NCAA | Bracket busters: Stanford, USC, Nebraska lose

Final Four:
Penn State vs. Oregon
Michigan vs. Texas



OMAHA-Quick: How many of you had teams coached by John Dunning (Stanford), Mick Haley (USC) and John Cook (Nebraska) all going down before the Final Four?

The Ducks bounced the Huskers
out of the tournament
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by
Leslie Hamann

Here in Omaha, the Ducks simply served and passed better than the Huskers.All three of Oregon's big hitters--Alaina Bergsma, Liz Brenner and Katherine Fischer--hit with abandon, while Nebraska was tentative. At the end of the match, the crowd here in Omaha sat in stunned silence.

For the third time in the past five seasons, Michigan took out Stanford in the tournament. Stanford's fab four freshmen started strong, but had no answer for Jenifer Cross's devastating slide and the hard-to-defend power shots by Lexi Erwin (23 kills).

Texas, on its home court, simply blew away USC. The Longhorn's block bothered the Trojans all night, and Texas' tall hitters pounded over and around SC's slower front line.

Oregon will have to face Penn State, whom we have yet to see this season. The Ducks qualified for the  first volleyball Final Four in school history.