USC vs. UCI

what usc has been able to do is nothing short of amazing. i remember in 06' that ucla made an incredible run to the national championship. however, their semi match was not as tough as that of sc' yesterday. i think ucla played ipfw in the semi and then penn state for the finals. sc' is having to go through the best of the best in order to potentially win the title. on top of that, they were nearly dead being down 2-0 to stanford.

i'm picking sc to beat uci 3-1, or maybe even 3-0. the way sc has played as seen yesterday against penn state is no different than what i saw against stanford in from mid game 2 on. from the stanford match, although sc did not win game two, it was evident that stanford was fortunate to pull it out as sc were charging with better play and intensity. apparently, i carried on during the mpsf final four at uci. again, yesterday's game was no different. penn state came out pretty much comfortable and were able to assert their athleticism on game one. sc didn't look bad at all during the first game, but penn state just had that overpowering dominant run going. however, sc was able to continue to settle and assert their own consistency. b/c of this, penn state were now forced to battle against a team that was not going to just run at the sight of penn state's athleticism. at least from what occurred yesterday, that made the difference. sc was able to withstand the initial flux of game one due to penn state's athleticism. when the match got to a point where it was a true back and forth battle, sc kept pushing with their consistency and scrappy defense, and penn state broke.

here is where i think the whole debate about regular season competition comes into play. competition in the mpsf prepares teams like sc to battle, as it is the norm. there are really few gimme games. ucsd used to be a gimme game, but not anymore, and also, hawaii upset sc on the last match of the regular season, and hawaii did not even make mpsf playoffs. penn state just does not have the luxury of having night in and night out preparation. no doubt penn state has an immense amount of talent, probably the most talented and physically gifted team of the four in provo. but the lack of regular season competition really hurts.

that being said, sc in four over irvine. the only way i see irvine winning is if sc tightens up and deviates from the free spirited style that they have been playing with.

Going into today's match:

You have two All Americans at Oppo, one who's better on the block (Clark) and the other who's a smarter player (Steller). In a match of this nature, I was hoping so much Speraw would have gone with the experience and smarts of his senior. It's still early, but here's hoping Speraw makes a change to get some fresh legs when he needs them.

Congrats to UC-Irvine on their title. It was a really great last set.

nope. live for everyone to hear.

The match was great. Great crowd. Classy fans on both sides. Great play on both sides. Venue was great (except for the plane ticket). Nice.

I'm surprised to see UCI pull this one out but also happy for them.

I think a huge difference in the outcome of this match would be the play of freshman phenom Tony Ciarelli. Had he kept a cool head and focused on the 30x60 area only the championship may have gone to USC. Once he got riled by the crowd (which by the way appeared to be the UCI women's vb team) he never really recovered. This also provided HUGE momentum and confidence to the UCI boys. Tony, keep your bravado off the court please! The stare downs and crowd pointing also happened in other matches I watched. Such cockiness isn't attractive on a freshman!

well my hat's off to SC for a job well done, and congratulations to UCI. I was there and it was a great match and fun to watch-except for the venue.

I agree with the comments about Ciarelli-perhaps that's why he did not get a bid from ANY frat on campus. His arrogance-as well as his father's are a bit much. Doesn't his dad know that after little league he should stop coaching his son?

Having said that, Troy was as always exceptional, and sorry, but in the end, I just can't resist...Ferguson is just himself. Sorry for the loss, but it was a great season overall.