Just as it did last year, the Nebraska volleyball team won't have to face the hometown team in its regional.
the Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, December 3, 2007 6:00 pm
When Nebraska suddenly found itself playing Minnesota on a neutral court, rather than against Florida in front of thousands of Gator fans, the Huskers were thrown off their game a year ago.
All season, they had prepared knowing that they would have to win under hostile conditions to get to the Final Four.
Fast forward a year and Nebraska is preparing to head to Wisconsin, where once again, the hometown team won’t be a factor.
“The difference is, this time, we already know Wisconsin is out,” Nebraska head coach John Cook said on Tuesday. “If we learned anything from last year, we know it’s going to be two really tough matches.”
The No. 2-ranked Huskers will face Michigan State in the Madison Regional semifinals on Friday.
First serve: Behind the scenes news on the Huskers
As of Tuesday afternoon, NU officials rated the prospects of any live television coverage from Friday’s Nebraska-Michigan State match as dim. There will be free, live video coverage available on the Web.
Big story
In reality, what coach Dave Shoji said after his Hawaii team was ousted by Middle Tennessee last week has some merit to it.
“It doesn’t matter when you lose (in the NCAA Tournament),” he told the Star-Bulletin. “You lose, you’re out.“
That said, who is out — and who is in — is the biggest story heading into this weekend’s Sweet 16. Six seeded teams are gone, a record since the NCAA began seeding the top 16 in 2000.
And then there are the surprises. Middle Tennessee? Iowa State? This definitely isn’t the college volleyball that we remember prior to rally scoring.
“It’s like in basketball,” Nebraska head coach John Cook said. “Teams start playing with a chip on their shoulder. I think there must be more parity.”
Before this year, 13 seeded teams were the fewest to ever advance to regionals, and two years — 2003 and 2001 — the top 16 moved on intact. And only Stanford’s loss to Santa Clara as a No. 5 seed in 2005 was as jaw-dropping as losses by No. 6-seeded Washington and No. 7 Wisconsin last weekend.
Both came at home in front of big, vocal crowds, dropping the overall record for teams playing at home last weekend to 22-8.
Headline news
* Kansas State drew a crowd of only 1,261 for its second-round match against Oregon. Worse yet, only around 300 turned out to watch Hawaii and Middle Tennessee play at Louisville and for the Cal Poly-Purdue match in Athens, Ohio.
* All-Region teams will be announced today, followed next Wednesday by the All-American teams.
* Brad Saindon, former head coach at Colorado, is out at Arizona State, where AD Lisa Love will no doubt look to make a big-time hire.
Conference call: news around the Big 12
Were it not for a couple of near misses, the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament would have been a blockbuster for the league. As it is, the Big 12 has three teams headed to regionals, including upstart Iowa State.
Kansas State nearly joined the party, but the seeded Wildcats couldn’t close the deal playing Oregon at home. Despite winning the first two games and having three match-point opportunities in game four, K-State watched Oregon rally to win.
Missouri, meanwhile, pushed Washington to five games as Nebraska native Tatum Ailes set a Big 12 record with 39 digs in defeat.
With Nebraska and Iowa State both bound for Madison, Texas travels to the Gainesville Regional where the Longhorns will have to beat Florida at home. Although Texas lost its biggest road tests of the regular season at Penn State and at Nebraska, the Longhorns were not completely healthy in any of those matches.
“We know what to expect, and so we’re ready,” setter Michelle Moriarty said.
Chart toppers
The Journal Star’s Todd Henrichs votes in the weekly Molton media poll. His top 10:
1. Nebraska. Houghtelling’s status a growing concern.
2. Stanford. Cal Poly match could be interesting.
3. Penn State. Lost at home before when favored.
4. Texas. Still the toughest road of the top teams.
5. USC. 7-0 in five-game matches this season.
6. California. Will all the miles catch up with them?
7. Florida. Gators won’t be at home every year.
8. Washington. Home-court loss was biggest shocker.
9. UCLA. Benefited from being sent east.
10. Oregon. Split matches with UCLA during season.
— Todd Henrichs