Colorado State vs. Minnesota NACWAA Live

[vballmaniac40]

Hey Gorf,

I can't get the audio on my computer. Is it on right now?

[Gorf]

Its been silent until just now.

[Gorf]

He stopped talking and went silent again, I think he said he'd be "right back"?

[JT]

I'm back from FtCollins. Matches were fantastic.

Regarding the loss in game one, followed by the three games won by the Gophers, Saturday's FtCollins paper reported Hebert saying that the Gophers started out serving soft to zone 2, to try and clog up the left side hitters. It didn't work, and they switched tactics in game 2, moving the serve around on the court.

CSU players were reported in the Friday FtCollins paper as believing that they should have won the CSU-UM match in 2003 (Diet Coke Classic), and one said she was "disappointed" that the Gophers made it to the Final Four. Didn't go over well w/ the Gopher fans or players.

[Boom]

JT said:

CSU players were reported in the Friday FtCollins paper as believing that they should have won the CSU-UM match in 2003 (Diet Coke Classic), and one said she was "disappointed" that the Gophers made it to the Final Four. Didn't go over well w/ the Gopher fans or players.

OK, here's the quotes:

"You can always say we shoulda or we woulda, but I think that match was definitely a shoulda," said CSU senior Becky Sarauer, a left-side hitter who had a team-high 16 kills in that contest. "Losing to them in a five-game match was really hard for us."

And

"It was a disappointment that (Minnesota) made it to the Final Four and all, yet it was an inspiration, too, because we were so close to them," Sarauer said. "It gave us confidence to know we're right there with the top teams."

I don't see either of those as disses - especially the first one. And if the UM players don't think they should've won on Saturday, I'd be be disappointed -- they have to know that there were opportunities to win it, and without that injury, I am convinced it would've been a different match.

As for the second, the context was that losing such a close match to a team like Minnesota, that made it to the final four, made the end of the Rams' season (sweet 16) even more disappointing --- they felt like they should've gone further, not like they didn't want UM to do better. Crap, unless you're just an idiot, you want the teams that beat you to do well.

B

[JT]

I remember there being other comments about "should have won". I agree that the one listed isn't much of a diss -- although, I hope you'll understand that the Gophers don't think that CSU "shoulda" won. And in the fans' minds, at least, I think the opinion is that MN wasn't playing as well as they ought to have, either -- making the "shoulda" even less so.

As for the second, the context was that losing such a close match to a team like Minnesota, that made it to the final four, made the end of the Rams' season (sweet 16) even more disappointing --- they felt like they should've gone further, not like they didn't want UM to do better. Crap, unless you're just an idiot, you want the teams that beat you to do well.

I agree with your reasoning that you'd want the teams that beat you to do well, but that doesn't seem, to me, to be the context. That goes for everybody I know (Gopher fans) who saw the article.
If a diss wasn't the intended message, I think that the CSU players should beat up the reporter.

[Boom]

OK, well here's the whole article, from the Coloradoan:

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The two-time defending national champion is in town this weekend for the National Association of College Women's Athletic Administrators Classic volleyball tournament at Moby Arena.
And Colorado State University might get a shot at Southern California on Saturday night.

But there's not a team in the country the 11th-ranked Rams would rather play tonight than No. 5 Minnesota. The Golden Gophers, you see, handed the Rams a five-game loss early last season in Minneapolis, and CSU never shook the feeling that it should have won that contest after winning the second and third games for a 2-1 lead.

Minnesota, behind the hitting of All-American Cassie Busse, won the fourth game 30-24 and the fifth 15-9 to help right itself after a rough start to a season that ended in the NCAA Tournament's Final Four.

"You can always say we shoulda or we woulda, but I think that match was definitely a shoulda," said CSU senior Becky Sarauer, a left-side hitter who had a team-high 16 kills in that contest. "Losing to them in a five-game match was really hard for us."

It left a lasting impression, too, because the Rams didn't lose again until the NCAA Tournament's regional semifinals, where they fell in three games to a Florida team that went on to play Southern Cal for the national championship the following weekend.

"We definitely decided to take on a different mindset after that," CSU senior setter Melissa Courtney said. "Throughout the season, I think it came back and haunted us a little bit, in a good way. I definitely think it was a huge motivator for us."

CSU won its next 23 matches, setting a school record for consecutive victories. Along the way, the Rams became the first team to go 14-0 in Mountain West Conference matches, the first MWC regular-season champion to win the MWC Tournament, the third CSU team to win 30 matches (the Rams finished 30-5) and the fourth CSU team in five years to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

This year's CSU team, with all six starters and three of its top reserves back, hopes to go even further, possibly even to the Final Four. And that loss to Minnesota last season convinced the Rams that they're capable of getting there.

"It was a disappointment that (Minnesota) made it to the Final Four and all, yet it was an inspiration, too, because we were so close to them," Sarauer said. "It gave us confidence to know we're right there with the top teams."

That match, played Sept. 18, might have been equally inspiring for the Gophers, Minnesota coach Mike Hebert said.

Minnesota, which had lost its first four matches of the season to then-No. 2 Hawaii, No. 22 Louisville, No. 13 UCLA and unranked Kansas, won three of its next four before beating CSU, then won 21 of its final 27 matches of the season while becoming the first team seeded No. 4 in an NCAA regional to advance to the Final Four.

"Last year's Colorado State-Minnesota match was a typical early season match by two teams that were building," said Minnesota's Mike Hebert, the American Volleyball Coaches Association national coach of the year last season. "I know we weren't playing well for the first month of the season, and I gather from Tom's (CSU coach Hilbert) reaction after the match that he wasn't very pleased with his team's performance, either."

Despite few personnel changes on either team since that match, both coaches insist there will be few similarities tonight.

"It's a new situation, and we've got to expect that this Minnesota team is significantly better than the one we played last year, and they've got to expect that we're significantly better," Hilbert said, dismissing any revenge factor. "The players are ready to play. It'a a matter of adrenaline and whether that's going to help us or hurt us. But what it all boils down to, seven to eight points into Game 1, both teams are going to relax and start playing volleyball, and whoever's the most focused and does the right things is going to win."

Southern Cal, the preseason No. 1 faces No. 12 Georgia Tech, an NCAA regional finalist last year, in tonight's first match at 5 p.m. CSU officials are expecting a crowd of more than 3,500, Hilbert said.

The losers of tonight's matches will play in the NACWAA Classic's consolation game at 5 p.m. Saturday, with the winners meeting for the championship at 7:30 p.m.

And, if they can get past Minnesota this time around, the Rams will be more than happy for the likely prize, a shot at Southern Cal, which takes an NCAA-record 47-match winning streak into tonight's match against Georgia Tech.

"I think it would be great to get a chance to go against the national champions," said Courtney, who grew up in Lakewood, Calif., not far from the USC campus. "That's the greatest thing about this team is we want a shot at the national champions."

"Of course, we want to win. But this whole tournament is just a great way to see how you match up and measure up with these teams."
__________________________

I still think it speaks of respect -- CSU was so close to Minnesota early in the year, but did not go as far as they had wanted to.