Wolf Pack reaches NCAA Tournament

[I Luv Danny R]

TEXT

When the Nevada volleyball team lost to 12-19 San Francisco on Friday in a tournament at Stockton, Calif., head coach Devin Scruggs thought that the consolation match on Saturday would be the Wolf Pack’s last of the season.

She was wrong, and she’s grateful.

“I thought we had screwed up. I thought that was it,” Scruggs said Sunday after the Pack was selected as an at-large team for the 64-team NCAA Tournament. “It was a bad loss, even though USF is a good team. I didn’t sleep very well Friday.”<br>
Nevada won the consolation match to finish the regular season at 21-9. The Pack will face Wichita State at 3 p.m. Friday in Lincoln, Neb. Nebraska and Iona round out the other two teams at the first-round site. Scruggs said Nebraska (27-1) is the site’s top seed, with Nevada No. 2, Wichita State (24-5) No. 3 and Iona (19-15) No. 4.

“I’m very excited we were able to get in,” said Scruggs, who is 140-93 in her eighth season at Nevada. “I thought we were one of the top 64 teams in the country, but we hadn’t beaten a top 25 team, so we were definitely on the bubble.

“Our goal is to go as far as we can.”<br>
The Wolf Pack, which last went to the NCAA Tournament in 2002, was no doubt aided by its play against Hawaii. Hawaii (28-0), the top-ranked team in the country and one of the tournament’s top seeds (along with Nebraska, Penn State and Minnesota), was pushed to five games by the Pack in its two conference matches.

Scruggs said despite the Pack’s loss to USF, it has played better in the latter part of the season.

“Losing to USF gave us a wake-up call,” said Scruggs, who led the Pack to the NCAA Tournament in 1998, 2001 and 2002. “We get a second chance. For the most part, we’re healthy. We have three or four players who have been to the NCAA Tournament as freshmen, so we have some experience. But we also have four of our six starters who have not been to the tournament before.

Rice also received an at-large berth, giving the Western Athletic Conference three teams.

First-round winners advance to one of four regional sites. The semifinals and finals will be played Dec. 16 and 18 at Long Beach, Calif.

[Kampy]

Would someone please recap the Nevada - Hawaii matches? What did the Wolf Pack do to push the Wahine to 5 games twice? I'll be watching their match with Wichita State prior to watching my Huskers on Friday.

Thanks.

[roy]

Kampy said:

Would someone please recap the Nevada - Hawaii matches? What did the Wolf Pack do to push the Wahine to 5 games twice? I'll be watching their match with Wichita State prior to watching my Huskers on Friday.

Thanks.

Don't know about the first match in Nevada but I can tell you about the one in Hawaii and the championship match.

Nevada does really well when they are confident. They do a really good job of taking Hawai out of its system. Adams kept dumping the ball over the net, and Hawaii couldn't respond to it. They kept the Hawaii defense moving all over the place. Basically, they came out hot and then let up in game 3. When they lost their confidence, they just couldn't keep it going. I feel that their coach does a great job of scouting. They knew what the Wahine liked to hit and did a great job in stopping them. They had a passion to win, as they actually felt Hawaii was beatable this year.

Basically, Salavea is the key to the match. If she is hot and keeps her team up, Nevada is a good team. But when she struggles, from a spectator's standpoint, she gives off a lot of negative body language. You can see a major change in her when her team is winning and when they are not. And I would guess that affects the rest of the team. Another observation about the Hawaii match is that she looked really tired near the end of the game. Hawaii just wore on her and by game 5, she was practically out of gas.

If you are worried about them against Nebraska, I wouldn't be too worried. Yes, this team knows how to play like they have nothing to lose. They do that against Hawaii and against Nebraska (assuming Nevada gets to the second round), they also know that they have nothing to lose. They know how to play in front of a big crowd, as they have done that in Hawaii. But if Nebraska can get into their heads, they have nothing to worry about. If Nebraska puts up their big block as they have done all season long, they can easily get to Nevada and sweep them out of the gym.

This will be a match based on momentum. Nebraska will need to nuetralize the momentum swings and keep consistent. The first few plays of the night will set the tone.

Also, just something kind of fun to watch. Nevada has their middles hit from the left side during certain rotations. I wasn't following it too closely, but during certain times, Ericson and Salavea will hit from the left. The Nevada fans can probably give you more insight on that.

[Mulcahy]

I think Ericson plays outside. I think you were thinking about Sipherd. But yeah, I noticed Salavea hitting from the outside starting around the SMU game. Another thing I've noticed is that sometimes the outsides will hit in the middle.

Nevada has never advanced to the second round, but in '02 they were up 2 games to 1 against Pacific with the fourth game tied at 28 and ended up losing 30-28 and 15-11, about half the team is still here from 2002, so they probably remember how much that sucked being so close and losing, but then again, they might just fold like they did against USF.

[YellowC]

The KEY for Nevada is their setter Adams. I think her knees were sore and she stopped jump setting. She is a threat at the net when she can jump set.

Salavea had bad and good performances vs. Hawaii and it didn't seem to make a difference. When she and Adams start barking at each other then you know Nevada is in trouble.

[I Luv Danny R]

T. Adams gives up and she gets snarly with Salavea. I heard that those two where talken trash to each other in a match against Hawaii.!!!

[Pac10Fn]

Nevada is an outside hitter away from being legit. Salaia carries this team offensively and that is not enough...great teams have at least one terminator on the outside...Nevada doesn't have that terminator yet.
That being said, if Ericson realizes her potential and works her butt off this Spring, she could be great.

[Island]

Sipherd has the makings of a damn good player too.