks), Erin Juley (121 assists, 9 kills, 14 digs, 5 blocks, 1 ace), and Lauren Minkel (43 digs, 1 ace).
In the Pac-12, many great individual efforts turned into great team wins. Proving a top 4 seed and Pac-12 title was earned, USC defeated UCLA, outhitting the Bruins .208 to .136. Helping the cause most of all were Alex Jupiter (18 kills, 5 blocks, 1 ace, 5 digs), Katie Fuller (16 kills, 4 blocks, 1 ace, 8 digs), Lauren Williams (10 kills, 4 blocks), Alexis Olgard (6 kills, 6 blocks), Sara Shaw (5 kills, 1 ace, 4 digs), and Kendall Bateman (46 assists, 9 digs, 2 blocks).
Cal-Berkeley had another quality win over host Stanford, thanks to Tarah Murrey (23 kills, 1 ace, 9 digs, 1 block), Correy Johnson (16 kill, 4 blocks, 5 digs), Shannon Hawari (12 kills, 5 blocks), Kat Brown (7 kills, 1 ace, 5 blocks, 3 digs), Elly Barrett (60 assists, 2 aces, 7 digs, 1 kill, 1 block), and Robin Rostratter (25 digs, 2 aces).
Oregon State upset Oregon once and lost to them once during the week. The home 3-0 victory was due to a .381 team hitting percentage and Dre Shaw (19 kills, 2 blocks, 8 digs), Camille Saxton (18 kills, 8 digs), Arica Nassar (8 kills, 3 blocks), Megan McBride (41 assists, 8 digs, 3 block, 1 kill), and Becky Defoe (14 digs, 4 assists) overachieving.
Arizona State's big home victory over in-state rival Arizona (also losing on the road to the Wildcats the same week) happened because Ashley Kasti (18 kills, 16 digs, 2 blocks), Nora Tuioti-Mariner (12 kills, 2 aces, 6 blocks, 2 aces, 8 digs), Malia Bachynski (10 kills, 2 blocks), Erica Wilson (7 kills, 6 blocks, 2 aces, 3 digs), Shannon McCready (41 assists, 2 kills, 11 digs, 2 blocks), and Stephanie Preach (36 digs, 5 assists, 1 ace) came to play. On the other hand, the hitting by both sides was brutal (.159 to .143).
Washington avoided an upset from their in-state rival, WSU, beating them twice thanks to Krista Vansant (39 kills, 2 aces, 12 digs), Bianca Rowland (16 kills, 9 blocks), Lauren Barfield (15 kills, 7 blocks), Summer Ross (11 kills, 3 aces, 10 blocks, 7 digs), Jenni Nogueras (56 assists, 5 aces, 7 digs), Evan Sanders (43 assists, 17 digs, 1 ace), Kylin Munoz (16 kills, 4 blocks), and Jenna Orlandini (36 digs, 4 aces, 4 digs).
TCU, not in the West but in the Mountain West Conference and playing last week in San Diego where they beat two nonconference foes (Pittsburgh and Cal-Santa Barbara), lost only one set in both matches thanks to Stephanie Holland (20 kills, 4 blocks), Yvonne Igodan (21 kills, 8 blocks), Kristen Hester (21 kills, 8 blocks, 1 ace, 7 digs), Jordan Raines (18 kills, 21 digs, 6 blocks, 1 ace), Megan Munce (11 kills, 81 assists, 3 aces, 10 digs, 8 blocks), and Sarah Joeckel (35 digs, 7 assists, 2 aces).
An SMU team, at 14-17, could upset a Tulsa team, at 27-5, because players like Jessica Oliver (17 kills, 4 blocks), Dana Powell (10 kills, 1 ace, 19 digs, 3 blocks), Courtney Manning (8 kills, 6 blocks), Kelli Becerra (27 assists, 12 digs), and Sidney Stewart (who set a single-season SMU record for digs with 625, including 19 against Tulsa) would not quit.
Texas lost only one set in disposing of Texas A&M and Oklahoma, primarily due to the efforts of Haley Eckerman (30 kills, 5 aces, 3 blocks, 7 digs), Bailey Webster (27 kills, 6 blocks), Sha'Dare McNeal (18 kills, 12 digs, 4 blocks), Rachael Adams (18 kills, 9 blocks), Madelyn Hutson (8 kills, 9 blocks, 1 ace, 5 digs), and Hannah Allison (73 assists, 24 digs, 3 blocks, 3 kills, 1 ace).
Minnesota finished strong, sweeping Wisconsin and Indiana, thanks to Tori Dixon (20 kills, 8 blocks, 5 digs), Ashley Wittman (25 kills, 4 blocks, 13 digs, 1 ace), Ariana Filho (16 kills, 7 blocks, 2 aces), Hailey Cowles (16 kills, 30 digs, 5 blocks, 2 aces), Mia Tabberson (80 assists, 15 digs, 3 blocks, 1 ace, 2 kills), and Jessica Granquist (23 digs, 5 assists).
In the week's biggest upset, Northwestern surprised Nebraska. The biggest reasons were Yewande Akanbi (20 kills, 3 blocks), Stephanie Holthus (19 kills, 16 digs, 1 ace, 1 block), Madalyn Shalter (44 assists, 13 digs, 2 kills, 1 block, 1 ace), and Caroline Niedospial (18 digs, 2 aces). While out-hit and out-blocked by the imposing Cornhuskers, the Wildcats were not out-dug, out-set, or out-aced.
Purdue lost only one set against both Indiana and Wisconsin combined, thanks primarily to Ariel Turner (43 kills, 5 blocks, 2 aces, 19 digs), Kierra Jones (16 kills, 6 blocks), Tiffany Fisher (14 kills, 3 aces, 7 blocks, 10 digs), Rachel Davis (76 assists, 14 digs, 6 kills, 3 blocks), and Blair Bashen (25 digs, 3 aces).
Penn State slammed Ohio State and Michigan State on the road in their last Big Dance warm-up. Most responsible for the victories were Ariel Scott (27 kills, 2 aces, 3 blocks, 9 digs), Deja McClendon (23 kills, 25 digs, 3 blocks), Maddie Martin (23 kills, 6 blocks, 9 digs, 2 aces), Katie Slay (20 kills, 6 blocks), Micha Hancock (89 assists, 2 aces, 4 blocks, 15 digs, 9 kills), and Ali Longo (35 digs, 3 ace, 5 assists).
Finally, Florida was able to sweep Auburn and South Carolina because Kelly Murphy (17 kills, 30 assists, 7 digs, 3 blocks, 1 ace), Chanel Brown (36 assists, 1 ace, 9 digs), Kristy Jackel (18 kills, 3 aces, 15 digs, 3 blocks), Stephanie Ferrell (13 kills, 3 digs, 1 block), Chloe Mann (12 kills, 8 blocks), and Tangerine Wiggs (12 kills, 4 blocks) didn't overlook the opposition.
NCAA Tournament Preview, Rounds 1 and 2:
There are 48 Division I matches this week in the first two rounds of the Big Dance. This particular blog only views the best matches and potential upsets, avoiding scrutinizing the Selection Committee's decisions. That controversy will be analyzed elsewhere.
In the Gainesville bracket, good first-round matches should include Duke at Tennessee and Marquette taking on Western Kentucky on Illinois' campus. Tennessee and WKU may have far fewer losses to this point, but Duke and Marquette have the talent to take the favorites to five, or even win.
Potential quality second-round matches include Michigan at Stanford and Florida at Northern Iowa. Will the traditions of Stanford and Florida be enough to intimidate the new kids on the block?
In the Lexington bracket, good first-round matches should include Michigan State-Arizona in Austin, Long Beach State-San Diego in Westwood, and Delaware-American in State College/University Park.
Excellent potential second-round matches should include Kentucky-Texas A&M and Long Beach State or San Diego at UCLA.
In the Minneapolis bracket, interesting first-round matches should include Ball State-Louisville in Lafayette, IN, and Northern Illinois-Miami (FL) in Ames. In this relatively weak bracket, look for Washington to give Minnesota trouble and Louisville to give host Purdue problems in potential second-round matches.
In the extremely difficult Honolulu bracket, Oregon-Colorado State in Honolulu and Tulsa-Oklahoma in Los Angeles should be close first-round matches. In the second round, look for Pepperdine to give Cal-Berkeley fits and Oregon or CSU to give recently untested Hawaii a strong test in Honolulu.
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