Dec. 17, 1999
HONOLULU, Hawaii - National Freshman of the Year candidateLogan Tom pounded a career-high 27 kills and posted a .564 attackpercentage to lead second-ranked Stanford (31-2) to a 15-10, 15-10, 15-3sweep of defending champion and No. 6 Long Beach State (31-4) in thesemifinals of the 1999 NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament on Thursdaybefore a sell-out crowd of 10,252 at the Stan Sheriff Center. The victorysets up a much-anticipated showdown with top-ranked Penn State (35-1) inthe NCAA championship match this Saturday (7:00 p.m., PST). Stanford willbe attempting to win its fifth NCAA title of the decade and its third inthe last four seasons in Saturday's showdown with the Nittany Lions. TheCardinal has already won national championships in 1992, '94, '96 and '97.Stanford and Penn State have split four matches in their all-time series.Stanford has won both meetings in the NCAA Tournament, including thenational championship match in 1997.
"The championship match is one that a lot of people have been lookingforward to," stated Stanford head coach Don Shaw about Saturday's meetingof the nation's top two teams. "I know we are really looking forward to it.This match has all the makings of a classic matchup. We'll have to playeven better than we did tonight to beat a team like Penn State."
Both teams carry long win streaks into Saturday's finals, which will betelevised on a tape-delayed basis by ESPN2 (Sunday, December 19, 10 am,PST). The Nittany Lions, who have not been defeated since losing to Floridain their season-opener, have the nation's longest win streak at 35 matches.Stanford has won 20 in a row and 30 of 31 since losing its second match ofthe season at Texas.
The Cardinal was dominant in Thursday's win, which marked the third timeStanford has dropped the 49ers in a national semifinal match and improvedthe Cardinal's lead in the all-time series to 12-1.
Four-time All-American Kerri Walsh added 14 kills and a .407 attackpercentage (14-3-27), while freshman Lindsey Yamasaki contributed 13 killsand a .591 attack percengage (13-0-22) for the winners.
Tom was nearly unstoppable as she picked up 13 kills in the first game,including a "TOM-A-Hawk" blast for the game-winner. Walsh added 10 killsand a .600 attack percentage (10-1-15) in the opening contest. After LongBeach State opened the match by scoring the first two points, Stanfordwould rally by scoring eight unanswered points to key its game one victory.The 49ers would never cut the score closer than 9-6 from that point. Bothteams hit well in the opening game with the Cardinal winning the battle(.397 to .327).
Stanford rallied for a victory in the second game behind nine kills fromTom and five by freshman Lindsey Yamasaki. After Long Beach State openedwith a 6-3 lead, the Cardinal would score the six of the next seven pointsto lead 9-7. A kill by Walsh gave the Cardinal its first lead of the gameat 8-7. Long Beach State would rally to tie the score at 9-9 but Stanfordrecovered to score six of the game's last seven points. Junior setterLindsay Kagawa closed out the game with a service ace on game point.
The Cardinal nearly shutout the 49ers in the final game, collecting thefirst 13 points of the game before Long Beach State finally got on thescoreboard. The Cardinal closed out the match when Walsh and JenniferDetmer knocked down Long Beach State's final attack attempt for amatch-winning block.
Stanford's .419 team attack percentage tied for its second best effort ofthe season.
Long Beach State was led by sophomore Cheryl Weaver with team-highs of 11kills and four blocks.
Penn State reached the finals with a grueling five-game 14-16, 15-5, 15-6,7-15, 15-12 win over No. 5 Pacific (32-3). The Nittany Lions were paced bysenior All-American Lauren Cacciamani with 26 kills, six blocks and a .304attack percentage. Senior Carrie Schonveld chipped in with 19 kills and amatch-high nine blocks, while sophomore Katie Schumacher had 15 kills.Senior All-American setter Bonnie Bremner had 63 assists and led Penn Stateto a team .287 attack percentage.
Pacific was led by senior All-American Elsa Stegemann with a match-high 31kills, 15 digs and four blocks. Senior Jennica Smith led four other playersin double-figure kills with 15.