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		Sacramento Hosts NCAA Volleyball Final Four By Tony Renteria and Laura Hoyme December 13, 2007

	SACRAMENTO- The Final Four of Women’s volleyball was held at Arco Arena to determine who would advance to the Final game held here on Saturday December 15th. The first match of the night mixed up the Stanford Cardinal against the Trojans of Southern California. The Cardinal came in to the match with a 31-2 record while the Trojans brought their record of 29-4. The teams had met back in October with USC winning a 5 game set against then 3rd ranked Stanford. Stanford’s only two losses came in Pac-10 play. The Pac 10 is the most dominating conference in women’s volleyball today. USC raced out to a 13-11 lead then Alli Hillgren severed two quick aces to take the lead to 15-11 before Stanford Coach John Dunning called a time out to regroup. It did little help as the Trogans continued to pour on the heat led by Senior Outside Hitter Asia Kaczor who led with 9 kills in the 30-23 set win by USC. In the second set the number one ranked Cardinal looked for revenge as the came out hitting and took a 10-5 lead. Junior Outside hitter Cynthia Barboza took charge with several kills to help the Cardinal take the lead. Junior Foluke Akinradewo over powered the UCS defense with 12 kills as Stanford came back with a 30-23 win to even the match. Stanford continued the pressure as they mounted a lead of 13-5 behind the hitting Barboza who pounded USC with Power and dinked with cleverness. USC came back from some strong passing and setting by Sophomore Taylor Carico to force Stanford to call a time out with a score of 16-10 Stanford. The Trogans fought back to within four at one point but the front row power was too much as Stanford won the third set 30-25. USC had to win the fourth set to stay in the match and at the half way point the score was 15-12 with USC ahead. USC continued to pour it with emotion and hustle as pulled away to a lead of 18-13 forcing Dunning to call a timeout to top the bleeding. USC continued to out play and out hustle the tired and confused Cardinal as the lead increased to 24-15. USC Continued the pounding as they raced to a 30-20 win and tied the Match up 2-2. The fifth and deciding game to 15 determines who advances to the Championship. The Trojans sprang to a four to one lead. As the teams switched sides as the second half of the game started the Trojans led 8-6. USC behind the outside hitting of Kaczoz pushed the Cardinal to break of elimination as they led 11-9. The Cardinal battled back to tie the score at 11-11. Akinradewo continued to hit hard and bring her team back to tie the game at 13-13. The score went to 14-14 as Kaczor severed long. The Cardinal took the lead as a defected block landed in on USC side. The Trojans called a timeout down 15-14 knowing that they had to score on the next play to stay in the game and in contention for the national title. Barboza took a high outside set and delivered a huge hit that the Trojans Blocked but the ball landed outside of the court as The Cardinal advanced to the NCAA Championship. The Second Match of the night pitted California against Penn State. In first game the experience of Penn State with a large number of upperclassmen seemed evident as they played to near perfection racing to a 9-5 lead. The Bears fought back with dinks and dumps to tie it up at 11-11. At the first timeout Penn State led 15-14. The Nittany Lions started to pull away forcing the Bears coach Rich Feller to call a timeout as the score was 20-17. Cal raced back into the game 23-22 which caused Coach Russ Rose use his first timeout. In a game that resembled a men’s game of power hitting and lack of rallies the Penn State Nittany Lions squeaked to a 30-28 win. The Bears started the second game with the look of realization that this may by as far as they advance as the Nittany Lions pulled out to an 8-3 lead before Coach Feller called for a timeout. Angie Pressey, the senior outside hitter who at five eight seems undersized, willed her teammates back with inspiration and powerful outside brought the Golden Bears back into the game at 21-17 and only trailing by four. Pressey’s Bears keep up the pressure and rallied within three as they still trailed 26-23. The Nittany Lions used the powerful front row to exploit the Bears lack of height as they pulled away to a 30-25 win. The Golden Bears needed a win in the third game to stay in the hunt for the national championship. The Lions came out to play as they jumped out to a 14-7 lead. Peen State started to pour it on as they cruised to a 19-10 lead. The Golden Bears had hustle and will but Penn State had the height and talents as they won game three by he score of 30-16 and advance to play Stanford on Saturday the 15h for the 2007 NCAA Women’s National Volleyball Championship. Laura Hoyme was a college player who went on to not only coach for a several high schools but also coached nationally on the club level. Tony Renteria covers the NBA Sacramento Kings, WNBA Sacramento Monarchs for SportsRadioservice.com