NCAA | Volleyball fans do Seattle proud

Huge crowds fill Key Arena, even when home team no longer in contention

• #2 Penn State def. #14 Wisconsin 3-1 (25-19, 26-24, 20-25, 25-23)

Penn State libero Dominique Gonzalez stood on the Key Arena volleyball court and marveled at the noise.

Wisconsin's Lauren Carlini
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

“It was really loud,” she said. “They filled the stands. Even though their home team wasn’t playing here, they still came out to cheer on the national championship game. That is, obviously, great.”

Two days after the Nittany Lions eliminated Washington in the national semifinals, there was trepidation in some circles about whether Seattle fans would show for Penn State vs. Wisconsin. Not only were the seats filled, but players figured fans had picked a favorite.

“There were a couple times I heard boos,” said PSU setter Micha Hancock, voted the championship’s Most Outstanding Player. “It was, like, dang! Tough crowd!”

“I think a lot of people were cheering for Wisconsin, the underdog,” said Gonzalez. “And why not? They play hard. They want to win.”

The loudest explosion came toward the end of the third set, when Wisconsin’s 5-7 Deme Morales stuffed 6-1 All-American Deja McClendon. That gave the Badgers a 23-18 lead, on the way to their only set win of the match.

Penn State players celebrate their championship in front of an appreciative Seattle crowd
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Brett Hamann

From our perspective at courtside, the roar of the crowd seemed evenly balanced. More than anything, appreciative fans screamed approval for big plays, especially on defense, no matter which team won the point. And the crowd stood and cheered for both squads when Penn State won the final point and the school’s sixth championship.

See also:

Photo gallery (Bettina Hansen)

Penn State beats Wisconsin for NCAA volleyball title (Terry Wood)

NOTES:

• In case you missed it, Wisconsin’s gritty libero, Annemarie Hickey, suffered a shoulder separation in set four … and stayed in the match. See details in Penn State defeats Wisconsin 3-1 for fifthvolleyball championship in seven years and Wisconsin’s Annemarie Hickey tries to gut out dislocated shoulder (Jayda Evans)
• The all-Championship Team, selected by media, did not include Wisconsin middle Dominque Thompson, who hit .314 and led the Badgers with 16 kills, trailing only the 21 kills by Penn State’s Ariel Scott. C’mon, media … if Wisconsin had won, Thompson was our leading candidate for Most Outstanding Player, and was—on the ballot we submitted—second only to Micha Hancock on the “outstanding” scale.

NCAA | Penn State defeats Wisconsin 3-1 for fifth volleyball championship in seven years

Left/right weapons prove decisive for Nittany Lions; Badger plays with separated shoulder

• #2 Penn State def. #14 Wisconsin 3-1 (25-19, 26-24, 20-25, 25-23)

During the NCAA D1 Women's Volleyball Championships, Volleyblog Seattle on assignment for ncaa.com. Please follow our coverage at http://www.ncaa.com/sports/volleyball-women/d1

SEATTLE -- It was a championship bout with a left and right attack. And after the final round of an

exceptionally high-energy match, Penn State emerged with a 3-1 (25-19, 26-24, 20-25, 25-23) victory against Big Ten rival Wisconsin. It was Penn State’s fifth volleyball championship in the past seven seasons, and sixth overall, tying Stanford for the highest total in NCAA women’s Division I volleyball history.

Penn State's Micha Hancock
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

The attack from the left came from Penn State setter Micha Hancock, voted the most outstanding player of the championships. Hancock’s blistering serve—delivered with her left arm—offered the razor-thin difference throughout the match and—in particular—the deciding fourth set.

“She’s one of the elites,” Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield said. “We had no offense at all when she was serving.”

“She’s the best-ever in the nation,” Wisconsin libero Annemarie Hickey said.

Penn State’s right side attack ran primarily through Ariel Scott, who pounded a match-high 21 kills on 51 attempts. The 6-4 All-American was matched up against Wisconsin’s 5-7 dynamo, Deme Morales, nine-inch advantage.

“We planned to go over Morales, because she’s shorter,” Hancock said. “[Morales] is a great player, but we’ve got the hammer over there.”

Wisconsin's Lauren Carlini
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

Throughout the match, Wisconsin countered with a right-side attack of its own. Setter Lauren Carlini sent her middles in motion, connecting almost at will on slides to Dominque Thompson, who finished with a team-high 16 kills on 35 swings. “She’s probably one of the most underrated middles in country,” Carlini said. “People look at her height and think, ‘oh, she can’t be good.’”

Oh, yes, Thompson’s height. Just like her teammate Morales, 5-11 Thompson gave away several inches to her opponent, Penn State’s 6-6 Katie Slay. Yet Wisconsin scored a disproportionate percentage of its points off serve with Morales and Thompson on the front row. Their grit was part of the reason why the Badgers got all the way to set point in the second frame, and reached 23-23 in the fourth. The rest of the story? Lights-out defense.

“That’s what we do,” Sheffield said. “We defend like crazy. It doesn’t always look pretty, but we’ll throw our bodies around with the best of them.”

Throwing bodies around was more than a metaphor; late in the match, Wisconsin libero AnneMarie Hickey landed wrong, popping her shoulder out of its socket. She refused to leave the game.

Wisconsin's AnneMarie Hickey separates her shoulder while diving for a dig
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Brett Hamann

“It hurt pretty bad,” Hickey admitted. “But we were playing with such high intensity, and we were winning the set. All I wanted to do was win for my teammates.”

Penn State coach Russ Rose talks during a timeout
with setter Micha Hancock
-Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann

And Wisconsin came close. Its second-set late lead evaporated with two service errors and some furious Penn State defense down the stretch. The Badgers seemed in control of the fourth set, but it was Hancock who made the difference.

Because Hancock is a lefty, her powerful jump serve comes at defenders from an angle they rarely see. It’s a high risk/high reward skill that sometimes produced errors instead of aces. After missing a couple of serves, her coach, Russ Rose told Hancock during a timeout to switch to a safer serve.

“Sometimes players swear at the coaches,” Rose said, with a grin. “I can’t repeat how the conversation went.” Hancock, however, insisted she continue using a jump serve. “Then you might want to serve it in,” Rose told her.

So with her team trailing 22-23, she stepped to the line. Her first serve, an ace, forced a Wisconsin timeout. Her second serve, barely handled by the Badgers, was over-passed for a Slay kill, forcing a second timeout. Her third serve? Another ace, setting up the final rally, and a Penn State victory.

“This was a match we had to grind out against a really good opponent,” said Rose. “It was hard to win this championship.”

See also:
Volleyball fans do Seattle proud

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How Seattle's proposed arena affects volleyball

A proposed new Seattle Arena could be good news for Northwest volleyball fans ... or maybe not.

At a press conference this afternoon, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and King County Executive Dow Constantine unveiled a proposal to build a $500 million sports arena south of Safeco Field, in the SODO neighborhood. (Or, to be accurate, they seemed to unveil a proposal to study a proposal to build an arena ...)

King County Executive Dow Constantine and Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn at press conference announcing new Seattle arena proposal.

Reporters and pundits have speculated that two professional teams might be willing to relocate in Seattle: The NBA's Sacramento Kings and the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes. Some have suggested that one or both teams could end up playing in Seattle Center's Key Arena while construction on the SODO facility is underway, perhaps for at least the next two years.

If that happens, volleyball will be part of the story.

NHL and NBA teams each play 41 regular-season home games over six months. On average, that means each team uses its home arena seven times per month; or a combined 14 dates per month. With setup/conversion time, arenas that share basketball and hockey rarely have available dates for other events between October and April (or beyond, depending on the playoffs.)

Key Arena will host the NCAA Division 1 Volleyball Final Four December 19-21, 2013. Historically, Final Fours have included at least two days of practice in the hosting arena before the semifinals, and sometimes include events the day after the championship. That could absorb as much as six days of the Key Arena calendar in 2013.

In the long run, a new arena could be a powerful draw for future Final Fours. Its proximity to the CenturyLink Events Center would be a big plus for the annual American Volleyball Coaches Association Conference. And it could conceivably be a venue for international matchups: the 1985 USA vs. USSR men's showdown at the Kingdome drew more than 14,000 fans, a record (since broken) for a volleyball crowd on American Soil.

Attendance Pop Quiz: Women's VB vs. Men's Hoops

The opponent is Stanford. The venue is Seattle.

Three weeks ago, Stanford's women's volleyball team played Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Last night, Stanford's men's basketball team played Seattle U at Key Arena.

Which is true:

A. Men's basketball drew twice the crowd as women's volleyball

B. Men's basketball drew 50% more than women's volleyball

C. Men's basketball drew 25% more than women's volleyball

D. Women's volleyball outdrew men's basketball

ANSWER:

D. Stanford's men's basketball attracted 3,046 at Key Arena. Stanford's women's volleyball attracted  3,347 at Alaska Airlines Arena.

Washington players celebrate a point against Stanford at Alaska Airlines Arena on November 11, 2011
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]