The NCAA News - News Features

Nebraska-Omaha wins battle of first-time II volleyball finalists

Tampa and Nebraska-Omaha -- two title-match rookies -- knocked off perennial powers in the semifinals, then went to the wire in the championship before Nebraska-Omaha won in five games.

The Lady Mavericks, who hadn't advanced as far as the semifinals since 1987, claimed their first crown with a 15-13, 15-17, 15-10, 12-15, 15-11 victory December 9 at Central Missouri State.

Nebraska-Omaha (35-2) used a late run in the rally-scored fifth game to take the title. The Lady Mavericks turned a 7-5 deficit into a 14-10 advantage by scoring nine of the next 12 points, then blocked Tampa hitter Kristen Zschau's final attack to end a match that lasted more than two hours.

The title was a prophecy of sorts for Nebraska-Omaha senior setter Amy Steffel, who passed out rings to her teammates in the preseason signifying the goal of winning a national championship.

"Amy told them to only put those rings on if they were prepared to compete and prepared to win," Lady Mavericks coach Rose Shires said afterward. "And the only time they took them off was to take the court."

Tampa, which has made 12 tournament appearances but never before had advanced as far as the semifinals, had to rally from a game down twice but could not muster a third rally in the deciding game.

"That point when it was 10-10 was when something special could happen," Tampa coach Chris Catanach said. "They got a couple of blocks to go up 12-10 and we couldn't recover."

Tampa, which finished the season 33-7, defeated former champion and two-time runner-up Cal State Bakersfield, 15-8, 12-15, 15-6, 15-11, in the quarterfinals, then swept host Central Missouri State, 15-9, 15-5, 15-11, in the semifinals. Four Spartans scored in double figures in kills in the win over the Roadrunners, and Zschau had 13 kills in the sweep over the Jennies.

"We served them very well," Catanach said of his team's semifinal win. "They were passing a lot of balls in the middle of the floor, but we forced them to hit a lot of down balls and deep-court balls and things that didn't let them run their offense."

Nebraska-Omaha's march to the title featured a semifinal showdown with Northern Michigan, which won championships in 1993 and 1994 and finished second in 1995, and featured a two-time Division II player of the year in setter Liu Jun. The Lady Mavericks escaped with a grueling 15-11, 7-15, 15-13, 6-15, 15-10 triumph.

"Early on, our blockers were more concerned about Liu Jun as an attacker," Shires said.

Jun had logged a triple-double (17 kills, 57 assists and 16 digs) in Northern Michigan's 12-15, 15-10, 15-9, 15-11 quarterfinal win over Nebraska-Kearney, but the Lady Mavericks held her to just seven kills in 17 attempts.

Northern Michigan finished its season 33-5 after downing Central Missouri State in the third-place match, 15-7, 15-5, 15-6. The Jennies, who had been top-ranked in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll for much of the season, fell to 34-6.

Cal State Bakersfield's loss in the quarterfinals ended a 28-4 campaign. Other quarterfinalists included Edinboro (28-13), which lost to Central Missouri State, 15-7, 15-6, 15-9, and New Haven (44-2), which dropped a 15-7, 15-11, 15-1 decision to Nebraska-Omaha.

The all-tournament team included three setters -- Steffel of Nebraska-Omaha, Jun of Northern Michigan and Tampa's Danielle Faggion. Other members of the team included Erin Shafer and Christyn Malone of Nebraska-Omaha; Dawn Rawlins, Melissa Serio, Anna Kaloujskikh and Hilary Epling of Tampa; Kathy Jewell of Northern Michigan; and Sarah Dallas of Central Missouri State.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Neb.-Omaha 15 15 15 12 15

Tampa 13 17 10 15 11

Neb.-Omaha K E TA Pct. SA DG BS

Tanya Cate 17 3 38 .368 0 10 0

Christyn Malone 14 3 34 .324 0 15 0

Rein Shafer 21 8 56 .232 5 16 1

Kim Gerdes 7 4 21 .143 0 5 1

Jamie Shafer 0 2 5 .000 0 10 0

Chris Brink 10 4 33 .182 0 9 0

Korrine Boltin 1 0 3 .333 0 1 1

Amy Steffel 4 2 21 .095 0 18 0

Cheri Pribyl 0 0 1 .000 1 9 0

Totals 74 26 212 .226 6 93 3

Tampa K E TA Pct. SA DG BS

Danielle Faggion 3 1 10 .200 1 16 0

Melissa Serio 9 4 21 .238 3 10 2

Anna Kaloujskikh 16 7 45 .200 2 16 0

Kristen Zschau 27 10 63 .270 0 20 0

Hilary Epling 7 7 36 .000 3 15 0

Dawn Rawlins 8 6 29 .069 2 18 2

Jennifer Smugeresky 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0

Monica Barthelotti 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0

Becky Hart 0 0 1 .000 0 1 0

Totals 70 35 205 .171 11 96 4