Stanford 3, Texas 2
Stanford Rallies to Topple Texas
Omaha, Neb. – The second-seeded Stanford volleyball team looked like a veteran squad making its third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Semifinals on Thursday night, as the Cardinal rallied for a thrilling five-set victory over third-seeded Texas in front of a packed house at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb.
Texas came out swinging in its first NCAA Semifinal appearance since 1995, but at the end of the day it was Stanford who advanced. After the Longhorns took the first two sets by scores of 25-20 and 25-18, Stanford stormed back to take the match with a 25-15 win in set three, a 25-22 win in the fourth set and a 15-13 victory in the fifth and deciding set.
With the win, the Cardinal (31-3) advanced to the NCAA Championship match for the third straight season. After finishing as the runner-up in both 2006 and 2007, Stanford will play for the 2008 title on Saturday at 7 p.m. (Central) against either top-seeded Penn State or fourth-seeded Nebraska.
After hitting just .152 during the first two sets, Stanford hit .436 over the final three sets to earn the win. The Cardinal hit .306 for the match, with Texas hitting .316. Although the Longhorns recorded 10 more kills in the match, Stanford totaled nine more kills than the Longhorns over the final three sets.
The fifth set was an intense back-and-forth affair that featured five ties and three lead changes. The match did not appear destined for a fifth set after Texas trailed for only five rallies in winning the first two sets. The deficit did not phase the seasoned Stanford squad, as they were behind for just two rallies in sets three and four.
Cynthia Barboza scored the match’s final kill, as Barboza finished with 19 kills and 16 digs. Teammate Alix Klineman added 20 kills, while Foluke Akinradewo rounded out a solid performance from Stanford’s trio of first-team All-americans with 17 kills on .452 hitting.
Texas was led by first-team All-American Destinee Hooker, who boasted match-high totals of 23 kills and 21 digs. Hooker hit .362 for the match and also added two aces. Juliann Faucette finished with 19 kills for the Longhorns, while All-Americans Lauren Paolini and Ashley Engle chipped in 16 and 11 kills, respectively.
Stanford opened the first set with three consecutive kills, but Texas quickly rallied by scoring nine of the next 10 points. Trailing 12-7, Stanford answered back with four straight points with the help of a Texas serving error and two Longhorn hitting errors. After seeing the Cardinal pull within one, Hooker sparked a 4-1 Texas run by putting down three kills. The Longhorns seized firm control of the set with a late 4-0 run to go on top 21-15. Stanford pulled back to within three on three occasions, but could get no closer as Rachael Adams closed out the set with her first kill of the night. Faucette finished with six kills on 10 error-free swings in the first set, as Texas hit .286, while Stanford hit just .179.
The Longhorn offense continued to score points at a high rate in set two, as Texas finished with 21 kills in a 25-18 victory. The set was tight early, as neither team led by more than two until the Longhorns scored five consecutive points. The Longhorns led 12-6 after the 5-0 run, as Texas had 12 kills compared to just one for Stanford. Texas led by as many as six the rest of the way, while Stanford could get no closer than four. The Longhorns closed out the seven-point win with Faucette’s 12th kill of the match. Texas hit .319 in the second set and recorded 13 more kills than the Cardinal, which hit just .125.
After leading for only five rallies through the first two sets, Stanford never trailed in the set three. The Cardinal used a trio of early 3-0 spurts to race to a 9-3 lead. Stanford extended the lead to 13-6 before Texas spent its second timeout of the set. The Longhorns scored three straight points out of the timeout and got as close as 14-13 before Stanford scored 11 of the final 13 points. The Cardinal had runs of 5-0 and 4-0 in the strong finish. Stanford hit .387 in the set, while limiting Texas to a .188 attack percentage. The Cardinal added three aces and three blocks in the set.
Stanford again came out strong in the fourth set, building an early 5-2 advantage. But unlike the first three sets which featured only three ties and just one lead change, the fourth set would be a back-and-forth affair throughout. Texas grabbed its first lead at 10-9 before Stanford responded by winning six of the next eight rallies to take a 15-12 lead. The Longhorns countered with four consecutive points out of a timeout to take a one-point lead. Stanford came right back with four straight points of its own to take a three-point lead, but the Cardinal was forced to call a timeout after Texas trimmed the lead to one at 21-20. Consecutive kills gave Stanford three set points and Klineman closed out the 25-22 win two rallies later with her 17th kill of the match.
Texas started on serve in the fifth set and scored the first three points while building a 4-1 lead. Stanford responded by scoring five of the next six points to take a 6-5 advantage and force a Longhorn timeout. Texas regained a one-point lead as the teams switched sides of the court, but a Longhorn attack error allowed Stanford to reclaim the lead. The Cardinal went in front by two for the first time at 11-9 on a Klineman block. Consecutive points gave Stanford its first match point at 14-12 before the Longhorns won a terrific rally to stay alive for another point. Barboza then closed out the match when her swing deflected just wide off the Texas block for the final kill.
Texas, co-champions from the Big 12 Conference, ended its season where it began. The Longhorns, who opened the season with a sweep of USC and a five-set loss to Stanford at the AVCA Showcase at the Qwest Center in August, finished the year with a final record of 29-4.
2008 NCAA Volleyball Championship Quote Sheet
Dec. 18, 2008 - National Semifinal #1
Stanford Quotes
Head Coach John Dunning
Opening Statement
“I thought Texas had a great season. We played them early. I wasn’t sure how much they improved but I think they really did a nice job throughout the season. They did a great job against us the first two games, and I think we both got a little more in sync the last three games. It was kind of an offensive battle from there on. I think we have to feel lucky that we’re going to be going on after a match like that and proud of our effort.”
Head Coach John Dunning
About Texas’ front row sub for Michelle Kocher and whether he paid attention to it
“Pretty much the same. We weren’t good enough the first two games to make them do that that much. The last three games I think we just were being aggressive. It didn’t matter who the blocker was in front of us. We just had to get after it and stop doing what we had to the first two games. We didn’t change much that I know of. We were just trying to take good swings and cover ourselves so our hitters could go after it.”
Head Coach John Dunning
About Cynthia Barboza’s slow start
“Cynthia is a perfectionist a little bit. She is one of the most organized people I’ve ever met. If something is going wrong, she wants to fix it. There are times that it isn’t going right that she gets angry. Sometimes it makes her play better and sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t want to be in front of it when she’s really angry and swinging the ball. She can really kill you with it. She did tonight and against Hawaii what we needed her to do and what’s she’s capable of doing and that’s someone who can carry us. She does make the passes. She makes great digs. She took some huge swings at the end there against a big block. The frame of mind she was in was fun for me to watch. Our team really rallied around it. That’s when the energy of our team starts to grow. They are really, really excited about how fun it is and the energy they have when the team feels together. The journey is a lot more fun when it feels that way.”
Foluke Akinradewo
About being down 2-0 to Texas
“Going down 2-0 is what we get ourselves into. Like Cynthia (Barboza) said it’s all about confidence. We talked about it after the Texas match. Cynthia going around telling us that we are the best in the country and believing that. And we did. It was an amazing team effort, and I’m so proud of everyone.”
Alix Klineman
About the fifth set
“One thing we talked about going into the fifth set was no runs. That’s what killed us in the first and second games.”
Cynthia Barboza
About being down to Texas 2-0
“I don’t think we were going to let it end like that. We’ve worked too hard for the past four years. We’ve come too close in too many matches. We’ve been tested time and time again. We know how to bite back. That’s what we’ve been doing all year is digging ourselves out of holes. Hopefully we’re not going to start that way on Saturday. If you don’t have confidence in what you’re doing then you’re not a good competitor. I fully believe in every single one of my teammates. They all came through and we played one of the best matches together that we’ve ever played.”
2008 NCAA Volleyball Championship Quote Sheet
Dec. 18, 2008 - National Semifinal #1
Texas Longhorns Quotes
Head Coach Jerritt Elliott
Destinee Hooker, Lauren Paolini, Juliann Faucette
Head Coach Jerrit Elliott
Opening Statement
“Congratulations to Stanford, they played an incredible match and showed a lot of heart coming back. Thanks to Omaha for putting on such a great event. It’s great to see the sport grow so much.
“Obviously we’re all very disappointed, I felt like our game-plan coming out, we executed very well and had a great mentality. Then we kind of got hit in the mouth in game three. We didn’t execute, made a lot of mistakes and gave them some life. In this game, when you play a team like Stanford with so much tradition … you can’t give a team like that life when you have them down 2-0. They’re used to being in this position, they’re the Pac-10 champs and they’re battle tested.”
“I commend our team for sticking together; this has been an incredible journey. Obviously we wanted to be taking the next step and I felt we were playing that way after the first couple of games, but what you look for as a team and as a coach is that we stuck together and wanted to fight. It’s tough, 15-13 in a hard way to lose. You are so close that you can just taste it.”
“We were able to take the next step in getting [to the NCAA Semifinals], we were very close to taking a step beyond that and sometimes you have to be in that situation to understand that. I think this showed them that they can be here, that they belong here and hopefully once they reflect on what a special season this was, they can come back stronger next year.”
Head Coach Jerrit Elliott
On Stanford’s comeback
“They started passing better. They were executing a little bit better, but we had a lot of opportunities for points. Early on in game three most of their points were on our errors, service errors or hitting errors and kind of just gave them some opportunities. As I said you can’t give a team life when they have [Alix] Klineman and [Cynthia] Barboza and Foluke [Akinradewo], they’ve got people that can catch fire. We had them; I thought we were on them mentally and they were having a rough go of it. But they were able to get some life and respond. The thing that we couldn’t stop all night was their back row attack, that was the thing that we struggled with.”
Destinee Hooker
On the emotional swing of the match
“I feel we came out really strong, we came out composed, we were ready to play. I just felt coming out in the third game we were back on our heels after the break and we were trying to fight back but it was too late. Then coming in the fourth game it was the same way, they were up by four, we would come back and then they would go up again. I just feel that if we would have stayed composed and stayed balanced it would have been a different match.”
Head Coach Jerrit Elliott
On the play of Juliann Faucette
“She has been a tremendous player. She was the [AVCA National] Freshman of the Year last year, your second year can be tough. She has been resilient all year. She has come to practice and worked really hard and showed a lot of character. She is committed to the team and it is great to see her perform at that level. When she is on, she is one of the best players in the country and she showed that tonight. ”
Lauren Paolini
On how difficult it is to be so close and come up short
“It’s hard to go up two games and end up losing in five. But I think our team fought the whole way. I’m proud of our team, just getting to this point. I think it was an entire team effort from the first person down to the last. I just think it’s great for Texas that we are here. Stanford played really well, so I give them that credit.”
Destinee Hooker
On her seeming to will Texas to victory
“Yes, that is right. The more your give, the more you receive back. I just felt the more I gave, no matter what, if I shanked a pass or missed a serve it wasn’t about me it was about the team. So no matter what my energy is going to the team.”
Juliann Faucette
On how much nerves factored in the fifth set
“Any fifth set, you’ll have nerves. This is the (NCAA Semifinal) match and like we said before, Stanford has been in this situation the past couple of years. This is our first time in a really long time. I think the mentality is the most important thing, and I thought our mentality was great in that fifth game and we came out fighting. As Destinee (Hooker) said it was just too late. Stanford played a great game. There are always nerves in that fifth game, but it is an awesome experience to be here in the Final Four and go to five games with such a great team.”
2008 NCAA Volleyball Championship
Stanford Notes
-- With the win, Stanford has reached the NCAA championship match for the third consecutive year. The Cardinal becomes just the third team in Division I history to accomplish the feat. The other two teams are UCLA (1990-91-92) and Penn State (1997-98-99).
-- Stanford overcame a 2-0 deficit to come back and win the match 3-2. This was the first time in NCAA Tournament history that a team has come back from a 2-0 deficit to win in a national semifinal match.
-- This was the second time that Stanford defeated Texas 3-2 at the Qwest Center this season. The Cardinal won the earlier matchup on Aug. 31 in the AVCA Showcase.
-- Stanford is now 14-4 all-time in national semifinal appearances.
-- Stanford extended its winning streak to 16 matches. The Cardinal has also won 27 of its last 28 contests and have beaten 18 ranked teams this season.
-- Stanford has won all three five-set matches that it has played this year.
-- Stanford now leads the all-time series against Texas 15-6.
-- After hitting just .152 in the first two sets, Stanford came back to hit .436 in the final three sets and finish at a .306 mark for the match.
-- Coming into the match, Stanford had been holding its tournament opponents to just a .089 hitting percentage. Texas hit .316 for the match, a Stanford opponent season best.
-- Senior middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo had 17 kills and six total blocks, while also hitting .462 for the competition. She is currently hitting .447 for her career. The NCAA DI career record is .423.
-- Senior outside hitter Cynthia Barboza had 19 kills and 16 digs for her 14th double-double of the year.
-- Sophomore setter Cassidy Lichtman dished out 57 assists and had 11 digs for her 10th double-double of the year.
-- Sophomore libero Gabi Ailes had a team-best 18 digs.
-- Sophomore outside hitter Alix Klineman had a team-high 20 kills, while hitting .358 for the contest.
-- Barboza surpassed the 1,600-career kill mark in the victory.
-- Akinradewo and Klineman tied for team-high honors with 22.5 points apiece.
2008 NCAA Volleyball Championship
Texas Notes
-- Texas is now 2-2 all-time in national semifinal matches.
-- The loss snapped a 13-match win streak for Texas.
-- Texas is now 1-3 in five-set matches this year.
-- Texas tied its season high for digs in a match with 79. The Longhorns also accomplished it in the team’s regional win over UCLA on Dec. 12.
-- Texas had a season-high 77 kills tonight.
-- Junior opposite Destinee Hooker hit .362 and had a match-high 23 kills and a career-high 21 digs for her sixth double-double of the year.
-- Freshman setter Michelle Kocher and junior opposite Ashley Engle also added double-doubles for the Longhorns. Kocher handed out 52 assists and added 10 digs for her seventh, while Engle had 11 kills and 10 digs for her sixth.
-- Senior middle blocker Lauren Paolini finished the evening hitting .406 with 16 kills. She finished the season hitting .478, breaking her own school record for hitting percentage in a season. She finished second on the school’s all-time list, hitting .3727493 for her career
-- Junior libero Heather Kisner joined Hooker in leading all players with 21 digs for the match. Hooker also led all players with 25.5 points.