Thursday, December 16, 1999

NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Fives will be wild

For a handful of reasons,
it's fitting that No. 1 Penn State
will play No. 2 Stanford
for the title

Penn State 3, Pacific 2

By Cindy Luis
Star-Bulletin

For nearly four months, the talk has been about parity. About how this year, the field was wide-open and it would be anyone's guess as to who would walk away with the 1999 NCAA women's volleyball title.

Guess what? After 17 weeks, the teams that were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 coming into the season are the last two standing.

Top-ranked Penn State (35-1) and No. 2 Stanford (31-2) will meet tomorrow for the 19th NCAA title at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Nittany Lions outlasted Pacific, 14-16, 15-5, 15-6, 7-15, 15-12, before the Cardinal wore down defending national champion Long Beach State, 15-10, 15-10, 15-3, in last night's semifinals.

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Stanford's Lindsey Yamasaki celebrates a point during Stanford's
semifinal sweep of Long Beach State last night
at the Stan Sheriff Center.

If tomorrow's contest were a Las Vegas keno game, the number to choose would be "5.'' The only question is this: On whose card will it show up?

Tomorrow's 5 p.m. game is a rematch of the 1997 final, won by Stanford in five sets.

Stanford will try to win its fifth national title of the 1990s. It is 4-0 when reaching the championship match this decade. The Cardinal have been in five of the last six final fours.

This is Penn State's fifth appearance in the final four, third straight in the title game. The Nittany Lions' past two seasons have ended with five-set losses.

"I think Penn State is due,'' said Long Beach State coach Brian Gimmillaro, after his team was eliminated after just 92 minutes last night. "But who knows?''

Indeed.

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Long Beach States' Brandy Barratt, left, and battle-
wrapped Keri Nishimoto try to rally their team.

Anyone who knows volleyball would never have expected to see the 49ers trailing, 13-0. But Stanford came close to shutting out Long Beach State for the first time in Gimmillaro's 15-year tenure.

"I wanted 15-0,'' said senior All-American Kerri Walsh, who had 14 kills in helping the Cardinal beat the 49ers for the 12th straight time.

"We know how Long Beach came come back,'' said Stanford coach Don Shaw, whose team ran its win streak to 20. "We were ahead, 12-3, in the 1997 (NCAA) semifinal with them and they came back on us. We finally won that one, 17-15.''

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Stanford's Lindsey Yamasaki slams one past
Long Beach State's Sarah Clark.

Last night, there would be no miracle for the 49ers (31-4). There was, however, a warm reaction from the turnstile crowd of 7,293 when Anja Grabovac's kill put the 49ers on the scoreboard at 13-1.

A lift call on Stanford made it 13-2, and Long Beach had avoided tying its lowest point total since falling to Hawaii, 15-1, in a 1988 Big West Conference loss.

The Beach fended off one aloha ball and closed to 14-3. Walsh and Jennifer Detmer teamed to stuff Tayyiba Haneef and the 49ers hopes to become the fifth repeat champions.

"I think the key to the match was in serve-receive,'' said Shaw. "If they can't pass the ball (on the serve), if they can't stay in system, they cannot get the ball to the people they need to run their offense.

"We were concerned about their size but Lindsay (junior setter Kagawa) did a great job of keeping their block separated.''

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
'It's really a sweet feeling to do well in front of my family.
One more to go.' -- Logan Tom, Stanford Cardinal

Kagawa isolated the 49ers' block, giving her hitters numerous chances at swinging away with one-on-one opportunities. Both freshman All-American Logan Tom and freshman Lindsey Yamasaki rarely missed; Tom had a match-high 27 kills and hit .564; Yamasaki added 13 kills with no errors, hitting .591.

"It's really a sweet feeling to do well in front of my family,'' said Tom, who has plenty of family on Oahu and the Big Island. "One more to go.''

Stanford held Long Beach's sophomore All-American Cheryl Weaver to 11 kills. The Beach were outdug, 48-34, and the 6-6 Haneef went without a block all match.

"We played well enough to win,'' said Shaw. "We know we can play a lot better.

"Penn State has a number of veterans out there. We expect a tough match.''

---

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Penn States players. left to right, Amanda Rome, Carrie Schonveld
and Katie Schumacher try to encourage each other during their
five-set victory over Pacific. They advanced to tomorrow's title
game of the NCAA women's volleyball championships.

Penn State 3, Pacific 2

The Nittany Lions and Tigers battled for 2 hours, 14 minutes, with the ball bouncing Penn State's way at the end.

"To finally win a fifth game in the final four feels great,'' said Penn State senior Lauren Cacciamani, who was 0-2 in five-setters before last night.

Penn State saw Game 1 slip away when, leading 14-13, the Tigers held off one game ball to regain the serve. UOP never gave it back, scoring three unanswered points to pull it out.

The Lions steamrolled through Games 2 and 3, allowing just 11 total points. With the Tigers switching setters, going with Tanja Dimitrijevic over starter Kara Gormsen, momentum also switched sides in Game 4.

UOP reeled off eight straight for a 14-7 lead. Elsa Stegemann and Danielle Shinn stuffed Cacciamani to send it to Game 5.

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Pacific's Elsa Stegemann punctuated her block
against Penn State which won game four.

Penn State spotted UOP a 4-0 lead in rally scoring and didn't catch the Tigers until 11-11. Behind the serving of Leilani Schlottfeldt, who was born in Hawaii but raised in Brazil, the Lions finally took control.

Senior setter Bonnie Bremner blocked Stegemann for Penn State's first lead. Carrie Schonveld then dug a bullet by Stegemann that landed in the back corner of the Tigers' side of the court for a 13-11 cushion.

By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin Penn State's Carrie Schonveld blocks a shot in
front of Pacific's Tracy Chambers.

Cacciamani then put down her 26th kill for match point and Schonveld got her 19th to end it. Penn State's lone loss came in the season opener in five games to Florida.

"I was in the same situation (serving) against Florida,'' said Schlottfeldt, who had a match-high 18 digs. "But I missed the serve then. This time, I was nervous but confident.''

"I feel very fortunate to be going to the championship game for our fifth time,'' said Penn State coach Russ Rose. "Pacific was very tough to defend. We did a pretty good job on Elsa, holding her to 31 kills. We made some great digs on a great player.''

Stegemann led five Tigers in double-kill figures. Jennica Smith added 15 and Tracy Chambers 13 for Pacific (32-3).

"Penn State's a great team,'' said Tiger coach John Dunning. "My team played with a lot of heart but Penn State played better than we did.''

---

The summaries

Penn State def. Pacific 14-16, 15-5, 15-6, 7-15, 15-12

Tigers (32-3)

		G	K	E	ATT	PCT	BS	BA	D
Gormsen		3	1	1	3	.000	0	2	8
Hamm		5	10	3	25	.280	0	2	17
Stegemann	5	31	10	75	.280	2	2	15
Chambers	5	13	5	32	.250	0	7	6
Shinn		5	10	5	24	.179	0	3	9
Smith		5	15	8	39	.179	0	3	6
Hauschild	3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	4
Dimitrijevic	3	1	0	5	.200	0	1	3
Rosenquist	4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Bronson		4	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Miller		3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	7
	Totals	5	81	32	203	.241	2	20	77

Lady Lions (35-1)

		G	K	E	ATT	PCT	BS	BA	D
Cacciamani	5	26	9	56	.304	3	3	5
Bremner		5	3	2	14	.071	0	1	12
Levy		5	9	1	18	.444	1	8	2
Schonveld	5	19	4	44	.341	1	6	16
Schumacher	5	15	3	36	.333	0	4	7
Rome		5	8	5	26	.115	0	0	15
Quick		5	0	0	0	.000	0	0	6
Guokas		2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	1
Schlottfeldt	5	0	0	1	.000	0	0	18
Miller		4	0	0	1	.000	0	0	2
	Totals	5	80	24	195	.287	5	22	84

Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.

Aces--Pacific (5): Stegemann 3, Hamm 1, Dimitrijevic 1. Penn State (8): Schonveld 3, Schlottfeldt 2, Cacciamani 2, Bremner 1. Assists--Pacific (78): Gormsen 44, Dimitrijevic 29, Hamm 2, Shinn 2, Smith 1. Penn State (74): Bremner 63, Schumacher 5, Cacciamani 3, Rome 2, Schlottfeldt 1.

T--2:14. Officials--Joan Powell, Patsy Malta.

Stanford def. Long Beach State 15-10, 15-10, 15-3

49ers (31-4)

		G	K	E	ATT	PCT.	BS	BA	D
Kierulff	3	2	0	6	.333	0	0	4
Grabovac	3	8	4	23	.174	0	1	5
Nishimoto	3	1	0	7	.143	1	0	4
Barratt		3	8	3	19	.263	0	0	10
Ohta		3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	6
Weaver		3	11	5	28	.214	2	2	5
Walls		3	7	3	13	.308	0	1	0
Haneef		3	7	3	20	.200	0	0	0
	Totals	3	44	18	116	.224	3	4	34

Cardinal (31-2)

		G	K	E	ATT	PCT.	BS	BA	D
Walsh		3	14	3	27	.407	1	2	8
Conrad		2	7	6	17	.059	0	2	3
Yamasaki	3	13	0	22	.591	0	0	13
Tom		3	27	5	39	.564	1	3	9
Gregory		3	0	0	0	.000	0	0	5
Kagawa		3	1	1	4	.000	0	0	7
Lawrence	1	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0
Clark		1	1	0	3	.333	0	0	0
Ivy		2	0	0	0	.000	0	0	2
Sandrik		1	2	1	7	.143	0	0	0
Detmer		3	3	0	5	.600	0	3	1
	Totals	3	68	16	124	.419	2	10	48

Key--g: games; k: kills; e: hitting errors; att: attempts; pct.: hitting percentage; bs: block solos; ba: block assists; d: digs.

Aces--Long Beach State (4): Barratt 1, Weaver 1, Ohta 1, Walls 1. Stanford (8): Kagawa 4, Tom 3, Conrad 1. Assists--Long Beach State (42): Nishimoto 40, Ohta 2. Stanford (63): Kagawa 54, Walsh 7, Conrad 1, Tom 1..

A-7,293. T--1:32. Officials--Eric Asami, Ann Pufahi.