Huskies sweep Huskers, reap crown
SAN ANTONIO – Washington swept top-seeded Nebraska on Saturday to win its first NCAA women’s volleyball championship.
The third-seeded Huskies (32-1) won 30-26, 30-25, 30-26 for their sixth sweep in six tournament matches and their 28th in 32 overall this season.
Christal Morrison was chosen as the tournament Most Valuable Player after leading Washington with 15 kills and nine digs before an Alamodome crowd of 8,482.
The Cornhuskers (33-2) swept five opponents in the tournament before meeting Washington, which played in its first final. Nebraska is 2-3 in championship appearances.
Pacific-10 Conference teams have won the last five titles, with Stanford in 2001 and 2004 and Southern California in 2002 and 2003.
Nebraska (2000) was the last non-Pac-10 team to take the title.
Washington’s previous NCAA championships were in football and women’s crew.
Washington coach Jim McLaughlin said his team never talked about sweeping opponents.
“We talked about meeting a standard,” McLaughlin said. “Good things happen when you do that. That’s a feather in our cap, for sure.”
McLaughlin is the first coach to win NCAA titles in men’s and women’s volleyball. He led USC to the championship in 1990.
“Nebraska is an unbelievable program and a great university,” McLaughlin said. “We played our best match of the year against them. It was just a good match from start to finish.”
“All we wanted was a championship and that’s all we’re going to remember, except that maybe Christal was the most valuable player because she deserves that,” said Huskies setter Courtney Thompson, who led Kentlake (Wash.) High to three consecutive State 4A titles (2000-02). “But we’re one team and every single person is important on this team.”
The Cornhuskers scored five of the first six points in the third game. They led 10-7 and 15-11 before Washington forced the first tie at 18 and then went ahead 20-19.
It appeared Nebraska got even at 25 on Jordan Larson’s block, but she was ruled for a net violation. It gave the Huskies a 26-24 lead, and the Cornhuskers were unable to rally.
Washington set the tone in the first game.
Neither team was able to hit better than a .087 percentage, but Washington had more production on defense. The Huskies recorded 25 digs of Nebraska kill attempts in the opening game, compared to 17 for the Cornhuskers. Sanja Tomasevic, an all-tournament selection, led the Huskies with eight digs in the game and 13 for the match.
Washington, leading the opener 27-25, put away the game with kills by Tomasevic, Brie Hagerty and Morrison.
Nebraska fought back from a 27-19 second-game deficit with a 5-0 run, but the Huskies put away the game with kills by Tomasevic and Morrison.
Washington, which led the nation in hitting percentage this year, managed a .237 hitting percentage, compared with Nebraska’s .185. The Cornhuskers’ Sarah Pavan had a match-high 16 kills.
“They just did a great job,” Nebraska outside hitter Christina Houghtelling said of the Huskies. “They never gave up. They pursued everything.”
The Huskies had 61 digs, compared to 51 for Nebraska.
The Cornhuskers, who had 10 more blocks in their semifinal match than Santa Clara, could only manage one more than the Huskies.
Nebraska was ranked No. 1 in the CSTV/AVCA Division I Coaches Top 25 poll all season.