Volleyball in the Tournament

So, first, since search tells me that this was never posted on the front page...volleyball went up to Pullman on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and took down WSU 3-1. They then headed over to face the No. 4, Pac-10 leading Huskies. After falling behind 2-0, the Ducks rallied back behind Sonja Newcombe to beat the Huskies 3-2, breaking a 17-match losing streak to UW and preventing the Huskies from clinching a share of the Pac-10 championship.

Sonja Newcombe, in the midst of kicking Fusky ass. Mmm, 36 kills.

The Ducks are playing the first two rounds in Lexington, Kentucky.  UK was on top of the SEC before losing to Tennessee, thus delivering the title to LSU, much like Washington was on top of the Pac-10 before we beat them for the first time in 17 matches, and did so at their place, thus delivering the title to Stanford.

Yesterday, the Ducks took care of Clemson in three games, though still in a manner that allowed Jim Moore plenty of opportunity for, ahem, coaching opportunities. Today, they face off against Kentucky for the right to head to Minneapolis, where they would most likely play Florida State, who is seeded third despite a No. 12 AVCA poll ranking, then get a rematch with No. 11 Minnesota (the Ducks beat the Golden Gophers in Denver earlier this year) with a Final Four berth on the line. We might have faced now-No. 6 UW, except that they got knocked off by Colorado State. Husky volleyball + tournament = choke.

Heather Meyers and Dana Stephenson blocking. We could use more of this today than we had yesterday. Heather's 4 aces and Dana's .600 hitting percentage, though, were quite nice.

So, why am I telling you this? Well, the match is available online at 4pm Pacific, which means that not only can you watch it, you can do so with the end of the SECCG or Southern Cal-Arizona, or the beginning of the B12CG on the TV.

Ducks 2009 Tournament Central

Gratutious Tiny Spandex Shorts Shot. Relevant because if Sonja Is Happy, then You Are Happy.

Did I mention the part where we hadn't beaten UW in 17 matches, despite our current several-year run in the Top 25, including a fairly long Top 10 stint, but then we kept the No. 4 Huskies from the Pac-10 championship by coming back from being down 0-2? Because it was a feeling not entirely unlike OMG ROSE BOWL, except a week earlier, and Bank of America Arena was full of sad Husky fans.