April 14, 2011
STANFORD, Calif. - The Stanford women's volleyball team has always had an amazing on-court rivalry with UCLA. Now, the coaching staff's of the two programs are raising the stakes.
The next chapter in this rivalry will be a friendly competition between the two staffs as they attempt to help the connection of the alumni to the programs grow. Stanford head coach John Dunning and UCLA head coach Michael Sealy have engaged in a spirited battle to see which school can achieve the greatest alumni support over the next few months. The prize will be the winners seeing the losing staff wear the other team's colors at a match next season.
"Stanford and UCLA have one of the longest and greatest competitive traditions in the history of our sport," said Dunning. "We want to extend the amazing battles we have had to another arena. We are going to compete to see which program can get the most alums involved during the next several months. We are putting the pride we have in our respective programs on the line."
Under the parameters of the competition, the alumni will have to make a $20 minimum donation to be counted and current players will be asked to make a donation of $10. The contest is retroactive from January 1, so all alumni money received in the 2011 calendar year will count, and will conclude on Sept. 16, one week prior to the first Stanford-UCLA match.
Alumni are asked to contact their respective development offices to donate funds to the competition. Stanford alumni can contact Heather Owen (650-723-3075/h.owen@stanford.edu). UCLA alumni can contact Joel Moersch (310-206-0787/jmoersch@athletics.ucla.edu).
The losing staff will wear the opponent's colors at the winner's venue. The Cardinal travels to UCLA on Sept. 23, while Stanford hosts the Bruins on Oct. 29 at Maples Pavilion. If either of the matches is scheduled to be televised, the competition will be paid off during that contest.
The origin of the "punishment" of wearing the other team's colors came when Sealy saw that the governors of the two Super Bowl teams have a special contest with the loser having to do something.
"Mike and I both figured that something would have to be on the line for this to be `a real' competition. We both have great pride in our school so the original thought of having to wear a blue and gold tie was terrifying," said Dunning. "Why not the whole staff? Now everyone on our bench will have to wear their colors, so there is no way we are losing!"
On the court, Stanford holds a 42-36 edge in an all-time series. Since Dunning came to The Farm in 2001, the Cardinal is 19-2 against the Bruins, including an 18-match winning streak from 2001-09. The teams have met eight times in the NCAA Tournament, with three of those meetings coming in the NCAA finals. In 1984, the teams met at Pauley Pavilion and UCLA pulled out the five-set victory, winning 15-13 in the fifth. In 1992, the teams faced each other again in the title contest in Albuquerque, N.M. Stanford posted a 3-1 victory behind all-tournament selections Carrie Feldman, Bev Oden and Cary Wendell, capturing the first of four NCAA Championships for the program. The Cardinal knocked off the Bruins for the second time in the title match two years later in Austin, Texas.
"Even with the numbers in their favor over the last few seasons, I'm sure most of the battles have been amazing throughout the years," Sealy said. "We recruit the same student-athletes, so even if we only play twice a year we are still competing with Stanford every week. Both programs are very respectful of each other and we use Stanford as a yardstick to measure how good we are doing."
The ultimate goal of the competition is to have the alumni become more connected with their respective programs.
"One of our goals every year is for the current players to understand that the program is built upon the talents and hard work of those who come before them," explained Dunning. "If they can get to know them, they will have a more personal motivation to help the program continue to be great."