Day 1 at Nationals

--Conor Nicholl

Quick Picks for Elite Eight Games

Grand Valley State (29-6) vs. Dowling (33-8)
Grand Valley State wins 3-0

Dowling is the only unranked team in the Elite Eight and started the season on a 3-6 skid after playing then-nationally ranked Barry University and current Elite Eight participant Tampa University. This is their first match against a Top 25 foe in about two months.

Expect a mismatch. Grand Valley State leads the country in blocking and Dowling only has two players hitting above .300. Every time the Golden Lions attack, GVSU will have two blockers in their eyes. Dowling won’t be able to establish a consistent attack and the Lakers will advance to the Final Four against…

Concordia St. Paul (30-4) vs. Tampa (28-3)
Concordia St. Paul wins 3-2

Along with Truman-Kearney, this is THE match of the first day. Tampa has the country’s third-most efficient hitter in Erica Womack (.458), but CSP counters with the nation’s best setter in First Team All-American Cailin Terhaar (14.68 assists/game) and arguably the nation’s top player in junior outside hitter Jessica Lucia.

The Golden Bears average more assists per game and played a more difficult schedule than Tampa. Womack’s terrific, but CSP’s tough regular season and offensive firepower will yield a victory.

Lock Haven (33-5) vs. Cal. St. LA (27-2)
Cal. St.-L.A. wins 3-1

Think No. 1 vs. No. 8 in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Lock Haven’s a strong, nationally ranked team, but Cal. St.-L.A. is among the nation’s elite.

Lock Haven doesn’t play a very difficult conference and regional schedule, but they always win their region and then fall to a stronger opponent in the Elite Eight. That’s going to happen tomorrow afternoon.

Cal. St. LA won the Pacific region, which is similar to climbing Mt. Everest without oxygen. It’s difficult. Six nationally ranked squads made the playoffs and the Golden Eagles captured two 3-2 victories to advance to nationals and move up to No. 2 in the national poll. Playing such a brutal schedule has made this team stronger.

“Beating ranked teams only do one thing: foster confidence,” Cal. St.-L.A. head coach Bill Lawler said. “It’s great to play those teams and come out on top. We’re battle-tested now after beating some of the best teams in the country.”

On the other hand, Lock Haven isn’t battle-tested.

“Will we bring our ‘A’ game or will we falter in certain categories on the court?” Lock Haven head coach Tom Justice said. “That’s the $64,000 question. We know how to win and we’re pretty capable, but we tested our team early in the year because that’s the only tough opponents we’re going to have.”

And that’s going to prove the difference. Lock Haven hasn’t played a team like Cal. St.-L.A. this season. They’ll split the first two sets, but the Golden Eagles’ confidence and tough mentality will keep Lock Haven from delivering the upset.

Truman (32-5) vs. University of Nebraska-Kearney (33-1)
Truman wins 3-1

This could be the biggest thing to happen to Kearney…since, well, since…I don’t know. All I know is Lopers Arena is going to be ridiculously jam-packed tomorrow night.

And the ’Dogs are going to end the Lopers’ 65-match home winning streak.

For more analysis about tomorrow night’s matchup, check out www.trumanindex.com for columns by myself and Ross Houston.

Kearney is the best place to host national tournament

I’ve felt cold. I’ve skied at the top of Vail Mountain in Colorado, where the wind chill is a biting 20 below. I’ve walked to 7:30 a.m. finals in December at Truman.

Kearney, Neb., home of the national tournament, rivals both places for subzero weather.

The wind, like Kirksville, has no place to go, so it whips around and hits us in the face like icicles. Adam Kabins, Tyler Madsen and I walked to Subway – round trip distance about 100 yards – and I had to start running because of the cold.

The warm weather teams, especially California State-Los Angeles and Tampa University, probably haven’t seen weather this cold in their entire lives. Tonight, all eight teams attended a banquet where they announced the National Player of the Year (UNK’s senior outside hitter Erin Gudmundson won for the second straight year – more on this tomorrow), and most players wore jackets or sweaters.

Not the L.A. players. As soon as they walked outside, they started hugging each other and trying to move as fast as possible.

I doubt many of them had seen six inches of snow in their life – much less six inches of snow buried right next to the hotel entrance. In the press conference, L.A. players started laughing when asked about the conditions.

“The snow is great,” said sophomore middle hitter Airess Padda.

Senior setter Tiare Tuitama echoed similar sentiments, saying, “It really puts me in the Christmas spirit.”

Tampa players said they had never seen snow fall from the sky until they arrived at Kearney.

Kearney, though, wasn’t affected at all by the penetrating temperatures. After all, they live here twelve months out of the year. As soon as UNK senior middle hitter Erin Gudmundson ended her media session, she stood and smiled, asking why no one asked her about the weather.

“I’ve never experienced temperatures like this,” she said to the media. “Why didn’t anyone ask about what I thought of the cold?”

Another question that no one raised is the locale itself: why Kearney? Why not St. Paul, Minnesota, home of No. 3 Concordia St. Paul? Why not Los Angeles –home of No. 2 ranked Cal St.-L.A.?

Both cities have warm weather, airports and points of attraction. The answer is two-fold. First, Kearney was the No. 1 team in the country last year and lost the spot to No. 3 Barry University. According to several sources, they weren’t very pleased about losing nationals.

This year, Kearney was again the No. 1 team in the country and the NCAA probably thought they couldn’t spurn the Lopers two years in a row.

Secondly, Kearney – and Nebraska in general – is a volleyball hotbed. They love their volleyball. In Div. I, the University of Nebraska is the only undefeated team in the country. They routinely play in front of 4,000 or more fans and several of their matches – including against nationally-ranked University of Missouri – have been played on Fox Sports Midwest.

For Div. II, Lopers Arena is the best place to watch a volleyball game. The fieldhouse is absolutely incredible, seating close to 6,000 fans. They average over 2,000 per match. For comparison, the Bulldogs hosted 950 for the 2004 South Central Regional final against Central Missouri State University – arguably the biggest match ever hosted at Pershing.

The NCAA and UNK will reap the benefits of gigantic ticket sales. Tomorrow night could easily eclipse the all-time attendance record for a Div. II match – a 1996 showdown between UNK and the University of Nebraska-Omaha at Lopers Arena that drew 3,520 fans.

“Playing in front of a huge crowd is a lot better than playing in front of an empty stadium,” head coach Jason Skoch said at the press conference. “The atmosphere is going to be outstanding and both teams will play better in front of a lot of fans.”

Had any other city hosted, crowds would probably barely reach into the thousands –especially not Los Angeles, as Saturday’s college football matchup between USC and UCLA would have overshadowed the Div. II national title.

Concordia St. Paul averaged nearly 1,400 people (or 600 less than UNK) in their regional tournament. This number wouldn’t have changed much for nationals.

Had nationals been in Florida, crowds would be around 700-1,000. Last year, Barry hosted the ’Dogs for the national championship and only drew 750 fans. That’s ridiculous. That’s not going to happen tomorrow night or anytime this weekend.

The NCAA made the right choice in allowing Kearney to host the national tournament. It’s the best place for fans, media and the players. Today’s front page edition of the Kearney Hub a gigantic Elite Eight headline, two main stories on the sports front page and a 12-page special section devoted entirely to the tournament.

Tomorrow is going to a huge day for Kearney and the greatest day for Div. II volleyball in many years.

And that’s something subzero temperatures and biting cold can’t even diminish.