College | Pac-12 volleyball nonconference schedule revealed

Wisconsin ends agreement to play Washington and USC

NCAA | Final Four redux: Washington volleyball to host Wisconsin in 2014 preseason

Washington, Wisconsin, USC and Maryland agree to four-year Pac-12 vs Big Ten series

NCAA | Washington volleyball still among elite of weekly RPI and polls

Huskies remain among top four in all rankings

Pac-12 | Breaking down Jim McLaughlin’s 300 Washington volleyball wins

In 12+ seasons, Washington’s winningest coach has the edge on most opponents

• next: Coppin State @ #3 Washington | September 19 | 7PM

NCAA | Washington ranked #5 in season’s first volleyball coaches’ poll

Four Pac-12 schools in top 8; Texas picked #1

NCAA | Washington ninth in season’s final coaches’ poll

Washington (25-7) gets the most respect of teams that missed the Elite 8

NCAA | Is Omaha the toughest regional?

Four seeded teams remain; none have lost to a non-tournament team

Of the 16 teams still in the hunt, 12 earned seeds from the NCAA Tournament Committee. The only region where all four seeded teams survived was Omaha:

WEST LAFAYETTE REGIONAL			AUSTIN REGIONAL
(1) Penn St vs. (16) Kentucky			(3) Texas vs. (14) Florida
Purdue vs. (8) Minnesota			Wichita St vs. (6) Southern Cal
OMAHA REGIONAL			BERKELEY REGIONAL
(5) Oregon vs. (12) BYU			Michigan St vs. Michigan
(13) Washington vs. (4) Nebraska			(15) Iowa St vs. (2) Stanford

NCAA | Sweet Sixteen: Teams set for next week’s Regionals

Four seeded teams go down; Big Ten is dominant

And then there was one. 

NCAA | Tournament Day 2: Louisville loses, Pac-12/Big Ten roll

Arizona State loses; disastrous day for West Coast Conference

The Big Ten is smilin’. The West Coast Conference, not so much.

The Big Ten sent seven teams to the tournament, and all of them are still dancing. Four are still alive in the West Lafayette Regional, where we’d consider three of the four (Penn St, Minnesota and Ohio St) favorites to advance to the Sweet 16, where Nebraska and Michigan have already landed.

Pac-12 | Pac-12 Power Rankings: Week Nine

Fab Five and the Seven Dwarfs

At the halfway mark, the Pac-12’s top five teams remain undefeated against the bottom seven.

That fact explains why the Fab Five remain among the top seven in the national polls (if not the head-scratching RPI).

It also may explain why the Pac-12 might pack no more than five entries into the 2012 Tournament. The team with the next-best overall record at this point is Arizona State (14-9), a team that has dropped six of its past seven matches.

Pac-12 | How dominant was the Pac-12 in nonconference play?

Washington's Amanda Gil
-Volleyblog Seattle photo
by Leslie Hamann

Pac-12 teams go 30-1 in final nonconference week; overall record is best of any in nation

The Pac-12 was dominant.

During the past four weeks, its teams won 5 out of every 6 matches against opponents from other conferences … a .833 winning percentage (110-22). Three teams—USC, Washington and Oregon—went undefeated.

Big preseason wins included Oregon State over Penn State, UCLA and California each with wins over Hawai’i, Washington over Purdue, and Oregon over Ohio State.

The first week of the season, Pac-12 schools lost 7 matches; the second week it lost 9. But the third week brought just 5 losses (2 each by Utah and Arizona State), and in the incredible final week, the record was 30-1, with California’s 0-3 loss to San Francisco the only blemish.

Pac-12 2012 Nonconference Results
	8/20-8/26	8/27-9/02	9/03-9/09	9/10-9/16
USC	3-0	3-0	3-0	3-0	12-0
Washington	3-0	3-0	2-0	1-0	9-0
Oregon	3-0	3-0	1-0	2-0	9-0
UCLA	1-1	2-0	3-0	2-0	8-1
Arizona St	3-0	3-0	1-2	4-0	11-2
Washington St	1-2	3-0	3-0	3-0	10-2
Oregon St	2-1	2-1	3-0	3-0	10-2
Stanford	2-1	1-1	3-0	2-0	8-2
Colorado	3-0	1-2	3-0	3-0	10-2
Arizona	2-1	1-1	2-1	3-0	8-3
Utah	4-0	1-2	1-2	2-0	9-4
California	1-1	1-2	3-0	2-1	6-4
	28-7	24-9	28-5	30-1	110-22
	.800	.727	.848	.968	.833

Final Four: Lessons from the semifinals

SAN ANTONIO—No conference has had as much volleyball success as the Pac-12. But the last time a Pac-12 team won the national title was 2005 … right here in San Antonio … when Washington rolled over favored Nebraska. Since then, Washington, Stanford, Cal, USC and UCLA have all reached the Final Four, but Nebraska won in 2006, and Penn State gave the Big Ten bragging rights the last four years in a row.

USC's Kendall Bateman signals while Illinois' Michelle Bartsch looks through the net
[Volleyblog Seattle photo by Leslie Hamann]

Illinois would like to repeat that feat, but they’ll have to get by the Bruins. Thursday night, UCLA thoroughly outplayed Florida State, a team which might have a hard time finishing higher than seventh in the Pac-12 (note to the NCAA Selection Committee: here’s further proof that the 16 teams you seeded included a lot of teams that you overrated—including Florida State.) If Washington hadn’t stumbled at Minnesota, it would not seem much of a stretch to see them beating both Iowa State and Florida State and making it a three-Pac-12 final.

UCLA’s strength was its speed. Outside hitter Rachael Kidder has the quickest arm of any player among the four teams in San Antonio; she often hits around the block instead of trying to tool blockers. Even when sets were poor—particularly when they were too far outside, Kidder found ways to direct sharp-angled kills rather than toss across free balls. On the right side, Kelly Reeves hit line with confidence throughout the first set, forcing FSU’s middle blockers to cover more ground than they could handle. Tabi Love is simply a pounder—she does best when setter Lauren Van Orden receives a perfect pass, and everyone in the building knows Love is simply going to cock her arm and smash. Unlike the other Bruins, Love is not terribly agile, and UCLA can sometimes get stuck in a bad rotation if Love has to hit out of transition, rather than getting time to retreat to her full approach.

Kidder’s quickness allows UCLA to launch faster, lower sets. Illinois, on the other hand, sends up soaring sets, and allows its powerful senior outside hitters Colleen Ward and Michelle Bartsch to swing away. The best way to slow that strategy is to serve tough and keep the Illini on their heels. USC kept it close throughout the match, largely on the strength of libero Natalie Hagglund’s defense and setter Kendall Bateman’s distribution. But it took a long time for All-American outside hitter Alex Jupiter to get into a groove; in the end, her poor passing, erratic serving and spotty defense gave Illinois too many free ball opportunities. Like any great team, the Illini never stopped hitting as hard as they could for as long as they could, which usually spells victory in a clash between two top teams.

Illinois is impressive. But given that their two most dominant players—Ward and Bartsch—are both seniors, those of us who follow the Pac-12 have to wonder: where was this team the past couple of years? With hitters that strong and confident, how did they manage to avoid the Final Four so long?

Saturday’s championship match will likely come down to that most basic of skills: serving and serve-receive. Whichever setter gets the most in-system opportunities will allow her team to prevail.

Final Four: The Pac-12 proves its worth

Notes on the road to San Antonio …

TROJANS TRIUMPH

Mick Haley was right. USC’s head man was the most outspoken critic in the loud chorus of those denouncing the NCAA Selection Committee’s Pac-12 snub. Haley’s Trojan’s—ranked number one in both the coaches’ and media polls—was deemed just seventh-best by the NCAA committee. USC travelled to Honolulu and won two 5-set thrillers, first over Hawaii on the Rainbow Wahines’ raucous home court, then somehow found enough in the tank to hold off up-and-coming Pepperdine. The Trojans’ reward is a five-time-zone trip to San Antonio, where they’ll face another power, third-seed Illinois. Don’t bet the house against USC this season.

BRUINS BREAK THROUGH

UCLA was another team ranked higher by the coaches and media than by the committee. All the Bruins did was travel east to knock off two storied programs. First, UCLA ended four-time defending champion Penn State’s incredible 26-match tournament win streak, dating back to a 2006 loss to Washington in Seattle. The Bruins then handled Texas—the committee’s overall number one seed. UCLA caught a break when Florida State upset powerhouse Purdue, then got past overrated Iowa State to reach Thursday’s semis. A UCLA/USC Final? It could happen.

NOT-SO-BIG TEN AND TWELVE

Many grumbled when it seemed the selection committee rated the Pac-12 lower than the 12 teams in the Big Ten and the nine teams (Oklahoma State doesn’t offer volleyball) in the Big 12. Perhaps Texas (ranked #1), Nebraska (#2) and Iowa State (#4) were all so overrated in a not-so-subtle effort to give them easier draws on the road to San Antonio, where the fans from those three teams would have packed the Alamodome. But both conferences came up short, except for #3 Illinois, which might be the third or fourth best team in the Big Ten. Last Friday, of course, was when the smug grin was wiped off the Big Ten’s face: after getting a ridiculous nine teams into the tournament, seven advanced to the Sweet Sixteen … where six promptly lost in the space of a few hours. More proof, in my opinion, that California, Washington and Oregon all should have been among the 16 seeded teams (and Stanford didn’t belong.) Over the past two seasons, only 2 of the 8 teams the committee has picked to reach the Final Four have actually made it.

HOME COURT DISADVANTAGE

All four regional sites—Minneapolis, Honolulu, Lexington and Gainesville—got lucky: the home teams—Minnesota, Hawaii, Kentucky and Florida—all reached the Sweet Sixteen. Only Florida made it to the Elite 8, and none advanced to the Final Four.

Washington/Minnesota webstream update

URGENT UPDATE: MINNESOTA CABLE OPERATOR SAYS THE BIG TEN NETWORK HAS RELENTED, AND WILL MAKE THE MATCH AVAILABLE BY WEBCAST. [SEE DETAILS]

Just got off the phone with the NCAA's Laurie Cannon. She confirmed that most Seattle-area fans will NOT be able to view a webstream of tonight's Washington @ Minnesota NCAA second-round match.

You may, however, be able to get an audio-only feed on your computer. (see below)

The match broadcast is being carried exclusively by BTN2GO, a new channel operated by the Big Ten Network. BTN2GO's website  lists the Washington/Minnesota match as an "upcoming event," but when the match starts (at 5:30pm Pacific time), you'll get a box that tells you that a webstream is available only if you have one of the following cable carriers:

DIRECTV, for example, carries several Big Ten Network Stations, but Minnesota's volleyball sports information director Michelle Traen tells Volleyblog Seattle that BTN2GO is a new and special service. If you have DIRECTV, you won't be able to see the match on your television screen. You'll have to sign up separately for BTN2GO (even if you already have a separate service from BTN) and watch it on your computer.

Bottom line: Traen says you probably won't be able to watch this match at your local watering hole, either, unless they have both DIRECTV and some way to connect their big screen to a computer.

If all this has you a little upset, Traen says you are not alone. The NCAA allowed host conferences for first and second round matches to offer these kinds of exclusive services, and the Big Ten's decision to block its webcasts behind BTN2GO affects Minneapolis/St. Paul fans as well. "Comcast is the dominant cable provider here," says Traen, "so many of our own fans won't be able to watch the match, either."

Tonight's match begins at 5:30pm (Pacific). You can hear free audio of the match at:
http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/minnesota.portal#. Minnesota's John Focke will be calling the match.


You can follow the scores and stats at Gametracker. And, as always, you can be part of Paul Isaac's live chat at gohuskies.com. 


Finally, all Sweet 16 matches will be available on ESPN3; the Elite 8 will be on ESPNU.

#2 Nebraska loses in NCAA second round

The Nebraska Cornhuskers, seeded #2 in the 64-team NCAA tournament and playing at home, was defeated tonight by Kansas State, 3-2 (25-22, 22-25, 31-29, 22-25, 15-11).

Kansas State celebrates its second round victory on Nebraska's home court

The match was as close as the scores indicate, but K-State played smarter when it counted. In the fifth set, the Cornhuskers sent several balls sailing out of bounds, while the Wildcats had tremendous success up the middle.

Nebraska has now lost two of its last three playoff matches ... beating Wichita State in the first round last night, but eliminated last year 3-1 by the Washington Huskies in Seattle, despite being heavily favored.

Washington Coach Jim McLaughlin was head coach of Kansas State in the 1990s, where he had unexpected success against the Nebraska juggernaut.

Kansas State now moves to the Sweet 16. The Wildcats head to Honolulu, where they'll face the winner of tonight's Pepperdine/North Carolina match.

____________________________

The NCAA Selection Committee--roundly criticized for it's choice and seeding of the top 16 teams--has now seen those teams go 0-3 in the second round.

Besides #2 Nebraska, #16 Texas A&M lost 0-3 tonight to Kentucky. #14 Tennessee lost 2-3 to Ohio State.

There are two other second round matches tonight: #15 Pepperdine leads North Carolina 2-0. #10 Hawaii plays Colorado State later tonight in Honolulu.

The remaining eleven second-round matches will be played tomorrow. All other seeded teams advanced past the first round so far tonight.

____________________________

The Pac-12 is 1-3 in the first round so far, with Washington the only winner (after Cal, Oregon and Arizona all lost.) USC, UCLA and Stanford are all playing tonight.

The Big Ten sent the most teams (8) to the tournament. Big Ten champion Nebraska is the only team in the conference to lose so far.

It was a tournament to forget for the Mid-American Conference (MAC.) It sent four teams, and all four lost in the first round: Western Michigan to Washington, Northern Illinois to Miami (FL), Ball State to Louisville, and Central Michigan to Illinois. Consider the controversial RPI:

14. Northern Illinois
32. Western Michigan
34. Ball State
35. Washington
74. Central Michigan