Number of VB Championships Attended?

[huskervbfan]

Also identify which was your favorite and why?

[Gorf]

1999 in Hawaii.

Why?

hmm..

Penn State won the championship, and well..

It was part of a 3 week trip to Hawaii in December / January.

[simplycurious]

Ok, mine's the high-end vote. Therefore, I'll need some time to properly reflect upon all of them in order to organize some thoughts. I'll get back to you...

[Cubicle No More ...]

I've only been to 2 - 1999 in Hawaii and 2000 in Richmond.

Both were great times. In 1999, it was fun rooting for Penn St to finally get the monkey off their back after being so close the previous 2 finals. Also there were just a lot of great players on the court during this Final Four - Weaver, Stegman, Tom, Walsh, Cacciamani, Bremner.

In 2000, I finally got to see Hawaii in the Final Four. Not so fun b/c they lost (to Nebraska). And actually the other semifinal was kind of boring (Wisconsin and USC) - USC just did not bring it that day. But the final was really competitive.

Both Final Fours also featured the funniest mascots I've ever seen. The same one, just different schools. LBSU and Nebraska had their giant balloon bubble boy mascots. In Hawaii, I believe the Bubble-Boy 49-er got stuck in the tunnel leading to the locker rooms, and so they had to deflate him a little to get him unstuck. And in Richmond, the Bubble-Boy Cornhusker would do this little quiver every now and then when Nebraska did something good on the court. My friends and I just thought it was hilarious. You would have thought we were high or something. (And the way Hawaii played that year, we should have been ... )

[Deleted]

This'll be my 6th.

1999 because it was in Hawaii and I was rooting for PSU.

2003 because the Gophers were there.

I'm not sure I've seen a really great match yet, however. LBSU-PSU in 1998 was pretty good, but only after the first 2 games. PSU-Pacific in 1999 was also pretty good.

I know there was a match in there where Logan Tom was just playing out of her mind...

[Gorf]

Logan played very well in 2001.

[Vball818]

HuskerVBFan said:

Also identify which was your favorite and why?

I have a 3-way tie for second. and these finals were at UCLA.

1981 - USC defeated UCLA in five games. Linda Robertson, Jeanne Beauprey, Cammi Chalmers and Patti Orozco were on this team. They almost defeated a very fine-tuned USC team led by Cathy Stukel. Stukel lumbered around on the court but she had nice sets and I think she did too much in trying to run a sophisticated/fast pace offense that coach Erbe likes to use. My heart went out when the UCLA players came back on the court to receive their trophies - they were just grief-stricken.

1984 - watching UCLA come back from behind in the fifth game. Kim Oden was just swatting the UCLA's spikes and Michelle Boyette(UCLA setter) kept setting Liz Masakayan and Liz kept getting blocked - well she kept hitting into the block, she could've hit off of Wendy Rush but she didn't and UCLA just kept standing up looking at Liz spike away - they didn't cover her. Anyway Michelle set Liz for the 800th time and she cleary hit over Kim but the top ref(I think Lindsay Davenport's dad was reffing that match) called a touch. Well, UCLA took advantage of that miscall and went on to the win the match. I was amazed at Barb Fontana, Rush, Oden and that other middle blocker opposite from Oden who's from Palm Springs. They all played amazing and played so much better than Stanford.

1991 - Antoinette White said that the better team lost, well she was right but Elaine Youngs could've cared less what White said. White was right that they were the better team in terms of ball control, smart hitting and distributing the sets to other players. But UCLA had the top guns with Natalie Williams, Marisa Hatchett, Annette Davie and Elaine Youngs. UCLA had a physical team whereas LBSU was more finesse. These two teams played earlier that year in September in a very packed hot Gold Mine gym where LBSU defeated ULCA in five(that was a great match to watch). It looked like LBSU was going to take this match but it went to five. Julie kept setting Youngs and Williams and in the fifth game there was a deja vu moment. Julie set outside to Elaine and the ref called a touch on Danielle Scott. Well there was no touch and Coach Brian went ballistic. They complained and complained and it didn't do them any good. UCLA went on to win that game and match. LBSU should've won that match because they were clearly in control the whole time even in the games they lost.

Best Final Four match - seeing UOP win their first title with Bev Oden and Bev playing against Kim and Stanford. This was tough one to watch but both teams played out of their minds. Jan Saunders(UOP) was setting better than Wendy(or is it Wendi?) and my favorite UOP outside hitter Julie Manginot was cranking on those sets. Julie is 5'7" but she could leap and hit the heck outta the ball.

[2c]

98 in Madison cuz
1) Madison is a great little town
2) Nebr was there
3) the PSU v LBSU final was incredible. Just wished the LBSU players would have shook hands afterwards. oops, I shouldn't have brought that up

[JT]

Three.. hoping for a fourth in a couple weeks.

Best would have to be 2003, because the Gophers were there.

Wisconsin in 1998 is pretty much tied w/ Hawaii in 1999.