Volleyball Preview: NCAA vs. No. 6 Stanford
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MATCH #31
No. 6 seed TEXAS (26-4) vs. No. 11 seed STANFORD (26-6)
What: NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 match
When: Friday, December 10, 2004 at 5 p.m.
All-Time Series Record: Stanford leads, 13-7 (1-4 in Austin, 4-0 in
Palo Alto, 8-3 neutral)
Series Streaks: Stanford won the last meeting
NCAA Meetings: Four, series tied, 2-2
Last Meeting: Sept. 7, 2001 in College Station, Texas: Stanford won,
3-0 (30-21, 30-20, 30-17)
Last UT victory: Sept. 3, 1999 in Austin: UT won, 3-1 (12-15, 15-3,
16-14, 15-11)
Head Coach Jerritt Elliott vs. Stanford: 2-3
STANFORD QUICK FACTS
Location: Palo Alto, Calif.
Enrollment: 13,811
Conference: Pacific 10
Nickname: Cardinal
Colors: Cardinal and White
2004 Record: 26-6
2004 Conference Record (Finish): 15-3 (Second)
AVCA Ranking: No. 6
Head Coach: John Dunning (San Diego State '73)
TEXAS NCAA QUICK SETS
Texas
is the No. 6 seed nationally and is in the Green Bay, Wisconsin Regional
Bracket ... other seeded teams in the Green Bay Regional bracket include
No. 3 Hawaii, No. 11 Stanford and No. 14 Wisconsin, all of whom advanced
to the Sweet 16.
After missing the tournament in 2003 for just
the second time in program history, Texas is participating in its
21st NCAA Tournament, the fourth-most appearances across the country
... beginning in 1982 - the team‚s
first NCAA Tournament - Texas advanced to 18-straight tournaments.
Texas has advanced to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1998 and
for the 17th time overall.
The Longhorns have met Stanford four times in the NCAA Tournament,
with each team winning twice ... UT and Hawaii have met twice in NCAA
play with each teams splitting the meetings ... Texas and Wisconsin
have never met.
2004 marks the 15th time Texas has hosted first- and second-round
matches and the first time since 1999.
Texas is 42-19 overall in NCAA Tournament matches and 15-11 all-time
in regional play.
The Longhorns are one of just three schools located east of California
to win an NCAA Championship (1988), joining Nebraska (1995, 2000) and
Penn State (1999).
GENERAL QUICK SETS
With 26 victories, Texas has collected the most victories in a season
since 1998 when the team went 27-5 and was an NCAA Regional finalist.
Four players were honored with Big 12 all-conference honors: Mira
Topic and Bethany Howden were First-Team selections; Brandy Magee and
Michelle Moriarty were Honorable Mention honorees; Topic was the Player
of the Year; Dariam Acevedo was the Newcomer of the Year and Jerritt
Elliott was Coach of the Year.
Texas is fourth in the nation in hitting percentage (NCAA Stats release,
11/30/04), with a .310 mark through last week, and is ranked 13th in
kills per game (17.07) and 11th in assists per game (15.65) with a
freshman - Michelle Moriarty - leading the offense at setter ... Moriarty
is now ranked 26th nationally in assists/game (13.07).
2004 Big 12 Player of the Year Mira Topic is ranked seventh nationally
- and leads the Big 12 - in kills/game ... she has collected 500 or
more kills for the third time in her career, as she had 534 as a freshman
and 523 as a sophomore ... she currently has 576 kills as a senior
... Topic is the only player in UT history to collect 500+ kills in
three seasons.
Bethany Howden earned her third First Team All-Big 12 honor and has
racked up 402 kills this season, surpassing the 1,400-, 1,500-, 1,600-
and 1,700-kill marks this season ... she is hitting a team-best .375,
is ranked 21st nationally in the category (as of Nov. 30).
Brandy Magee collected her 500th career kill last Friday evening against
Texas State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and now has
514 in her two-year career.
REGIONAL SEMIFINAL STORY LINES
In
a match-up of two of the nation‚s premier players, Texas
senior outside hitter and Big 12 Player of the Year Mira Topic and
Stanford senior outside hitter and Pac-10 Player of the Year Oganna
Nnamani are both considered front-runners for National Player of the
Year honors, along with the Big Ten Player of the Year, Ohio State's
Stacey Gordon.
The
Horns' freshman setter Michelle Moriarty will be returning to her roots
and as a result, Texas will have a rather large cheering section in
Green Bay ... her father, Tim, is from Appleton, Wisc., a suburb of
Green Bay, and the Moriarty clan will be in full force at Texas‚ matches
this weekend ... Tim Moriarty played basketball at Rice, and then moved
back to Wisconsin after college to start his family with wife Debbie.
The Longhorns are making their first appearance in an NCAA Regional
since 1998.
Texas and Stanford met in the semifinals of the 1998 Mountain Regional
in Long Beach, Calif., with Texas topping the Cardinal, 3-1 (16-14,
15-5, 4-15, 16-14).
In a curious twist, Texas is seeded sixth in the NCAA Tournament and
was ranked 11th in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll when the NCAA brackets
were released, while Stanford is seeded 11th, and was ranked sixth.
WHO'S HOT IN NCAA PLAY
Brandy Magee is hitting .536 with 25 kills (3.57 kills/game)
Michelle Moriarty is averaging 14.00 assists/game as Texas is hitting
.295 in the tournament.
Mira Topic is averaging 5.71 kills/game in the tournament..
Texas servers have aimed for 17 aces in two matches, as Sarah Holloway
(Texas State) and Bethany Howden (Michigan) each has five-ace matches
last weekend.
Dariam
Acevedo is hitting .349 in the tournament and is averaging 2.71 kills/game.
| Wisconsin-Green Bay Regional At a Glance | ||||
| Team | Texas | Stanford | Hawaii | Wisconsin |
| NCAA Tournament Seed | No. 6 | No. 11 | No. 3 | No. 14 |
| AVCA National Ranking | No. 10 | No. 6 | No. 2 | No. 22 |
| Record | 26-4 | 26-6 | 30-0 | 21-9 |
| Conf. Record | 16-4 | 15-3 | 13-0 | 13-7 |
| Total Games | 102 | 120 | 115 | 107 |
| Hitting Percentage | .309 | .288 | .259 | .257 |
| Kills/Game | 17.0 | 15.9 | 16.7 | 16.4 |
| Assists/Game | 15.6 | 14.9 | 15.5 | 15.3 |
| Blocks/Game | 2.5 | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.3 |
| Block Solos | 68 | 159 | 55 | 62 |
| Block Assists | 363 | 478 | 665 | 573 |
| Digs/Game | 15.3 | 15.5 | 17.8 | 15.9 |
| Aces/Game | 1.7 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.1 |
| Service Errors/Game | 2.1 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 2.5 |
| Service Reception Errors/Game | 0.8 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 1.3 |
| Opponent Hitting Percentage | .164 | .183 | .165 | .187 |
| Opponent Kills/Game | 12.9 | 14.5 | 15.2 | 15.2 |
| Opponent Assists/Game | 11.9 | 13.3 | 14.2 | 14.1 |
| Opponent Blocks/Game | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.4 |
| Opponent Digs/Game | 12.3 | 14.1 | 17.1 | 15.9 |
| Top Hitter (%) | Bethany Howden, MB (.375) | Ogonna Nnamani, OH (.338) | Victoria Prince, MB (.420) | Taylor Reineke, MB (.317) |
| Top Attacker (kills/game) | Mira Topic, OH (5.65) | Ogonna Nnamani, OH (5.88) | Alicia Arnott, OH (4.11) | Sheila Shaw, OH (3.82) |
| Top Digger (digs/game) | Alyson Jennings, L (3.56) | Kristen Richards, OH (3.69) | Ashley Wantanabe, L (4.22) | Jocelyn Wack, L (4.82) |
| Top Blocker (blocks/game) | Bethany Howden, MB (1.02) | Lizzie Suiter, MB (1.52) | Victoria Prince, MB (1.65) | Sheila Shaw, OH (1.34) |
| Top Setter (assists/game) | Michelle Moriarty, S (13.14) | Bryn Kehoe, S (12.11) | Kanoe Kamanao, S (13.63) | Jackie Simpson (12.98) |
| Top Server (service aces/game) | Mira Topic, OH (0.32) | Bryn Kehoe, S (0.30) | Victoria Prince, MB (0.32) | Aubrey Meierotto (0.27) |
| Matches against ranked teams | 8 | 13 | 5 | 9 |
| Record against ranked teams | 5-3 | 9-4 | 5-0 | 3-6 |
| Home Record | 14-1 | 12-1 | 17-0 | 14-3 |
| Away Record | 10-3 | 9-4 | 9-0 | 5-6 |
| Neutral Record | 2-0 | 5-1 | 4-0 | 2-0 |
| Avg. Home Attendance | 1,868 | 1,204 | 7,135 | 4,079 |
| National Attendance Rank | Eighth | 25th | First | Third |
