By Kelli Tennant
FOX Sports West and PRIME TICKET
TENNANT ARCHIVE
The young USC women's volleyball team was not supposed to get this far.
But here they are, one of four teams with a shot at a National title.
On Saturday the Women of Troy defeated arch-rival Stanford in five sets to earn a spot in the national semifinals starting Thursday night in Kansas City.
"The Stanford win really helped us gain momentum coming into this week," said Bateman. "Our freshman played relaxed the entire match, even when we were down. The team really came together to fight through every point. That made a huge difference."
The Women of Troy were 0-2 against Stanford during conference play, but the third time was the charm as senior All-American Alix Klineman and freshman Falyn Fonoimoana led SC past the Cardinal with a tough five-set victory (20-25, 25-17, 22-25, 26-24, 16-14) to win the NCAA Dayton Regional final.
"They're a great team," Bateman said of Stanford. "They've beaten us for the last two years and now it was our turn to come up with a win. It's always fun playing them, they're a very smart team."
The reigning Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and the Dayton Regional Most Valuable Player Fonoimoana had 25 kills in the stellar match, a match that head coach Mich Haley has already called "one of the all-time great matches."
It truly was a mix of beautiful focus, execution and effort.
Haley has harped on effort from day one, and it seems as though this team has been able to pair their skills with unmatched effort to take down a dominant team.
So now, with the Cardinal out of the championship hunt at least for this season, the Women of Troy will face the Cal Bears on Thursday night. Cal boasts the talents of senior setter Carli Lloyd and junior outside hitter Tarah Murrey, who leads the Golden Bears with 578 kills (5.16 kps), 19 aces (0.17 saps), 264 digs (2.36 dps), 75 blocks (0.67 bps) and 645.5 points. California is 29-3 on the season after two 3-0 sweeps last weekend at the Seattle Regional against Minnesota (26-24, 25-23, 25-23) and Washington (25-21, 25-20, 25-14).
Bateman is excited to be facing a Pac 10 team in the semifinals.
"They're definitely ready to play, and I think we match up well in every facet," Batemen said of Cal. "But I expect we will both be changing our game plans a bit to get the best out of ourselves."
USC leads the all-time series with Cal by a 46-10 margin and the Women of Troy won both matches against the Golden Bears this season (3-1 win on Oct. 9 in Los Angeles and 3-1 on Nov. 5 in Berkeley). This is the first-ever meeting in the postseason between the two schools.
The other side of the bracket at the Final Four will feature Texas and the three-time defending national champions Penn State. The Nittany Lions are 30-5 on the season after winning the University Park Regional last weekend with a 3-0 win over Oklahoma and 3-1 win over Duke. Head coach Russ Rose is in his 32nd season at Penn State and senior Blair Brown leads the team with 491 kills (4.20 kps) while hitting .323 for the Nittany Lions with 261 digs (2.23 dps) and 107 blocks (0.91bps). The experienced Penn State team is loaded with seniors that have been here time and time again and their experience will be what carries them.
But to get to four championships in a row, they will have to get by Texas, which features an emotional and powerful offense led by Juliann Faucette and Rachael Adams. Texas is 27-5 on the season after winning the Austin Regional last weekend with a five-set win over Illinois and four-set win over Purdue. Head coach Jerritt Elliott, a former assistant coach and interim head coach at USC before Mick Haley took over, is in his 10th season at Texas. Faucette has 451 kills this season (3.92 kps) while hitting .264 with 26 aces (0.23 saps), 292 digs (2.54 dps), 71 blocks (0.62 bps) and 522.5 points.
USC, if they defeat Cal, will face the winner of this match on Saturday night for the National Championship.
Which could be the first of many for this young, talented SC squad.
