Omaha Regional

I’m not sure what he did to piss them off, but the Horns have been getting jobbed in the post-season for years. Sending Hawaii to Austin, sticking us in Stanford’s draw year after year, they always seem to do their best to make it impossible for Texas to advance to the championship. And KSU’s coach should be taken out back and horse-whipped for allowing this year’s seeding to happen. I hope we stomp a mudhole in the Cats twice next year, though that will hardly constitue payback.

Incredibly, all four Big 12 teams arrived in what Elliott calls the toughest regional in the country.

The 10-member NCAA volleyball panel that handled the brackets and included Kansas State’s Laura Tietjen mystifyingly clustered the Big 12’s best teams in the same regional, which disappointed Elliott.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen it happen before,” he said, blaming a lack of overall knowledge by the committee and too little volleyball exposure on television. “I can’t imagine, say, the top three ACC men’s basketball teams being put in the same bracket. We have three other teams who could all potentially be Final Four teams.”

Doesn’t matter now, Texas has to play the hand it’s dealt, and at least we know the 3 teams we face in Omaha very well. And they’ll face a new lineup, a lineup that was unstoppable in the Gazelles’ final matches and the first two rounds of post-season.

Texas does have the advantage of having adjusted its lineup by placing Faucette on the right side and providing more balance on an already powerful team that is now hitting about 100 percentage points higher than before. In addition, Elliott made the changes after having faced these three opponents, so the other Big 12 teams will be seeing this version live for the first time.

Bohls Article

If we do end up facing Nebraska for the right to advance to the Final Four, expect the always-loud Husker fans to have an extra edge, given what just happened in Dallas.

"I think so," Elliott said. "They are very knowledgeable volleyball fans, and knowing what they know — and with the big football game having just occurred — it may add a little bit more to their fire. We know that they can be very loud. … There is going to be a lot of adversity that we have to face, but it is going to make us a lot stronger."

More links:

Huskers wary of comforts of home
Team Capsules
Playing on a blue court??

Dave Reed is one of the few sportswriters in the country who focuses on volleyball. His Regional Recap is here.

The (Bix XII) conference now must hope the results are similar to those of 15 years ago, when Stanford went on to win its second national title after defeating Arizona State and Southern California in an all-Pac-10 regional that also included Arizona.

Texas has lost just one set since dropping its only match of the season at Iowa State on Nov. 4. The Longhorns prevailed at Nebraska in four sets on Sept. 26 and swept the Huskers in Austin on Oct. 30. Regardless of which teams advance, Texas is too strong to be denied its second consecutive and sixth overall trip to the national semifinals.

Today’s Schedule:

Gainesville Regional Semifinals
Stephen C. O’Connell Center | Gainesville, Fla.

3:30 p.m.: Baylor (24-9) vs. No. 9 California (20-10)
6 p.m.: No. 16 Florida (25-5) vs. No. 1 Penn State (34-0)

Minneapolis Regional Semifinals
The Sports Pavilion | Minneapolis

6 p.m.: Kentucky (29-4) vs. Florida State (30-2)
8 p.m.: Colorado State (25-5) vs. No. 11 Minnesota (26-8)

Omaha Regional Semifinals
Qwest Center | Omaha, Neb.

5:30 p.m.: Texas A&M (20-10) vs. No. 2 Texas (26-1)
8 p.m.: No. 10 Nebraska (25-6) vs. No. 7 Iowa State (27-4)

Stanford Regional Semifinals
Maples Pavilion | Palo Alto, Calif.

8 p.m.: No. 12 Hawaii (29-2) vs. No. 5 Illinois (26-5)
10 p.m.: No. 13 Michigan (26-9) vs. No. 4 Stanford (23-7)

Final score: 25-11, 25-19, 25-22.

So now the Gazelles face a team that is motivated on so many levels: playing in front of a rowdy home crowd, revenge for the season sweep, and maybe just a little revenge for the Big XII Championship Game. Texas needs to make sure they play within themselves, which the Cyclones failed to do.

Though the 27-5 Cyclones kept things closer in the last two sets, the initial shock of falling behind 14-3 before a partisan Nebraska crowd made it tough for them to bounce back and challenge the Huskers the way they hoped they could.

If the seeding for this tournament had been done properly, this match shouldn’t be happening until the semi-finals or championship match. It certainly shouldn’t be happening in Omaha. But we’ve gotta play the hand we’re dealt, and we have little room for error.

Destinee always seems to play her best when she’s on national TV, so it’s a good thing this match is televised. I think the Gazelles lose the first set, but advance with a 3-1 victory.

… if the Gazelles can get past the Huskers.

Michigan upset perennial Texas-killer Stanford, and Hawaii upset Illinois, making it even easier for PSU to get to the final game. On the Texas side of the bracket, the Gazelles should have no trouble at all with either Florida State or Minnesota.

As predicted, Texas dropped the first set but then pulled it together to finish with the highest attack percentage of any team that’s faced Nebraska this season. Final score: 21-25, 25-18, 25-16, 25-17, and it’s on to Tampa for their second straight Final Four appearance.

Random Notes
Game Recap from Omaha paper
Statesman Game Recap

This is a milestone Final Four. The usually-dominant Pac 10 is done, and the state of California has not teams left for the first time in NCAA post-season history.

Of the eight Pac-10 teams that made the NCAA tournament, only fourth-ranked Stanford and No. 10 Cal advanced to the round of 16. But 16th-ranked Michigan upset the Cardinal on Friday night in Palo Alto, Calif. On Saturday in the Gainesville, Fla, regional final, Cal bowed out after getting swept by No. 1 Penn State.

This postseason marks the first time in the 28-year NCAA volleyball era in which a team from California didn’t make the final four. It’s also just the third season during that span that a Pac-10 team won’t play in the national semifinals.

A Pac-10 team has made the final four every year except 1993 and 1998. But during those seasons, Long Beach State of the Big West Conference still advanced and represented the Golden State.

Is this the beginning of an eastward shift of the center of power in the volleyball world? Penn State has won the past two national championships, and Texas is clearly set to contend for the next several years with the quality of recruits we have coming in. Nebraska will be back at the top next season after suffering what could only be called a down year for a team that regularly makes the Final Four. The Big 10 has PSU, Illinois and Michigan, and the SEC featured 3 powerhouse schools this year – Kentucky, Florida and LSU. The quality of play nationwide just keeps ratcheting up every season, and it seems clear that the era of Pac 10 dominance is coming to an end.

So next stop Tampa, and all signs point to a Texas – Penn State final. The Gazelles should have little trouble brushing aside a depleted Minnesota squad that was swept by Penn State in Big 10 play, and it’s hard to see Hawaii putting up much of a fight against the Nittany Lions. We’ve got some history with PSU, having lost to them two seasons in a row (2006/07) when this senior class were just starting their careers. Those matches included what was perhaps the greatest match – and most gut-wrenching loss – I’ve ever witnessed live at Gregory. Texas raced out to a 2-0 lead and had match point in the 3rd set before succumbing to the pressure of playing the top team in the country, 27-30,28-30,30-28,36-34,15-13. The Gazelles had their chances in all three of the last sets but kept letting PSU back in the game. You just can’t do that with a team as talented as Penn State – and a coach who may well be the best in the country. If we get to the championship match, we’ve got to come out firing on all cylinders, get the Lions back on their heels, and finish them off in 3 or 4 sets. PSU will definitely be favored if the match makes it to the 5th set.

But first, there’s Minnesota. The match against the Gophers will be televised on ESPN2 at 6pm CT Thursday night.

Minnesota Golden Gophers

Their setter Taylor Carico is a stud, so it will be a good matchup between her and our two-headed monster (Ashley and Michelle).