Hey boys and girls. Talking Turtle is back at ‘cha after Rounds 1 and 2 (some) are officially in the books! What have we seen – upsets, obvious wins, meltdowns, and just some awfully easy ball? I think we have seen all of this and more at the beginning of the 2010 tournament. As always there are tons to break down, however, let’s just hit some of the highlights on the night.
Starting with the Dayton region, we called it – the CSU Fullerton and Colorado State match would be a doozy! It certainly lived up to its billing. Did I read that correctly, a middle blocker had 20 kills and 19 blocks?! Can we say ‘cray cray’?! Those are some serious and ridiculous numbers in one match. A great win for this team, and hopefully they will be taking some momentum into the match tomorrow night against the Stanford Cardinal. Speaking of Stanford…well do we need to? A nice all-around solid match against what should have been (and was) an easy first round match. Tomorrow night, the Card will need to pass well, and produce a nice spread out offense. Additionally, the offense will need to (obviously) avoid CSU’s huge blocking game.
In the other section of the region, pretty routine matches occurred. Dayton prevailed over Butler, and Ohio State moves into Round 2 with a 3-1 victory over Lipscomb. There are some good solid things on both teams, however, my prediction is Dayton comes out with a 3-1 win. Ohio State can be good and dangerous when they are firing, however, Dayton will be too much for the Buckeyes to handle. The other solid match in this region was the Miami vs. Indiana match. We all knew Indiana could do some damage especially after their best win in school history over Penn State this season. It went down to the wire with Indiana coming out in 5. Haverly and Benson showed their stuff tonight with over 20 kills apiece. Their next match against the Lady Vols will be an interesting match up. Tennessee is a little light on the offensive side, yet has ok defense. They attempt to run a bit of a quicker offense, so this should be interesting.
Lastly in this section was USC vs New Mexico and Long Beach State vs. San Diego. LB and SD had some good moments during this match, but those pesky Toreros ranked #18 in the nation pulled out the win. Defense was their kryptonite against the 49ers with five players finishing in double-digit digs. Not much LB can do against that. Seniors DeGroot and Troost are too strong and very experienced. Great setter Ashley Lee finishes a solid career tonight in the loss. Tomorrow night SD will certainly need that defensive effort against the sleeper team USC Trojans, who handled New Mexico with ease. It will completely be about what San Diego can do in the middle to combat Lauren Williams and Alexis Olgard, who are incredibly efficient. Although the outsides for USC are typically unstoppable, they can be shut down. IF the Toreros want a chance against USC, they will have to neutralize their outside hitters and see if the other role players can bring out the W. My prediction you ask? USC takes it in 4.
In the lower half of the bracket an upset took place. Iowa State and Coach Johnson – what had happened was?? Creighton – who? I do not think anyone called this, and if so – you must be psychic! Congratulations Creighton, because you have the upset of the night in my opinion (ok maybe slightly tied). They will now face a hot Minnesota Golden Gopher squad who we all know is fresh off a huge win against PSU. I do not know much about Creighton, but hopefully you are not worn out, because you will need to bring your A game against Minnesota (who defeated North Dakota State).
Over at Cal Berkeley, the Bears were handling Utah State more easily than all thought and/or predicted. Utah State came in off a huge win over Hawaii (who we will certainly pick apart…I mean talk about later). Cal made it look pretty routine in tonight’s win against a very solid blocking team. Tomorrow night they will face North Carolina from the ACC. Look for Cal to breeze through this match as well.
In the bottom half matches, both Nebraska and Auburn had easy first round matches last night with 3-0 victories. Tonight they squared off against one another, and the Cornhuskers showed their experience by winning in 3 fairly routine sets. They move into Round 3 to a very compelling match up with The Washington Huskies. The University of Washington Huskies dismantled The Rainbow Wahine tonight. This proved to be the BIGGEST disappointment of the night. Once again Hawaii looked completely out of sorts with their lack of focus, crappy passing, lackluster offense, and outright exhaustion. It’s time to nap on the plane back to the islands ladies! Kudos to UW for coming out with a clear cut game plan and sticking to it – block Danielson, serve Danielson, and produce offensive pressure. My take on UH – sorry Mafua, but honey find a location! Over the past several weeks her game has completely disappeared, which clearly left her team to fall apart. Elizabeth Ka’aihue another solid night sweetheart, and it sucks to have your team go out like that in your senior year. Next week (hopefully) will be a classic between Nebraska and Washington. Shall we say redemption from the 2005 finals? My prediction – Nebraska in 4…maybe 5.
On the other side of the tournament bracket, starting at the top – fairly routine matches with The Gators, Florida State, Louisville, Texas, Cincinnati, and Illinois. Purdue survived a 3-1 win over the sometimes dangerous Kentucky Wildcats. The BIGGEST surprise in this section was American vs. UCLA. Uhmm…hello Bruins – do we have a problem here? Give it to American for being up for the challenge, taking it to UCLA, and not backing down against the storied program. This match went down to the wire producing some incredible offense and defense. Does this now give the Bruins some confidence they can survive a tough test (despite the win against Stanford)? It does not seem right at all, but their next match pits them against the red hot Texas Longhorns. They will need to get more production from other players than Dicey, and play some solid defense (which is their strength). Texas on the other hand will need to remain focused, determined, set wisely, decrease their errors, and also play some good defense. This could be a HOT round two. After tonight’s let downs, I am afraid to say we could have a classic on our hands. I do believe both teams are pretty well matched, even with all of the injuries to both teams. The name of the game is serve and pass – UCLA serve tougher, and Texas pass consistently. My prediction is Texas in 4 or 5.
Lastly, more upsets on the night, that certainly proved the RPIs and the committee have it WRONG!! They are indeed a complete joke. First, the huge and highly contested UNI vs. Missouri match. I think I called this one, yes? Missouri came out on top in five hard fought sets. UNI was completely overrated and ranked too high; hell even the commentator made that remark. So we all knew this except the folks who mattered the most. In the first match of this section, Northwestern made claim that the Pac-10 is also overrated, (much to be debated) as they ended University of Arizona’s season in four. Sadly, the only senior that truly stepped up for the Arizona Wildcats was Whitney Dosty, who had been playing some great ball as of late. However it was not enough to overcome a balanced attack from the other ‘Cats. Northwestern and Missouri now face each other, and hopefully this will be a good one too! Not really sure how to call it, as this could go either way.
Ohio and Duke also eased by with 3-0 wins over High Point and Penn respectively. These two will now square off against one another. Interesting match ups or boring? I will let you be the judge. PSU and Virginia Tech also face each other in Round 2. More than likely (unless the sky falls), PSU will come out on top with quick work. In arguably one of the biggest upsets in Round 1, the firepower of All-American candidate Tyler Henderson was simply ridiculous against #13 seed LSU Tigers. This was certainly a match that LSU should have won, as they attain a more balanced attack, quicker offense, and solid defense. It was not to be the case tonight, as Tyler pounded down 26 kills in only 3 sets of ball. What a performance! Flashes of a Kim Willoughby, Ogonna Nnmani, Kristy Porter, and more. Tomorrow night, Tulsa will face Oklahoma (yes on their home floor), and will have to once again bring it! Tonight marked their first win against a ranked opponent in school history. Can they continue their Cinderella ride? I am going to go out on a huge limb here, and say YES – take it to the Sooners! Tulsa in 4.
2010 NCAA Playoffs Interactive Bracket, click HERE.
We are in for some good solid matches in Round Two. Of course the beauty party of sports is that anyone is beatable on any given day. Let’s hope all of these ladies are firing tomorrow, and we have some phenomenal matches on hand. See ya tomorrow night on the court!
Turtle Out.