The Huskers, bidding to become
volleyball’s first repeat champion since USC in 2002 and 2003, ended their
season with a 30-2 record, while Cal improved to 26-7 and advanced to its first
national semifinal in school history.
The loss ended a remarkable run for
Nebraska’s quartet of seniors, as Maggie Griffin, Christina Houghtelling and
Sarah Pavan helped Nebraska to a 126-7 record, two national semifinal
appearances, four Big 12 titles and the 2006 national championship.
Pavan became the first Husker and just
the fourth Big 12 player to ever record 2,000 kills, as the senior right side
hitter finished with a match-high 16 kills and finished her career with 2,008
kills to rank fourth in Big 12 history. Stalls finished with seven kills on .462
hitting, ended the year hitting a school and Big 12 record .473, breaking
Virginia Stahr’s mark of .440 originally established in 1990. Both were chosen
to the NCAA Madison Regional All-Tournament team
Cal’s outside duo of Angie Pressey and
Hana Cutura keyed the Bears to the win, combining for 43 of Cal’s 59 kills in
helping the Bears out-hit Nebraska, .323 to .240. Cutura, who was selected as
the Regional’s Most Outstanding Player, totaled a match high 23 kills on .368
hitting, while Pressey finished with 20 kills on .444 hitting, a team-high 17
digs and three blocks.
Pressey’s defense held hold Nebraska to
just .240 hitting, its second-lowest offensive output of the season and only the
seventh time in 32 matches that the Huskers didn’t hit .300 or better.
Nebraska’s middles were the bright spot of the Huskers’ offense, as Stalls and
Kori Cooper combined for 14 kills with only one error in 25 swings.
In game one, Cal used strong performances
from its outside hitters in posting a 30-28 victory. Pressey and Cutura combined
for 15 of the Bears’ 21 kills, as Cal hit .279, as compared to .268 for
Nebraska. The Huskers middle blocking duo of Stalls and Cooper combined for
seven kills on just nine swings. The Huskers fell behind early, as Cal won
the first four rallies before the Huskers regrouped and ran off six of the next
eight points, highlighted by three points off the serve of Stalls to tie the
game at six. From there, the match was close throughout, as Nebraska
forged ahead 13-12 on a Jordan Larson kill and eventually built a 15-13 lead at
the media timeout. Nebraska led 17-16 before Cal ran off three straight points,
capped by a Kat Reilly kill to make it 19-17 to force a Husker timeout. The
Huskers rallied and regained the lead at 23-22 on a Larson cross-court kill and
led 25-24 before the game’s decisive run. Ellen Orchard’s kill sparked three
unanswered points for Cal, which took a 27-25 lead on a Cutura kill, Nebraska
fought back, as kills from Cooper and Larson tied the game at 27 and forced Cal
to take a timeout. Cutura gave the Golden Bears the lead for good with a kill
before a block by Morgan Beck and Kat Reilly put Cal at game point. NU fought
off one game point as Pavan and Cooper combined for a block, but Cutura’s eighth
kill closed out the win.
As close as game one was, the second game
was closer, as neither team led by more than two points in a game that saw 22
ties and nine lead changes before Cal won the final two points to take a 31-29
win. Once again, it was the duo of Pressey and Cutura who led Cal, as the pair
combined for 13 kills, including eight by Cutura. Christina Houghelling kept NU
in the game with five kills on nine swings, while Pavan also added five more for
the Huskers. The game was back and forth throughout and Nebraska eventually
built a 20-18 lead after a Pavan kill. Cal quickly tied the score, winning the
next two rallies before the Huskers took their last lead at 23-22 on a Pavan
kill. With the score tied at 25, Cal once again used a Cutura kill and a
Nebraska ball-handling error to take a two-point lead. Trailing 29-27, Nebraska
fought off two game points to tie it at 29-all on two straight Pavan kills, but
the Bears again had an answer as a kill from Pressey and a double block by
Cutura and Orchard on Pavan to send Cal into the locker room with a 2-0
advantage.
Unlike Friday’s come-from-behind victory
over Michigan State, the Huskers could not match the Golden Bears on this night,
as Cal completed the sweep with a 30-26 victory. Cal hit a blistering .342, as
the Golden Bears’ duo combined for 15 kills and one error in 25 swings. Pavan
totaled half of her kill total in the finale to keep NU close, but the Huskers
were held to just .184 hitting. The Huskers built an early 7-6 lead, but two
attack errors and a Carli Lloyd ace put the Huskers in an early hole. NU climbed
back, running off three straight points to turn a two-point deficit into a 14-13
lead on a Cal attack error, but the Golden Bears took control. Cutura led Cal on
a 5-0 run that allowed the Bears to take an 18-14 lead. Trailing 22-18, the
Huskers raced off three straight points to get within 22-21 on a Houghtelling
service ace, and were within 27-26, but could never tie the score, as Cal scored
the final three points to complete the sweep. Pressey’s 20th kill of
the night sent the Bears into a joyous celebration as they reached the national
semifinals for the first time ever.
Nebraska Notes
-Nebraska
falls to 10-9 in NCAA Regional Finals play
-The loss snaps an 11 match
winning streak.
-Nebraska falls to 73-23 all-time in NCAA tournament
play.
-Nebraska falls to 2-2 all-time versus California and 30-23-1 versus
the Pac-10.
-Nebraska had won 23 of its last 24 matches versus ranked teams.
The Huskers are now 86-13 versus ranked teams under head coach John Cook.
-The match marked the second time this season that Nebraska was out-hit
(.240-.323)
-The match was the seventh time this year that Nebraska hit under
.300.
-Nebraska’s senior class (Maggie Griffin, Christina Houghtelling, Sarah
Pavan and Tracy Stalls) finished with a career record of 126-7. During their
four years, the group went to four NCAA regional finals and two National
Semifinals, winning the 2006 NCAA championship.
-Senior Sarah Pavan recorded
her 2,000th career kill in game two. Pavan, who became the first Husker to reach
the mark, finished her career with 2,008 which ranks fourth all-time in Big 12
history.
-Pavan also finished the year with 498 kills, good for ninth
all-time in school history in a single-season. Her 4.83 kills per game ranks
sixth all-time in a single-season.
-Senior Christina Houghtelling finished
ninth in school history for digs in a single-season with 383.
-Senior Tracy
Stalls set a school and Big 12 single-season record with a hitting percentage of
.474.
-Junior Jordan Larson tied her own school postseason-record with 12
service aces.
Nebraska Quotes
Head Coach John Cook: “California played great tonight and certainly put the
pressure on us and never let off. I thought our team rallied at times but could
never put together a string of points and we didn’t play very well at the end of
close games and when you get to regional finals, that’s what you have to be able
to do, is put on pressure and play great at the end of games. Cal certainly did
a tremendous job of that tonight.”
Cook on the areas of the game where Nebraska
struggled: “I’m not sure we
did anything really well tonight so it would be an all-around, we did it in
spurts but we didn’t do all the skills very well consistently. A lot of it
starts with blocking and defensively and those have been our strengths and you
have to give those left-side hitters a lot of credit tonight. Serving, normally
we really stress team serving, we were really tentative serving tonight with
errors at critical times, which takes the momentum away and we were inconsistent
attacking and siding out tonight. Part of that, Cal probably made us feel that
way.”
Cook on the senior
class: “The first thing that
comes to mind is that they’ve set the bar so darn high. The last three years
ago, we’ve lost five matches, played for two national championships, won a
national championship on probably the greatest stage the history of volleyball
may ever see. When you look at this group academically, they’re all 4.0s, three
academic All-Americans, they won the Life Skills Award as a team. Maybe I might
get a job as a sportswriter because I’m not sure we’ll ever top this group of
seniors. Once the disappointment of tonight goes away, they’re going to have
some incredible accomplishments and memories and have set a great legacy at
Nebraska, especially Nebraska volleyball.”
Tracy Stalls on her career coming to an
end: “I wouldn’t say it has
set in. I’m still kind of shocked, but I think what hurts the most is having to
leave this group and this team. I’m disappointed in how we played. I’m
disappointed that we weren’t able to max out and that was the goal. As a result
of that, we didn’t reach as far as we wanted to go. The thing that hurts is
having to say goodbye to this season of my life and this special group of people
that I love so much and it’s just been a pleasure. It’s been a hard four years,
but it’s been so rewarding. That’s all I have to say right now.”
Box Score