Publication Date: Friday, December 10, 2004
Stanford now has new tests
Stanford now has new tests
(December 10, 2004) With class work done, Cardinal hoping for passing grade in regional
by Rick Eymer
By the time sixth-ranked Stanford opens play today against No. 10 Texas in the third round of the NCAA women's volleyball tournament in Green Bay, the players will have completed their final exams and will be able to concentrate on the task at hand.
The Cardinal (26-6) hope that leads to an easier task against the Longhorns (26-4) than they faced in Tallahassee last weekend when it took a comeback in the final two games to beat Florida and reach a regional for the 12th time in the past 14 years.
Texas hasn't been to a regional since 1998, when the Longhorns beat Stanford. Texas also beat the Cardinal in the consolation match of the Final Four in 1995.
Stanford did beat the Longhorns in the 1987 NCAA semifinals, and holds a 13-7 margin in their all-time series.
Second-ranked Hawaii (30-0) meets No. 22 Wisconsin (21-9) in the other regional semifinals. The winners meet Saturday with a Final Four berth in the balance.
"We're excited about the streak at the end of the season," Stanford coach John Dunning said. "We're confident."
Stanford brings an 11-match winning streak into today's match. The Cardinal haven't lost since Halloween, when they dropped a five-game match to California in Berkeley.
Included in that streak are wins over UCLA, USC and then top-ranked Washington. In fact, the Cardinal have beaten five nationally-ranked teams during that streak, including Florida.
Leading the way is senior outside hitter Ogonna Nnamani, who averages 5.88 kills per game and hits at a .338 clip. She's at her best against the top teams, recording 30-plus kills against USC, Washington (a career high 37), and Florida.
Nnamani, an All-American, was recently named the Pac-10 Player of the Year and holds the career record for kills in conference history.
The secret has been remembering it's still just a game.
"I thrive on jokes," Nnamani said. "I'm always laughing. Things are fun to me. Most of the time I'm asking myself: 'Is this really serious?' "
It's only serious when you're on the receiving end of a Nnamani kill. Freshman setter Bryn Kehoe is responsible for setting up most of those kills and has come a long way in a short time.
"I'm not used to being the youngest or the least experienced player," Kehoe said. "College has been so different already from high school. The way the game is played, you can't compare. I've been playing volleyball a long time and it took awhile to get comfortable. The pace of the game is different."
Kehoe's progress, combined with the development of younger players like sophomore Liz Suiter (1.52 blocks per game and a .307 hitting percentage) and freshman Franci Girard at middle blocker and the continued improvement and leadership from senior Jennifer Hucke (2.68 kpg, .300 hitting percentage) and sophomore Kristin Richards (2.68 kpg), has given Stanford the confidence to dream large, despite its 11th seed.
Should the Cardinal continue to advance, it's likely they will be playing higher seeds like Hawaii, Penn State, Nebraska, or even Washington and USC.
Texas, which has won 10 of its last 12 games, stands in the way.
The Longhorns could have a familiar feel to their system, as coach Jerritt Elliott came to Austin via USC, where he served as interim coach while Mick Haley took a two-year leave of absence to head the United States Olympic team in 2000.
Elliott is in his fourth season at Texas, and this is his best team yet. Half of the team's losses have been to top-ranked and Big 12 champion Nebraska.
"They are so much improved over last year it's amazing," Dunning said. "He's spent three years building the program and this is the first year they have really stepped up."
While at USC, Elliott developed and recruited many of the players which eventually beat Stanford for the national title in 2002, and then repeated as champions in 2003.
Elliott, who was an assistant coach with USC for four years, won 50 of 62 games in his two-year tenure and guided the Trojans to their first NCAA appearance in 15 years in 1999. The next year he reached the Final Four as the Trojans finished the season ranked fourth in the nation.
Interesting enough, Haley coached Texas to its 1998 victory over the Cardinal.
The Longhorns are similar to Stanford in that they feature two experienced seniors in their attack in 6-foot-3 Mira Topic, named the Big 12 Player of the Year, and senior middle Bethany Howden. Topic, who hails from Croatia, averages 5.65 kills a game and hits at a .312 clip. Howden averages 4.02 kills per game and owns a .375 hitting percentage.
Both players were honorable mention All-Americans last year, and like Stanford, get their sets from a freshman in 5-foot-10 Michelle Moriarty.
Texas beat Michigan in four games last week in Austin to advance.
"We are moving forward and that's all that matters," Howden said. "We are very excited."
Whoever wins Friday will probably have to deal with Hawaii on Saturday, and even though the match will be in chilly Green Bay, a far cry from the tropical weather the Wahine Rainbow left behind.
"My guess is that Hawaii will have more fans than anybody," Dunning said. "They have the best fans in the country."
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