OMAHA, Neb. (AP) -- In the end, it's Penn State vs. Stanford for the women's volleyball national championship tonight.
So what else is new?
Despite being involved in nail-biting, five-set semifinals Thursday night, the defending champion Nittany Lions and last year's runner-up Cardinal prevailed to set up what almost seems to be an annual showdown for the national title.
Last year, Penn State topped Stanford in five sets. The Lions beat the Cardinal for the title in 1999, too, while the teams have split 10 matches since their first meeting in 1992.
Stanford is in the title match for a record 14th time, and is looking for its seventh championship while trying to avoid losing in the final for the third year in a row.
Stanford (31-3) lost as the favorite last year, and is the underdog this time against undefeated Penn State (37-0), which lost its first two sets of the year in its semifinal win over Nebraska on Thursday night.
"No one expects us to win, and that's a lot of pressure off us," Stanford star Foluke Akinradewo said. "It's kind of fun being the underdog once in a while and being able to take people by surprise. That's our goal (today)."
Stanford also is the last team to defeat Penn State, winning a five-setter in September 2007.
The semifinals Thursday night drew a pro-Cornhusker, NCAA-record crowd of 17,430.
Penn State (37-0) withstood the challenge despite losing a set for the first time this season -- ending its NCAA-record streak at 111 -- but took over with a 7-1 run to close out the fifth set and won its NCAA-record 63rd straight match.
"Yesterday was a pretty amazing day for our program as it was for the other three teams that are here," Stanford coach John Dunning said. "It might have been one of the biggest days in the history of our sport. It was an amazing crowd last night."
Penn State coach Russ Rose was still recovering Friday.
"The morning after, I still have a headache from all the yelling and screaming," he said.
And now it all comes down to two of the sport's traditional powers.
"They're a great competitor, and I knew we had the possibility of meeting them somewhere along the way," Penn State's Alyssa D'Errico said. "I figured they would get a top seed and be in the final four. I wasn't sure when, but I'm glad we get a chance to play them again."
The final will feature nine All-Americans, including six from Penn State.
Akinradewo is on track to finish her career with the best career hitting percentage by a Division I player. She's hitting .447, 24 points above the record held by Virag Domokos of George Mason (1993-96). Penn State's Christa Harmotto, hitting a career .434, also should pass Domokos.
Rose said his main concern is making sure his players are well-rested after their emotionally draining win over Nebraska.
Of course, Stanford is in the same position after having to rally to beat Texas. But before Thursday, the Lions hadn't been extended past three sets since beating the Cardinal in last year's final.
"It was a good test to see if we had the willpower to fight through the third and fourth set and then push through the fifth," Penn State's Roberta Holehouse said.
Losing a set, and surviving, alleviates some of the pressure.
Holehouse said no one on the team was sad to see the streak end.
"It's definitely exciting to set a record, and something I'll definitely remember," she said. "But we, as a team, had a goal to win a national championship, and that's the most important thing to us right now. It was exciting, but I think we have a bigger picture to look at, and that's what we're going to do."
Print this story
E-mail this story
