Posted: Thursday, December 15, 2005 6:00 pm
SAN ANTONIO — All that for this? Through five rounds of the NCAA Tournament, Nebraska and Washington proved what everyone knew all along.
“They’re clearly the two best teams,” said former Husker coach Terry Pettit, who was seated in the front row at the Alamodome for both semifinals Thursday night.
This is volleyball’s version of Texas-USC. It’s the King Kong matchup we all came to see.
No. 1 Nebraska breezed past Santa Clara, hitting a remarkable .449 with only seven errors. No. 3 Washington swept Tennessee in similar fashion, hitting .360 with just 10 errors.
On Saturday night, the Huskers and Huskies will give the Alamodome crowd and an ESPN2 audience (no dish needed) what they’ve been waiting for. John Baylor better rest those pipes, because it could be a long evening.
Washington coach Jim McLaughlin said the key in a dramatic situation like this is focusing on the internal and not letting the external stuff get to you.
“It doesn’t matter when we play. It doesn’t matter who we play,” McLaughlin said. “You can’t lose your head. You’ve got to stay intellectually connected.”
I tried to stay intellectually connected with Pettit, but that’s a bigger mismatch than either match Thursday.
How can I compete with this analysis of what’s going to take place Saturday?
“About 45 to 60 minutes into the match, one of those teams is going to have an epiphany,” Pettit said. “If Nebraska has the epiphany, it’s going to be ‘Oh, boy, I’m not sure we can play this long, this error-free.’
“And if Washington has an epiphany, it’s going to be frustration out of seemingly putting themselves in a position to win a point, and then (Sarah) Pavan or (Christina) Houghtelling hitting the ball off a bump set, and they don’t get it anyway.”
I don’t get it in a lot of ways, but I’ll take a Guinness to toast the wise one.
“Brilliant!”
Pettit said it all comes down to geometry. I needed help with that one, too, so I turned to Husker assistant Lee Maes.
“Any type of science,” Maes said, “it still comes down to application.”
It’s all about the angles, playing the angles. And if the Huskers keep playing them like they played them Thursday against Santa Clara, they will be the team with the trophy. Melissa Elmer and Maggie Griffin had it going against the Broncos, with Elmer finishing with 13 kills and a .647 hitting percentage.
Another problem Washington might have Saturday is the sound. They piped in a lot of crowd noise Thursday in the form of traveling Husker fans. Of the 7,931 in the building, half were rooting for Big Red.
Dianne Morrison, mother of Huskies star Christal Morrison, said the Husker cheering section will not be an issue. In fact, the ladies in purple welcome the ruckus.
“It’s awesome to be in a big group like this because last week when we played in College Station (Texas), we had 400 people,” Dianne said. “I think our girls thrive on that, all of them.
“I don’t think they care whether it’s a home crowd or an away crowd. I think they just thrive off it.”
Said Christal: “We’re on a mission.”
And they definitely have the Huskers’ respect.
“They’re a great team,” Maes said. “They have threats at the pins. It’s still going to come down — in any big match — to who stays in system better, meaning who does a great job serving and passing.
“Both teams have great offenses. Both teams have great defenses,” Maes said. “It’s going to be a war.”
Reach John Mabry at 473-7320 or jmabry@journalstar.com..