Oct. 18, 2007

Unbeaten No More

Last weekend was a learning experience for those who follow Pac-10 volleyball. We knew going into the weekend that one of the Pac-10's two remaining unbeaten teams would finally get a tally in the loss column since those two unbeaten teams - Washington and Stanford - played each other. What we did not know and could not predict is that they both would lose. And so with California's win over Washington on Thursday followed by Washington's win over Stanford on Friday we learned that the Pac-10 championship is still up for grabs. And what else did we learn? With Oregon State's win at UCLA the lesson was loud and clear - every team better be ready to play every night in this conference or a loss is on the way.

When I saw the scores Thursday night from Berkeley that Cal had defeated Washington I was not that surprised. I had wondered for a while just how good Washington was with its weak non-conference schedule and relatively easy start to its Pac-10 season. Before Thursday night the Huskies Pac-10 schedule consisted of teams currently sitting from 6th-10th in the conference standings. So essentially they had played the teams at the bottom of the conference and had yet to see a team in the top half. That changed Thursday night when California showed up in a big way, beating Washington for the first time since 2003. Not only did that give Washington their first loss of the year but it also gave the Golden Bears an important win. Keep in mind that just three weeks ago Cal had not won a conference match after beginning the season just the opposite of the Huskies - with matches against Stanford, UCLA and USC. And while it played them tough and won games in each match, it could not get a win over a top team. But it did on Thursday night which could go a long way for the Bears confidence when they see Stanford, UCLA and USC again.

The major factor for California in the match was the re-emergence of senior outside hitter Angie Pressey. Pressey, a second team all-american last year, has been fairly quiet of late and had not led her team in kills in a Pac-10 match....until the Huskies came to town. Pressey came up with a career-tying 25 kills on a career-high 60 swings. And she saved her best for last. In game 5 Pressey came up with six kills and a solo block for seven of her teams 15 points. Just what you would expect from your senior leader playing on her home floor against a ranked opponent. Only Pressey was less effective earlier in the season at home against ranked opponents, hitting over .200 only once (against USC) and significantly trailing the contributions of sophomore outside Hana Cutura who registered over 20 kills in each of California's first four league matches, all against ranked opponents. But Pressey showed why she is a three time first team All-Pac-10 player against the Huskies and willed her team to a win. In the battle of freshman setters it was Cal's Carli Lloyd that shined a little brighter than Washington's Jenna Hagglund, but both showed the tremendous ability that brought them to the Pac-10.

What a difference 24 hours made for the Huskies. Fresh off the disappointment of their first loss they found themselves trailing 2 games to 1 at Stanford in front of over 3,000 screaming Cardinal fans. Somehow they fought their way back for an improbable win. It is not easy to win at Stanford. In the past six seasons the Cardinal have lost only eight matches on their home floor, five of which were conference matches. And one of those was to Washington, in 2005, the year the Huskies won the national championship. Many of these Huskies have won at Stanford and that experience certainly made a difference Friday night. I would not have guessed that the Huskies, who have been ranked in the top 5 in the nation in hitting percentage all year, could hit .167 against Stanford and win. But they did. I could not have imagined they would, with a freshman setter, go to Palo Alto and win. But they did. And in doing so showed that their No. 8 ranking was deserved and their weak non-conference schedule was not hiding some weakness within their team. In fact, in this week's coaches poll, the Huskies moved up to No. 5 after losing their first match of the year....and, of course, beating No. 2 (now No. 3) Stanford.

Washington trailed in game 4 by a score of 11-16. It trailed again 15-18 when the match completely changed. A five-point run, fueled by two Stevie Mussie kills, two Stanford errors and a service ace gave the Huskies a lead they would not relinquish. Washington hit only .042 in games two and three combined but finally caught fire in the middle of game four while Stanford could not match its play. Cynthia Barboza, Stanford's do everything outside hitter, proved to be human with the match on the line. After the Cardinal reached 15 points in game four Barboza did not have a kill the rest of the game but recorded three errors. She did lead the way for Stanford with 20 kills and 17 digs but it was not enough and not when they needed it the most. The Huskies, as usual, were led by reigning Pac-10 player of the year Christal Morrison. Morrison showed no signs of fatigue after an outstanding match at Cal where she registered 21 kills and only one error on a season high 54 swings. Against Stanford, Morrison had 19 kills and 13 digs and came up with big swings in game 5 to seal the win, including match point. She and fellow seniors Mussie (20 kills and 11 digs) and Alesha Deesing (6 blocks) continually made plays at the end of the match that ultimately led them to victory. And what a huge victory it was.

I will admit my statement last week that Stanford had been labeled "unbeatable" possibly put a jinx on the Cardinal, if you believe in that sort of thing. And that I questioned just how good Washington was may have also fired up the Washington faithful. Like I said, this was a learning week, and I learned that Stanford is beatable and that Washington is pretty darn good. Now, what I would like to know is will the real Oregon State Beavers please stand up? This Beaver team can be very good at times. They have wins over teams currently ranked No. 7 (UCLA), No. 11 (Hawaii) and No. 21 (Colorado State). How many teams can claim wins over three top 20 teams? Usually those feats are reserved for the elite teams in the county. And the UCLA and Hawaii wins were on the road. And they won their Pac-10 opener against Washington State. But since that win against the Cougars not only had the Beavers lost six straight matches, they had not even won a game. Which is what makes their victory over UCLA Friday night such a mystery.

How did Oregon State win while being outplayed in virtually every statistical category? The Bruins had 19 more kills than Oregon State and hit .183 to just .096 for OSU. Oregon State had only one player with double digit kills (Rachel Rourke with 25) while UCLA had three - Ali Daly (with a career high 26 kills), Kaitlin Sather (15) and Rachell Johnson (14). The Beavers setter, Camilla Ah-Hoy, was making her first start of the season after tearing her ACL last year and losing the starting job to transfer K.C. Walsh. But sometimes it is not how well you play, it is when you play well and that was the case with Oregon State. The games it lost - games 2 and 4 - were not close. The Beavers hit -.258 in their 16-30 game two loss and .105 when they scored only 17 in game four. But when it counted - the fifth game - Oregon State made all the right plays and capitalized on UCLA's errors. The Beavers held a slight 12-11 lead in the fifth when back-to-back hitting errors by the Bruins gave OSU match point. UCLA fought to within one at 14-13, but Ah-Hoy put a ball down for the win. The loss did not drop UCLA very far in the national rankings and could be a very good wake up call for this talented Bruin team that many feel could make a push to a second straight Final Four appearance. But it did give them little room for error if they hope to content for the Pac-10 championship. And for the Beavers? Another glimmer of hope in a season full of big wins but lacking consistency. But a win like that is a big step in the right direction for a program that was winless in conference play a year ago. And we all learned a long time ago that you must walk before you can run