Illinois advances to NCAA volleyball final
SAN ANTONIO — Senior outside hitter Colleen Ward had 27 kills and Illinois advanced to its first championship match in school history, upsetting USC in five sets in the NCAA semifinals Thursday night.
The Illini (32-4) will face UCLA in Saturday's championship after the Bruins swept Florida State in the other semifinal. UCLA (29-6) advanced to the title match for the first time since 1994 and will be going for the school's fourth championship.
Illinois, on the other hand, hadn't even made it this far since 1988. Now the Illini become the latest program to try and extend the championship drought on the West Coast, where an NCAA title hasn't been brought back since 2005.
"It's surreal. I'm really just taking it in," Illinois freshman Liz McMahon said. "It's a blast. It's fun with this team and how far we've come."
Michelle Bartsch added 22 kills for the Illini in the 25-27, 25-18, 25-22, 18-25, 15-10 win. Alex Jupiter had 32 kills for USC (29-5). The Trojans lost in the semis for the second consecutive year after being pushed to five sets for a third consecutive match this tournament.
Junior outside hitter Rachael Kidder had 21 kills for the Bruins in a sweep over newcomer Florida State.Tabi Love added 12 kills for the Bruins in the 25-16, 25-17, 25-21 victory.
Seventeen years is a long drought for a program with UCLA's history. The Bruins have three championships, tied for third all-time, and four runner-up finishes. But UCLA — which last won the title in 1991 — was making its first semis appearance since 2006.
"It feels great. I think most of us, when we decided to come to UCLA, knew that the program's been really good in the past," Kidder said. "And I know when I came in, I was really looking forward to turning it around hopefully. That was the goal."
The Seminoles (28-7) never led in the first two sets during their first semifinals appearance in school history. Jekaterina Stepanova had 11 kills for Florida State.
"It's always a disappointment to lose no matter where you lose," Florida State defensive specialist Katie Mosher said. "But I think the fact that no one expected us to get to the final four at all, it just shows so much for our team as a whole."
There will be a new NCAA champion for the first time since 2006. Four-time defending champion Penn State was eliminated by the Bruins last week.
Kidder picked up where she left off against the Nittany Lions. The 6-foot-3 star of UCLA's front line, who helped finished off Penn State with 15 kills in the regional semis, put together her eighth match this season with at least 20 kills. She hit .462, her best performance of the tournament.
"She has to give herself compliments only if she hits over .500," UCLA coach Michael Sealy said. ".462 in her mind isn't good enough."
Visnja Djurdjevic had eight kills for the Seminoles. Florida State looked nervous at times in a historic debut for the Seminoles, hitting just .173.
Florida State was the first ACC team to advance this deep in the tournament. Throw in the Illini, whose last run this far was 1988, and it's made for one of the freshest-looking semifinals in recent years.
But the biggest factor is the absence of Penn State. The Bruins swept the Nittany Lions to end Penn State's record 26-game postseason winning streak and the most dominant run in NCAA women's volleyball history.
The Nittany Lions don't seem missed in the Alamodome. Sealy said it was probably good for the NCAA that a new champion will finally emerge, and Florida State senior Rachael Morgan spoke both in awe of the Penn State era and with relief to see other teams get a shot.