| WHO: Penn St. (35-1) vs. Stanford (31-2) |
| WHAT: Women's volleyball championship final |
| WHEN: 5 p.m. today |
| WHERE: Stan Sheriff Center |
| ADMISSION: Sold out. Parking is $3 |
| TV: Tape delay on ESPN-2 at 9 a.m. HST tomorrow |
Tonight, in the 1999 NCAA Championship final, volleyball's Dream Team meets Happy Valley's heartbreakers.
Second-ranked Stanford (31-2) is chasing its fifth NCAA championship in eight seasons. The Cardinal has won its last 20 with an offense anchored by senior Kerri Walsh and freshman Logan Tom, two future Olympians.
"They're a setter's dream," says Stanford's Lindsay Kagawa, the dreamer in question. "To have Kerri Walsh and Logan Tom on the court — probably the two most dominating hitters out there — is awesome. Plus, it opens up so much else."
Top-ranked Penn State (35-1) is on a 35-match roll. The wheels nearly came off Thursday in a semifinal against Pacific and its brilliant All-American, Elsa Stegemann. The Nittany Lions survived to reach their third consecutive NCAA final.
They lost the last two — to Stanford and Long Beach State — in five games.
"We never discuss it," coach Russ Rose insists. "It's a whole new team, a new chemistry. We have the same goals, but everything else is different. The players that are the same are the same only in the flesh. Hopefully, they are better."
Three starters graduated after last year's heartbreak, but seniors Bonnie Bremner, Lauren Cacciamani and Carrie Schonveld are back for one last try. They have a 135-7 career record and clear vision of their destiny.
The Nittany Lions outlasted Stegemann's "bombs" Thursday. Tonight, Tom and Walsh will be on the launch pad, hitting balls so hard that preparation is impossible: "No one in practice sends balls off people's foreheads," Rose says with a shrug.
Cacciamani comes close. She was co-MVP of the national tournament last year after planting 33 kills on the 49ers in the final. The focal point of Penn State's offense went 14 matches without a hitting error this season.
Thursday, she was alternately woeful and wonderful, finishing with 26 kills. Schonveld and sophomore Katie Schumacher provided just enough offense to hold off Pacific.
Stanford swept Long Beach despite the absence of a middle attack. Walsh and Tom — who had a career-high 27 kills — were brilliant. Lindsey Yamasaki, one of two starting freshmen, kicked in at the end.
The Cardinal out-dug the 49ers 48-34 — "I don't think that has ever, ever happened," said LBSU coach Brian Gimmillaro — and dominated the defending national champions despite a ragged effort.
"We haven't put together our best match," coach Don Shaw admitted. "It's nice to know there's just one more to play."
Gimmillaro agreed. When Veronica Walls insisted her team never lost its emotional edge, he corrected her. "We never had it," the coach said. "It was there to be had for two games."
Instead, Stanford served Long Beach out of its system and silenced its most serious threat — sophomore middles Cheryl Weaver and Tayyiba Haneef — midway through the first game. The 6-foot-6 Haneef didn't have a block. Weaver, an All-American, put down but three kills in the final 21/2 games.
"I knew if we had enough time we could be very, very good," Gimmillaro said. "Five weeks ago, the level of play in practice was as good as we've ever had, but I wasn't always seeing it in games. We almost got there."
In the '90's, no one has "got there" more often than Stanford. No one has been closer than Penn State.
Bown, Erin Aldrich of Texas, Stanford's Kerri Walsh and Logan Tom, and Penn State's Lauren Cacciamani and Bonnie Bremner have been asked to train in Colorado Springs. One or two could go to Sydney if the U.S. qualifies for the Olympics. All but Tom are seniors.
The six will not play in the Americas' Volleyball Challenge, Jan. 4-9 in Florida. The USA needs to win the Challenge to qualify for the Games. Its opponents are Canada, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Mexico dropped out last week. Former national Players of the Year Danielle Scott and Tara Cross are back with the U.S. team and plan to play.
Former Wahine All-American Robyn Ah Mow remains the backup setter for USA, but her playing time is increasing.
Ah Mow started against two-time defending Olympic champion Cuba last month at the World Cup, where USA went 3-8. Currently, Haley is experimenting with a two-setter lineup, subbing Ah Mow in when starter Charlene Tagaloa rotates to the backrow. That gives the team three front-row hitters, and bigger blockers, every rotation. But, Ah Mow can sub in just three times a game.
"I hear stories from my mom and dad all the time and it's all true. It's beautiful and everybody treats you very well."
Tonight's NCAA Championship final will give fans the opportunity to do something the American Volleyball Coaches Association could not: Decide if Stanford's Kerri Walsh or Penn State's Lauren Cacciamani is the better player.
The seniors were named 1999 co-Players of the Year yesterday at the AVCA convention in Waikiki.
Walsh, who grew up down the highway from Stanford in Saratoga, is only the second four-time, first-team All-American in volleyball history. She has been Pac-10 Player of the Year the past two seasons and ranks in the top five in career digs, blocks and kills on the Farm.
Cacciamani came to Penn State from Paramus, N.J. Her honors include two first-team All-America and GTE Academic All-America awards, and Big Ten Player of the Year. She leads the Nittany Lions in kills (4.66), hitting (.410) and blocking (1.57).
The AVCA started selecting a national Player of the Year in 1985. In 1989, Hawaii's Teee Williams and Long Beach State's Tara Cross shared it. Four years ago, Stanford's Cary Wendell and Nebraska's Allison Weston were honored.