OT: Volleyball playoffs

[enigmatic]

I am not on the Louisville bandwagon but Busboom-Kelly is undeniably the NCOY this season. What a outstanding job she has done going from preseason #15 to undefeated #1 going into the NCAAT. Purdue had no business winning their regional semi against BYU being down 14-10 in the fifth set but somehow they remarkably did it 18-16. I can see them beating Pitt on the road to reach Columbus considering they were able to win in Minneapolis and Madison this season. Rooting though for Eggleston or Rettke to finally win one. Tomorrow will be a busy sports day for me: UCONN-UCLA, NCAAWVB Elite Eight, and then the Hawaii State High School Girls Volleyball Tournament Championship match.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Sorry NW. I feel like I jinxed it.

I have a semi actual belief that I can jinx a game, but I'm not sure if I believe others have that power. I only watched bits and pieces of the action because I was pretty nervous. I wasn't watching when the wheels came off the bus, so I'm not gonna take the blame for jinxing it.

 

[Geew1992]

Anyone read the story about Jermaine O’Neils daughter? She plays for Texas.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Well you gotta take a win whenever you can--Washington mens soccer will be going for a National Championship against Clemson.

 

[nwhoopfan]

My jinx powers are definitely working today. Every time I tune into the match, Pitt totally loses momentum. I'll quit watching so they can win. Up 2-1 over Purdue, looks like it's been hard fought.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Pitt finally wore them down and ran away w/ Set 4. First ever Final 4. Congrats to the Panthers.

 

[triaddukefan]

Hail 2 Pitt! ACC ACC!

 

[nwhoopfan]

Hail 2 Pitt! ACC ACC!

They said the ACC had only had 1 team in the National Semis previously. That number will go up to 3 after today.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Kudos to GA Tech. Louisville has owned them for years, but they just took Set 2 to even it up 1-1.

 

[nwhoopfan]

GA Tech battled hard, but Louisville was not gonna be denied. 3-1 win.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Minnesota fought hard but got swept by Wisconsin. Only 1 spot left in the FF.

 

[SimpleDawg]

Texas once again down 0-2.

This is a ridiculous place to play with the excitable Pro-Longhorn crowd and Longhorn spirit fingers jeering at Nebraska everytime they serve. But it's 0-2 once again, here we go..... now let's see them keep that crowd energy up.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Freakin' Texas. I thought Nebraska was supposed to have no chance in this match.

 

[triaddukefan]

GA Tech battled hard, but Louisville was not gonna be denied. 3-1 win.

ACC! ACC!

 

[nwhoopfan]

Something about Nebraska. Regular season seems to be completely irrelevant, doesn't matter how good or not good they seem to be, always a threat in the playoffs. Texas came back to win Set 3, but Nebraska comfortably ahead in Set 4.


I think the posters saying the Huskers had no chance in this match were sandbagging.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I am 1000% pulling for a Louisville-Pitt Championship. Down w/ the B1G.

 

[SimpleDawg]

That's one of the best volleyball games I've ever seen. But Nebraska thoroughly outplayed Texas and deserves to move on.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Okay @triaddukefan , Clemson took down UW 2-0 for the men's soccer Championship, so you can toot the ACC's horn some more.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Louisville's dream season comes up a bit short. I couldn't quite bring myself to watch it. Wisconsin took it in 5.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I definitely couldn't watch Nebraska. It's still going? It's almost 10 pm on the West Coast, that makes it ridiculously late in Columbus, OH.

 

[SimpleDawg]

Great pair of games. I got the results I wanted tho. I just like Wisconsin's and Nebraska's players better, and that's the ideal championship game matchup to me.

 

[bballnut90]

Insane game watching Louisville vs. Wisconsin. Both teams played at an incredibly high level and it's a shame either of them had to lose. Praying Wisconsin can finally win a title pull this out over Nebraska.

Lots of history between the two programs. Cook coached at Wisconsin in the 90s and put the program on the map before jumping over to Nebraska. In his first year at Nebraska, he played against Wisconsin (whose entire roster was players he coached) and beat his old team to win a championship. Since then he's won 3 more titles and has turned Nebraska into a perennial powerhouse, while Wisconsin has found ample success and is now in their 5th Final four and 4th championship appearance, but they haven't been able to win the big one yet. Wisconsin has beaten Nebraska now 7 straight times and should be the heavy favorite entering the title match, but Cook seems to work his magic in these types of games. His squads historically have choked when they're expected to win it all but have thrived as underdogs. I don't think anyone expected they'd be in playing for another title, so anything can happen.

 

[undersized]

This game is giving me Stanford/Arizona from last season's basketball final vibes in a number of ways.

 

[cancontent]

Anna Smrek blew me away last night. It's unfortunate not much is known about her here in Canada. The Welland ON area has a lot of great talent when you think of her and Emma Koabel heading to Duke in 2022.

Women's volleyball is woefully behind in getting any recognition in this country even though many have been earning scholarships to play in the NCAA.

 

[undersized]

Anna Smrek blew me away last night.

Louisville took a big gamble letting her hit 1-on-1 as long as they did, and it did not pay off, especially in the 3rd set. They switched defensive tactics slightly in sets 4 and 5, which did slow Smrek down a bit, but Louisville's passing and defense just broke down too much in that 5th set.