[Viking_Guy]

A major upset today, with Purdue knocking off #1 overall seed Florida.  Yep, it\'s a wide-open tourney.

And the SEC really sucks at volleyball.  6 teams in the tournament. 5 lost in the first or second round, including #13 seed LSU getting swept in the first round.

Ditto the ACC.  6 teams in, only Duke standing, and they get the pleasure of most likely playing Penn State at University Hall, where they\'ve won 90+ matches in a row.  We could end up with 4 Pac-10 teams facing one another on one side of the bracket in the Elite 8, with 3 teams in the other half being from the Big 10/11/some other number.  Stanford plays SC, Cal is beating Minnesota in Seattle right now, with Washington to play Nebraska in the later match - a #1 seed playing an unseeded (and mad about it) team on their homecourt.

In the other half, Purdue plays winner of Illinois/Texas, and the Illini won the first set, again on Texas\' home court.  Meanwhile, Duke will play the winner of Penn State/Oklahoma (currently 2-0 Lions, with both sets being 25-23 closer than expected wins).

VG

[Viking_Guy]

A major upset today, with Purdue knocking off #1 overall seed Florida.  Yep, it\'s a wide-open tourney.

And the SEC really sucks at volleyball.  6 teams in the tournament. 5 lost in the first or second round, including #13 seed LSU getting swept in the first round.

Ditto the ACC.  6 teams in, only Duke standing, and they get the pleasure of most likely playing Penn State at University Hall, where they\'ve won 90+ matches in a row.  We could end up with 4 Pac-10 teams facing one another on one side of the bracket in the Elite 8, with 3 teams in the other half being from the Big 10/11/some other number.  Stanford plays SC, Cal is beating Minnesota in Seattle right now, with Washington to play Nebraska in the later match - a #1 seed playing an unseeded (and mad about it) team on their homecourt.

In the other half, Purdue plays winner of Illinois/Texas, and the Illini won the first set, again on Texas\' home court.  Meanwhile, Duke will play the winner of Penn State/Oklahoma (currently 2-0 Lions, with both sets being 25-23 closer than expected wins).

VG

[fullmetal]

Texas pulls out a close win over Illinois, 3-2 with a final set score of 15-11.

[fullmetal]

Texas pulls out a close win over Illinois, 3-2 with a final set score of 15-11.

[Farm93]

The tournament is down to 8, but 4 Pac-10 teams remain.  All four Pac-10 teams are in the same side of the bracket, so one of them will play in the final.

Stanford squares off against USC in one quarter, while C.a.l plays UW in another.

UW upset Nebraska last night, so Stanford is now the highest remaining seed.  Only UW is clearly a notch below the others from the Pac.  UW lost eight times in the season going only 1-5 against the remaining Pac-10 teams.  USC only lost four times this year, but lost to Stanford twice.  Stanford lost only three times, but lost to C.a.l twice.  And C.a.l lost only three times, but lost twice to USC.  But UW is playing in Seattle against C.a.l, so that might be their edge.

It should be fun to see how it shakes out.

[Farm93]

The tournament is down to 8, but 4 Pac-10 teams remain.  All four Pac-10 teams are in the same side of the bracket, so one of them will play in the final.

Stanford squares off against USC in one quarter, while C.a.l plays UW in another.

UW upset Nebraska last night, so Stanford is now the highest remaining seed.  Only UW is clearly a notch below the others from the Pac.  UW lost eight times in the season going only 1-5 against the remaining Pac-10 teams.  USC only lost four times this year, but lost to Stanford twice.  Stanford lost only three times, but lost to C.a.l twice.  And C.a.l lost only three times, but lost twice to USC.  But UW is playing in Seattle against C.a.l, so that might be their edge.

It should be fun to see how it shakes out.

[unclechuck]

Viking Guy; others - I don\'t follow WVB closely, but there was indignation in the Oregon sports press when the Ducks weren\'t invited to the tourney. Feeling was that UO was a solid mid-Pac10 team (similar to UW?) with a stellar OOC record but swept by us, Cal, SC, so among the top 20-25 teams anyhow.

Is the situation similar to water polo where the strength is concentrated in Pac10 / west coast so the tourney bends over to be geographically inclusive, or were the Duckettes just being delusional?

[unclechuck]

Viking Guy; others - I don\'t follow WVB closely, but there was indignation in the Oregon sports press when the Ducks weren\'t invited to the tourney. Feeling was that UO was a solid mid-Pac10 team (similar to UW?) with a stellar OOC record but swept by us, Cal, SC, so among the top 20-25 teams anyhow.

Is the situation similar to water polo where the strength is concentrated in Pac10 / west coast so the tourney bends over to be geographically inclusive, or were the Duckettes just being delusional?

[CompSci87]

The match will be televised on ESPNU, 4 p.m. today.

4pm Eastern time, 1pm Pacific. I almost missed that.  

[CompSci87]

The match will be televised on ESPNU, 4 p.m. today.

4pm Eastern time, 1pm Pacific. I almost missed that.  

[fullmetal]

USC is putting up a spirited fight.  Both teams are tied at 2 sets a piece, USC having taken the last one 26-24.  

Now USC is up 12-11 and Stanford takes its second timeout...oh man.  Gametracker is a terrible way to watch volleyball.

[fullmetal]

USC is putting up a spirited fight.  Both teams are tied at 2 sets a piece, USC having taken the last one 26-24.  

Now USC is up 12-11 and Stanford takes its second timeout...oh man.  Gametracker is a terrible way to watch volleyball.

[fullmetal]

USC wins the last set 16-14 on a three-point run, starting with a kill, then a Stanford attack error, and then a USC block.

[fullmetal]

USC wins the last set 16-14 on a three-point run, starting with a kill, then a Stanford attack error, and then a USC block.

[Nan3cy]

&*(&(*^&*^&%(*&_+U&!!!! :-[

[Nan3cy]

&*(&(*^&*^&%(*&_+U&!!!! :-[

[CrazedZooChimp]

I hate U$C.  Damn it.

[CrazedZooChimp]

I hate U$C.  Damn it.

[fullmetal]

:\'(

sigh

[fullmetal]

:\'(

sigh

[fullmetal]

Did anyone see the game?  I know someone had posted that the team lost Browne to a season-ending knee injury earlier, but the press releases have made zero mention of the injury.  The last regular season match against USC was, however, a Stanford sweep without Browne\'s presence, which makes the tournament loss to USC that much more puzzling to me.  Dare I join the legion of thinkers out there who believe that Dunning gets outcoached in crunch time?

That last sweep of USC was also the first match without Browne.

[fullmetal]

Did anyone see the game?  I know someone had posted that the team lost Browne to a season-ending knee injury earlier, but the press releases have made zero mention of the injury.  The last regular season match against USC was, however, a Stanford sweep without Browne\'s presence, which makes the tournament loss to USC that much more puzzling to me.  Dare I join the legion of thinkers out there who believe that Dunning gets outcoached in crunch time?

That last sweep of USC was also the first match without Browne.