Volleyball! on PNN

An Exciting Game to say the least

The final score for the night was Penn State 3 and Stanford 2, but this was one for the books. It was a great match-up and match. Where else in the world could you watch some of the best women's volleyball players compete for over 2 hours, with an enthusiasm and skill that had to match any professional teams anywhere.

The match was held in Arco arena, normally reserved for large basketball crowds. On this night, the NCAA was packed with enthusiastic fans from all over the country. Stanford and Penn State had boisterous cheering sections, but the award for loud had to go to the Nebraska fans. The fact that their team wasn't in the match didn't matter to any of them, they spent the evening having one heck of a time screaming for every great play, and there were a lot to scream for.

The tournament had its second highest attendance record on history, only beaten by last years' crowd. This was extraordinary for an event that saw three of the four quarterfinal teams coming from California.

The series is best out of five games. Games are to 30 points, and you have to win by two. If the match goes to the fifth game the last game goes to 15.

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The setting: Stanford was runner-up last year, and had last won in 2004. Penn State won in 1999, and were runners-up in 1997 and 1998.

The game started right on time at 6:00 pm. Both teams were a little off their games early on, I suspect a bit nervous - and who wouldn't be. The teams soon settled in, and play sped up.

Game one went to Penn State on the backs of what they call 'strong hitting', a phrase here which means 60 mile per hour volleyballs coming straight at you. Penn State won 30 to 25. If you closed your eyes you would have heard the names Fawcett, Hodge, Barboza Klineman and Akinradweo repeatedly.

Game two went the same way, Penn winning 30-26. The second game had fewer errors on both sides as they got settled in.

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All in all one of the most exciting nights of College or professional sports on the planet. These were teams that play for the sport of it. Most of these players will not play professionally after college. This isn't because they aren't capable, it's because women's volleyball in this country isn't as popular as it should be, and the U.S. doesn't have a professional league. Whether this is because it's a male sports world, or we're too preoccupied with basketball or baseball, isn't the question, the challenge is to simply get the word out - I can attest to the fact that the instant anyone goes to one of these games they become enthusiasts. I talked to a number of people who had never been to a volleyball tournament and who had come because they were a friend of a player's family, or because they happened to be in the area, and I can tell you that every one of them was an enthusiastic convert to the sport.

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For a few of the women there is an exciting future. The USA Volleyball team has chosen 16 college players from around the country to participate in tryouts - a few will ultimately join the U.S. Women's National Team in a 2008 Olympic attempt next summer in China.

Stanford will send the most players - Akinradewo and Barboza have already been selected to train with the team and Kehoe and Klineman will come to the tryouts.

The full list:

Invited to Train with U.S. Women's National Team:

Foluke Akinradewo (Jr., Stanford, Plantation, Fla.)
Cynthia Barboza (Jr., Long Beach, Calif.)
Tracy Stalls (Sr., Nebraska, Denver, Colo.)

Invited to the USA National Team Tryouts:

Kylie Atherstone (Jr., Cal Poly, Chico, Calif.)
Alexis Crimes (Sr., Long Beach State, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.)
Juliann Faucette (Fr., Texas, San Diego, Calif.)
Destinee Hooker (So., Texas, San Antonio, Texas)
Rachell Johnson (Sr., UCLA, San Diego, Calif.)
Bryn Kehoe (Sr., Stanford, North Bend, Ohio)
Alix Klineman (Fr., Stanford, Manhattan Beach, Calif.)
Jordan Larson (Jr., Nebraska, Hooper, Neb.)
Angie McGinnis (Sr., Florida, Fraser, Mich.)
Nana Meriwether (formerly of UCLA, Potomac, Md.)
Christal Morrison (Sr., Washington, Puyallup, Wash.)
Lauren Paolini (Jr., Texas, Ann Arbor, Mich.)
Angela Pressey (Sr., California, Heathrow, Fla.)

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Stanford came back in game three to win decidedly by a score of 30-23 behind a number of service aces from Stanford's Bryn Kehoe (she had a total of 5 for the series). A service ace is a ball that comes at you in such a strange, bizarre or fast way that you can't figure it out end up lying on the floor looking rather puzzled.

Stanford won game four in even a more decisive way 30-19. They did this behind the highest 'attack percentage' either team had for the night - basically how many points you get per effort. At this point it seemed that Stanford was on a roll and the crowd, based on the noise level seemed to think that they were on their way to win the tournament.

The fifth and last game started intensely and had wonderful, long rallies, but Penn State went up by 6 points, and with only 15 points needed for the match, Stanford couldn't catch up. After over two hours of play, the championship ended fittingly on a kill from Megan Hodge from Penn - she had a team and tournament high of 26, and was later named player of the game.

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