2007 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament

2007 NCAA women's Division Ivolleyball tournament
2007 NCAA Final Four logo
Champions	Penn State (2nd title)
Runner-up	Stanford (13th title match)
Semifinalists	Southern California (8th Final Four) California (1st Final Four)
Winning coach	Russ Rose (2nd title)
Most outstanding player	Megan Hodge (Penn State)
Final Four All-Tournament Team	Christa Harmotto (Penn State) Nicole Fawcett (Penn State) Alisha Glass (Penn State) Foluke Akinradewo (Stanford) Alix Klineman (Stanford) Asia Kaczor (Southern California)
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The 2007 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament began on November 29, 2007, with 64 teams and concluded on December 15, 2007, when Penn State defeated Stanford 3 games to 2 in Sacramento, California for the program's second NCAA title. ^[1]

Penn State, who was making their first final four appearance since 1999, finished the season on a 26 match win streak. Their last loss of 2007 came against Stanford in five games. Semifinalist California made the program's first NCAA Final Four appearance after upsetting defending champion Nebraska in the quarterfinals.

With Stanford, California and Southern California making the Final Four, it became the second straight year that the Final Four consisted of three Pac-10 teams. However, for the second straight year, it was the team from the different conference that won the national championship.

Records

Stanford Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record Alabama SEC At-large 15-14 Alabama A&M SWAC Automatic 15-9 16 Cal Poly Big West Automatic 21-7 Clemson ACC Automatic 28-3 9 Kansas State Big 12 At-large 22-8 Minnesota Big Ten At-large 18-12 Missouri State Missouri Valley At-large 25-7 Ohio MAC At-large 26-5 Oregon Pac-10 At-large 20-10 Purdue Big Ten At-large 18-13 Sacramento State Big Sky Automatic 28-7 Santa Clara West Coast At-large 19-11 1 Stanford Pac-10 Automatic 27-2 Tulsa Conference USA Automatic 27-8 8 UCLA Pac-10 At-large 20-10 Xavier Atlantic 10 At-large 24-10

Gainesville Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record College of Charleston Southern Automatic 26-7 Delaware Colonial Automatic 30-4 13 Florida SEC Automatic 27-2 Florida A&M MEAC Automatic 18-7 Long Beach State Big West At-large 25-6 Long Island Northeast Automatic 23-13 LSU SEC At-large 24-7 New Mexico State WAC At-large 26-5 Oklahoma Big 12 At-large 21-9 Pepperdine West Coast At-large 18-10 Princeton Ivy League Automatic 22-3 12 St. John's (NY) Big East Automatic 31-3 4 Texas Big 12 Auto (shared) 24-3 Texas State Southland Automatic 21-11 UNLV Mountain West Automatic 24-5 5 USC Pac-10 At-large 25-4

University Park Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record Albany America East Automatic 23-9 BYU Mountain West At-large 21-7 Cleveland State Horizon Automatic 23-8 14 Colorado State Mountain West At-large 22-7 11 Hawaiʻi WAC Automatic 26-5 Illinois State Missouri Valley At-large 21-11 Louisville Big East At-large 22-7 Miami (OH) MAC Automatic 20-10 Michigan Big Ten At-large 22-10 Middle Tennessee Sun Belt Automatic 33-2 Mississippi SEC At-large 25-7 Missouri Big 12 At-large 17-12 3 Penn State Big Ten Automatic 28-2 Siena MAAC Automatic 24-7 Tennessee State Ohio Valley Automatic 20-13 6 Washington Pac-10 At-large 26-3

Madison Regional Seed School Conference Berth Type Record American Patriot Automatic 26-7 10 California Pac-10 At-large 22-7 15 Dayton Atlantic 10 Automatic 32-1 Duke ACC At-large 24-6 Iowa State Big 12 At-large 17-13 Kentucky SEC At-large 22-9 Liberty Big South Automatic 27-8 Lipscomb Atlantic Sun Automatic 20-11 Michigan State Big Ten At-large 19-13 2 Nebraska Big 12 Auto (shared) 27-1 Northern Iowa Missouri Valley Automatic 22-10 San Diego West Coast Automatic 21-7 South Dakota State Summit Automatic 25-10 Western Kentucky Sun Belt At-large 27-8 Wichita State Missouri Valley At-large 26-5 7 Wisconsin Big Ten At-large 25-4

Stanford Regional

	First round November 29–30					Second round November 30-December 1					Regional semifinals December 7					Regional finals December 8
	1	Stanford	3
		Santa Clara	0
						1	Stanford	3
	Stanford, CA
							Sacramento State	0
	Sacramento State		3
	Minnesota		1
											1	Stanford	3
											16	Cal Poly	0
	Purdue		3
	Ohio		1
							Purdue	0
	Athens, OH
						16	Cal Poly	3
		Xavier	0
	16	Cal Poly	3
																1	Stanford	3
																8	UCLA	1
	9	Kansas State	3
		Tulsa	0
						9	Kansas State	2
	Manhattan, KS
							Oregon	3
	Oregon		3
	Missouri State		0
												Oregon	1
											8	UCLA	3
	Alabama		1
	Clemson		3
							Clemson	1
	Clemson, SC
						8	UCLA	3
		Alabama A&M	0
	8	UCLA	3

Recap

There were generally no major upsets in this bracket region. Overall #1 seed Stanford advanced to the final four for the second straight year with a 3–1 victory over Pac-10 foe UCLA.

Stanford Regional All-Tournament Team:

• Foluke Akinradewo (MVP) - Stanford
• Bryn Kehoe - Stanford
• Alix Klineman - Stanford
• Erin Waller - Stanford
• Kaitlin Sather - UCLA
• Nellie Spicer - UCLA
• Rachell Johnson - UCLA

Gainesville Regional

	First round November 29–30					Second round November 30-December 1					Regional semifinals December 7					Regional finals December 8
	5	USC	3
		Pepperdine	0
						5	Southern California	3
	Los Angeles, CA
							Long Beach State	2
	Long Beach State		3
	UNLV		2
											5	Southern California	3
											12	St. John's (NY)	2
	Princeton		1
	Delaware		3
							Delaware	1
	Queens, NY
						12	St. John's (NY)	3
		Long Island	0
	12	St. John's (NY)	3
																5	Southern California	3
																4	Texas	0
	13	Florida	3
		College of Charleston	0
						13	Florida	3
	Gainesville, FL
							Oklahoma	0
	Florida A&M		1
	Oklahoma		3
											13	Florida	1
											4	Texas	3
	New Mexico State		2
	LSU		3
							LSU	0
	Austin, TX
						4	Texas	3
		Texas State	0
	4	Texas	3

Recap

The biggest upset in the Gainesville bracket was #5 seed USC surprisingly sweeping #4 seed Texas, ending Texas' 24 match win streak.

Gainesville Regional All-Tournament Team:

• Asia Kaczor (MVP) - Southern California
• Diane Copenhagen - Southern California
• Jessica Gysin - Southern California
• Michelle Moriarty - Texas
• Ashley Engle - Texas
• Angie McGinnis - Florida
• Hui Ping Hang - St. John's

University Park Regional

	First round November 29–30					Second round November 30-December 1					Regional semifinals December 7					Regional finals December 8
	3	Penn State	3
		Siena	0
						3	Penn State	3
	University Park, PA
							Albany (NY)	0
	Albany (NY)		3
	Cleveland State		0
											3	Penn State	3
												Michigan	0
	Michigan		3
	Miami (Ohio)		0
							Michigan	3
	Ann Arbor, MI
						14	Colorado State	0
		Illinois State	0
	14	Colorado State	3
																3	Penn State	3
																	BYU	0
	11	Hawai'i	3
		Tennessee State	0
						11	Hawai'i	2
	Louisville, KY
							Middle Tennessee	3
	Middle Tennessee		3
	Louisville		2
											Middle Tennessee		0
											BYU		3
	BYU		3
	Ole Miss		0
							BYU	3
	Seattle, WA
						6	Washington	2
		Missouri	2
	6	Washington	3

Recap

The first major upset seen in this bracket was unseeded and unranked BYU defeated six seeded and 2006 national semifinalist Washington on Washington's home court. Before the loss, Washington was undefeated at home in postseason play, boasting a 13–0 record. ^[2] The second major upset was unseeded Middle Tennessee defeating 11th seeded Hawai'i in the second round. It was the first time in school history Hawai'i lost in the second round, ^[3] and was also the first time in school history that Middle Tennessee advanced to the sweet 16. ^[4] Another upset was unseeded Michigan defeating 14th seeded Colorado State.

Penn State, the #3 overall seed, swept past each opponent to advance to their 6th final four in school history and first since winning the NCAA title in 1999. ^[5] Big Ten Freshman of the Year Arielle Wilson was named the regional most outstanding player.

University Park Regional All-Tournament Team:

• Arielle Wilson (MVP) - Penn State
• Nicole Fawcett - Penn State
• Christa Harmotto - Penn State
• Chelsea Goodman - BYU
• Rachel Dyer - BYU
• Amy Schlauder - BYU
• Izabela Kozen - Middle Tennessee

Madison Regional

	First round November 29–30					Second round November 30-December 1					Regional semifinals December 7					Regional finals December 8
	7	Wisconsin	3
		Northern Iowa	0
						7	Wisconsin	0
	Madison, WI
							Iowa State	3
	Iowa State		3
	San Diego		2
												Iowa State	0
											10	California	3
	Duke		3
	American		2
							Duke	1
	Durham, NC
						10	California	3
		Liberty	1
	10	California	3
																10	California	3
																2	Nebraska	0
	15	Dayton	3
		Lipscomb	0
						15	Dayton	0
	Dayton, OH
							Michigan State	3
	Kentucky		0
	Michigan State		3
												Michigan State	2
											2	Nebraska	3
	Wichita State		3
	WKU		0
							Wichita State	0
	Lincoln, NE
						2	Nebraska	3
		South Dakota State	0
	2	Nebraska	3

Recap

The biggest upset in the NCAA tournament occurred in the Madison regional final, where #10 seed California defeated defending champion and #2 seed Nebraska in a sweep. ^[6] Nebraska saw their dominance slipping after having to come up from 2 games down in the regional semifinals against unseeded Michigan State. Nebraska has also never won a regional final outside of the state of Nebraska, with the exception of the 2006 tournament when they came from 2 games down to defeat Minnesota, and eventually went on to win the title in Omaha, Nebraska. California advanced to their first final four in school history. ^[7]

Madison Regional All-Tournament Team:

• Hana Cutura (MVP) - California
• Angie Pressey - California
• Carli Lloyd - California
• Sarah Pavan - Nebraska
• Tracy Stalls - Nebraska

Final Four – ARCO Arena, Sacramento, California

	National Semifinals December 13					National Championship December 15
	1	Stanford	3
	5	Southern California	2
						1	Stanford	2
						3	Penn State	3
	3	Penn State	3
	10	California	0

Scouting final four members

#1 Stanford: Stanford made the program's NCAA record 17th final four. In 2007 Stanford claimed their 2nd consecutive and 11th overall Pac-10 conference title. Four Stanford players were named AVCA All-Americans: Junior Foluke Akinradewo, senior Bryn Kehoe, and junior Cynthia Barboza took home first team honors while freshman Alix Klineman was placed on second team. Akinradewo was named the AVCA and Pac-10 Player of the Year, while Klineman was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. Stanford's two losses of the season came from Washington and Southern California.

#3 Penn State: Penn State made the program's 6th final four. In 2007 Penn State claimed their Big Ten record 5th consecutive outright Big Ten title and 11th overall. Penn State finished the Big Ten season with a 20–0 record, the fourth time since joining in 1991 Penn State accomplished the feat. Four AVCA All-Americans were named on Penn State's squad, junior Nicole Fawcett, junior Christa Harmotto and sophomore Megan Hodge were named to first team while sophomore Alisha Glass took second team. Harmotto was named the Big Ten Player of the Year, while freshman Arielle Wilson, who was also named the University Park Regional most outstanding player, was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Penn State's two losses of the season came from Nebraska and Stanford.

#5 Southern California: USC made the program's 8th final four. USC had their hands full in the Gainesville regional, as they had back to back five game matches from Long Beach State and St. John's. They surprisingly swept #4 Texas in the regional finals. Senior Asia Kaczor was named an AVCA First Team All-American while sophomore Taylor Carico was named to second team. USC's four losses of the season came from Stanford, UCLA, Washington and Oregon. Kaczor was also named the Gainesville regional most outstanding player.

#10 California: California made the program's first final four. Senior Angela Pressey, the daughter of Paul Pressey, was named an AVCA First Team All-American and also was selected for her fourth consecutive First Team All-Pac 10 honor, the first time in Cal's history that that happened. Sophomore Hana Cutura, who was also named the Madison regional most outstanding player was named an AVCA Second team All-American. Cal's losses of the season came from Colorado, Stanford twice, USC twice, UCLA and Washington.

National Semifinal recap

Stanford vs. Southern California

Teams	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5
STAN	23	30	30	20	16
USC	30	20	25	30	14

USC started off the match taking the first game, 30–23. Stanford took the next two games, 30-20 & 30–25, before USC took the next game 30–20 to force a 5th game. The 5th game was back and forth, before Stanford saw a 2-point deficit at 11–9. Stanford rallied to tie the match at 12 all. The teams traded points before the score was tied at 13. USC took the next point to earn match point, but a service error on match point tied the game up at 14. Stanford took the next two points to win the match and 5th game, 16–14. ^[8]

Penn State vs. California

Teams	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
PSU	30	30	30
CAL	28	25	16

Penn State defeated California in a sweep, 30–28, 30–25, 30–16. The first game was tied at 28 before a solo block from Blair Brown gave Penn State the game, 30–28. The second game was not as close as Penn State won 30–25, and the third game Penn State won easily 30–16. Penn State advanced to their 5th national championship match in school history.

National Championship recap: Stanford vs. Penn State

Teams	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5
PSU	30	30	23	19	15
STAN	25	26	30	30	8

The Pennsylvania State University Nittany Lions, including tournament most valuable player Megan Hodge, are honored at the White House by President of the United States George W. Bush in June 2008 for their winning the national championship.

In front of the second highest crowd in NCAA history to watch a women's volleyball championship match, Penn State, coached by 2007 AVCA National Coach of the Year Russ Rose, was ranked #1 in the AVCA coaches poll since October, but Stanford was the #1 seed, while previously ranked #4 in the poll. This was the third time in a decade that the two teams have met in the NCAA title match, tying an NCAA record. The teams previously met in 1997, when Stanford won in a five-game match, ^[9] and two years later, when Penn State won in a sweep. ^[10] Additionally, Penn State and Stanford are the only Division I universities that have made every NCAA tournament appearance since NCAA starting sponsoring in 1981. ^[11]

Coming into the match, Penn State had the highest hitting percentage in the nation as a team, while Stanford was ranked number 4. The first game started out back at forth with Stanford holding a slight edge at the media timeout at 15–13. The difference proved to be a 6–0 run after the timeout that separated Penn State from Stanford as the Cardinal never got closer than 3 points, with Penn State winning 30–25. The second game was much like the first as it featured many lead changes and ties. Penn State remained in control, never allowing Stanford to get closer than three points, thus winning 30–26 and sending Stanford in the locker room with their first 0–2 deficit of the season.

In the third game, Stanford responded and took control of the third, by winning 30–23, and handing Penn State their first single game loss of the tournament, as Penn State swept through each opponent until that point, ending their bid to become just the 3rd school in NCAA history to sweep through each opponent en route to winning the NCAA title. The fourth game was all Stanford as Penn State saw them take the second game, 30-19 as Stanford did not record a hitting error, and force a 5th game. This was the first five-game match in a championship since rally scoring began in 2001.

In the decisive 5th game, Penn State saw Stanford take a 4–3 lead out of Penn State errors, but after that, it was all Nittany Lions as they did not allow Stanford a single kill in a 7–0 scoring run to take their biggest lead of the night at 10–4. ^[12] Stanford was not able to get any closer than 4 points. Stanford took their last point on their only kill of the game, but Penn State took the next points to earn match point on a block and MVP Megan Hodge's 26th kill of the match sealed the championship, 15–8. ^[13] As a team, Stanford hit negatively, with 1 kill, 4 errors on 19 attempts to hit -.158%, compared to Penn State's 11 kills, 5 errors on 21 attempts to hit .286% in the fifth game. ^[14] Penn State outhit Stanford for the match, .317 to .291, just the second time all season Stanford was outhit. This win snapped a 12-match winning streak by Stanford, while it was the 26th consecutive match won by Penn State, as their last loss of the season was to Stanford exactly three months before on September 15, 2007, in another five game thriller.

NCAA Tournament records

There were three NCAA tournament records that were set in the 2007 tournament that still stand.

• Hitting percentage, tournament (team record) - Penn State, .424% (.514 vs. Siena, .602 vs. Albany, .384 vs. Michigan, .530 vs. BYU, .347 vs. California, .291 vs. Stanford).
• Services aces, tournament (team record) - Penn State, 43 (tied with 1998 Long Beach State) (7 vs. Siena, 9 vs. Albany, 8 vs. Michigan, 11 vs. BYU, 6 vs. California, 2 vs. Stanford).
• Kills, tournament (team record) - Stanford, 421 (55 vs. Santa Clara, 61 vs. Sacramento State, 59 vs. Cal Poly, 91 vs. UCLA, 83 vs. Southern California, 72 vs. Penn State).

See also

• AVCA
• NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship

References

1. "Penn State women's volleyball captures 2nd NCAA title". Archived from the original on 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
2. "BYU ends Huskies season with 3-2 win". Archived from the original on 2008-04-30. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
3. "Hawai'i stunned for first ever second round loss". Archived from the original on 2011-07-12. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
4. "Middle Tennessee advances to first ever Sweet 16". Archived from the original on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
5. "Penn State advances to national semifinal with sweep of BYU". Archived from the original on 2008-05-11. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
6. "Cal shuts out #2 Nebraska to reach NCAA final four". Archived from the original on 2008-03-08. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
7. "Cal advances to first final four in school history". Archived from the original on 2008-03-10. Retrieved 2008-04-29.
8. "Stanford outlasts USC in National Semifinal". Archived from the original on 2008-05-24. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
9. "Stanford claims 1997 title with 3–2 win over Penn State". Archived from the original on 2012-07-10. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
10. "Third time a charm as Lions claim 1999 title with sweep of Stanford". Archived from the original on 2009-01-05. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
11. "Stanford volleyball goes down in title match". Archived from the original on 2007-04-29. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
12. "Cardinal comeback falls short in NCAA title match". Archived from the original on 2008-03-04. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
13. "Hodge's kills finishes off Stanford for NCAA title".
14. "Penn State vs. Stanford volleyball box score and play-by-play". Archived from the original on 2007-12-18. Retrieved 2008-05-01.