They're Something, All Right

National semifinalists hope not to be the bridesmaids

Dec. 12, 2007

By Ray Dise

Special to CSTV.com


	RAY DISE Ray owns and operates CVU.com and regularly contributes volleyball content to CSTV.com. E-mail here!

This year's NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball national semifinalists (Stanford, California, USC and Penn State) evoke thoughts of the Victorian English wedding poem "Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue."

Before I go into the reasons for this comparison, I feel it worth mentioning that I am often asked why I don't refer to the national semifinalists as the "Final Four." The reason is that "Final Four" is an NCAA trademark registered for the sole use of Men's and Women's basketball. So while there are only four teams left and those teams are the final four teams left in the 2007 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament, they are not the "Final Four."

And until something catchy and volleyball specific can be coined, much like the NCAA coined Frozen Four for its hockey national semifinalists, the final four volleyball teams will be known only as national semifinalists. I once suggested Concluding Quartet. However, that just doesn't seem to have caught on, but I digress to something old (Stanford), something new (California), something borrowed (USC) and something blue (Penn State).

While each of the schools represents one part of the rhyme, more than one of the schools can fit into each of the categories and I will proceed to put them there, while weaving in notes about the teams and their history as national semifinalists.

Something Old: Stanford

The Cardinal (31-2) are making their 17th appearance in the national semifinals. With a record of 19-9 in semifinal and championship games in its previous 16 trips, the Stanford program is clearly the Grande Dame of women's volleyball programs. UCLA (11) and Nebraska (10) are two programs closest to Stanford in semifinal appearances.

The Cardinal have played 30 times in the semifinal and championship matches, they have more of those type of matches than 75 percent of the teams that have played in the entire tournament including California, which has played just 24 matches in its 11 years in the NCAA Tournament.

Penn State could also fit into this "old" category as it is the only other institution, in addition to Stanford, that has qualified for all 27 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournaments. With the results of the championship weekend still pending, Stanford averages 3.2 victories per tournament played in while Penn State averages 1.9.

Something New: California

The Golden Bears (26-7) have reached the national semifinals for the first time in their NCAA Tournament history and with four wins in this year's event have doubled their previous best performance of two victories, which they did twice (2003, 2006).

California becomes the 24th team, out of 194 that have played in the NCAA tournament since 1981, to advance to NCAA semifinals.

The Nittany Lions could also fit in this category. While this is Penn State's sixth national semifinals trip, it is the first since 1999 and the first as one of the top four national seeds. In 2004 and 2005, the Nittany Lions were the No. 2 seed and failed to advance out of the Regionals and last year they were the third seed and were eliminated by then-defending national champion Washington.

Although Stanford is back for the third time in four years and USC has returned for the second time in that same span, each of those teams have players for which all of this is new.

Something Borrowed: USC

Admittedly this is the biggest stretch category of the four and I don't at all mean to diminish the achievement of the Women of Troy (29-4), but if you look at the top four seeds as being "expected" to make it to the national semifinals, then you could look at an upset winner as having "borrowed" the spot of a higher seed. Like I said, it is a stretch, but, here we are, so let's continue.

USC, the No. 5 seed which upset fourth-seeded Texas, is not a stretch when it comes to picking a possible upset over top-seeded Stanford. The Women of Troy are one of only two teams, Washington being the other, to have defeated the Cardinal this season.

If one also thinks of coaches who have started at one program and moved to another as being "borrowed," both USC and Stanford would fit into this category as USC head coach Mick Haley and Stanford head coach John Dunning each have had great success at other institutions.

Haley led the Texas Longhorns to two national titles (AIAW, 1981 and NCAA, 1988) while Dunning led Pacific to two titles (1985 and 1986).

Something Blue: Penn State

At 32-2 and on a tear in the NCAA tournament, the only thing blue about the Nittany Lions is the color in their jerseys. In four matches entering into national semifinals against California, Penn State did not drop a game, nor did they allow but one team to score more than 20 points in any game of their tournament run and limited Albany to only nine points in the second game of its second round match.

Only BYU was able to score over 20 and the Cougars did that in the first game of the Regional Final when they scored 23.

California could be included in this section as well given that they wear Yale Blue as one of their colors. However, that is more of an accent to the gold in the Golden Bears.

And given that the two teams meet with a trip to the national championship on the line, one team will definitely be blue after the match is finished.