Women of Troy Set NCAA Record; Win Regional Title

Lincoln, Neb ? April Ross tallied a game-high 19 kills, leading top-ranked Southern California to a 24-30, 30-26, 30-17, 30-17 victory over UCLA Saturday night at the NU Coliseum.

With the win, USC broke the NCAA record for consecutive wins, which was previously held by Penn State (Aug. 31, 1990, through Dec. 7, 1990). The Women of Troy, who improved to 33-0 on the season, have won 45 straight contests dating back to Nov. 2, 2002, when they lost in five games to Stanford at home. USC has also won 34 consecutive matches on the road and will face the winner of the Long Beach Regional between Washington and Minnesota, which started at 9 p.m. (CST)

Ross was one of four Trojans to record 10 or more kills, as Emily Adams tallied 14 on a .357 hitting percentage, while Keao Burdine and Katie Olsovsky chipped in 13 and 11, respectively. Burdine was selected as the Regional’s Most Outstanding Player and was one of three USC players (Adams, Ross and Bibiana Candelas) on the all-tournament team.

Brittany Ringel paced UCLA with 17 kills, as the eighth-ranked Bruins finished the season with a 24-9 record. Ringel was joined by libero Chrissie Zartman on the all-tournament teams.

In game one, the score was tied at 15 before UCLA ripped off a 5-0 run that included kills by Ringel and Bryan Murphy, who had 10 kills in the loss. USC closed the cap to 20-17 with a kill by Burdine, but Toni Anderson committed a service error on the next rally. The Bruins led by at least four the rest of the way and eventually took a 30-24 win on a kill by Ringel. UCLA hit .343 in game one and out-blocked the Women of Troy, 6-2. USC committed five service errors and hit just .167.

USC rebounded with a 30-26 win in game two. With the game tied at 25, the Women of Troy scored five of the last six points and wrapped up the victory on a kill by Ross. Adams got loose for six kills in game two and hit .455 to pace USC in game two. UCLA lost outside hitter Colby Lyman to an ankle injury near the end of game two, foring the Bruins to shuffle their lineup for the final two games.

The Women of Troy remained in control the rest of the way, taking game three, 30-17, before racing to a 12-0 lead in game four. USC eventually took a 30-17 victory in game four on a kill by Olsovsky.

NCAA Lincoln Regional All-Tournament Team
Keao Burdine, USC ? Most Outstanding Player
Emily Adams, USC
April Ross, USC
Bibiana Candelas, USC
Brittany Ringel, UCLA
Chrissie Zartman, UCLA

UCLA Head Coach Andy Banachowski
Opening Statement
First of all, I want to thank the people of Nebraska for turning out. We appreciate the support from the fans. I thought that we came out ready to play and play hard. We played hard in the first game and then everything seemed to fall apart in the middle of the second game.

USC plays so steady and they have the ability to go on these point runs and bury you. They can hurt you.

On the game two injury to Colby Lyman
That threw a dent in what we had been doing. Colby was playing well and we hoped for her to play a huge role in what we wanted to do. Just before her injury, I had used her backup in another spot and we were caught with her sub (Becky Green) in another spot. It confused us and we could never get back on track.

On the crowd
It was great to see that many fans show up tonight. Coming into the game, we’re the underdogs and you’d hope that they would cheer for us. In the first game, we really fed off that and our bench support has been great all season. The crowd got us going early and it helped us to have some Nebraska fans make some noise.

UCLA Junior Brittany Ringel
On game three
We were back where we started for game three. In the locker room, we talked about going out and supporting each other. We came back and were ready to go, it just didn’t pan out.

UCLA Senior Cira Wright
On the match
Before the game, we talked about making history and winning the game. It wasn’t as far as Colby going out, but when she did it was emotional.

USC Head Coach Mick Haley
Opening Statement
I think the fans go a great match tonight. They really got their money’s worth. It offered the fans a little bit of everything. You have to give UCLA credit; they really can into this game really prepared. They really put the heat on us and out digged us for a while but we battled back in the end.

On Returning to the Final Four
The hardest part is always getting there, and that was the case tonight. It’s obviously great to have another chance of winning a title. Getting there was a team goal all season, and how its going to Dallas and getting ready to play.

Outside Hitter April Ross
On the Match
Our mentality throughout the whole match is was to keep fighting and to try to outlast them. We knew that if we kept playing our game then we would eventually win out. In the fourth game we had tons on momentum and just put the match away.