Huskers Fall in Five to USC, End Season with 30-2 Record

Louisville, Ky. ? In a match worthy of a national title match, two-time defending champion USC knocked top-seeded Nebraska out of the NCAA Tournament with a 33-35, 30-27, 30-21, 34-36, 15-12 win in a match that took nearly three hours.

USC improves to 23-5 and will meet Minnesota, a five-game winner over Ohio State, in the national semifinals next Thursday, while the Huskers end their magical run with a 30-2 record and see their 27-match winning streak come to an end.

Freshman Sarah Pavan turned in one of the most remarkable matches in school history, setting an NU NCAA postseason record with 35 kills, breaking the NU postseason record of 34 by Lisa Reitsma in 1996, and ranking tied for fifth among all Husker hitting performances. Pavan, who finished with 11 digs and four blocks, was one of four Huskers who turned in double-doubles, as Jennifer Saleaumua totaled 15 kills and 22 digs, while Christina Houghtelling had 11 kills and 14 digs along with five blocks. Dani Busboom rounded out the quartet with 66 set assists and 18 digs in the losing effort.

Keao Burdine carried the Women of Troy with 30 kills and 30 digs, as four Trojans finished with at least 10 kills. Staci Venski and Sarah Florian added 17 and 16 kills, respectively, as USC out-hit the Huskers, .188-.171.

Nebraska doubled USC’s total blocks, at 20-10, with Melissa Elmer finishing with 10 blocks to lead Nebraska, which fell one game short of its ninth NCAA semifinal.

The opening game was a slugfest, as neither team led by more than three points in a thrilling 35-33 Husker win. Pavan shined with eight kills on .412 hitting, as Nebraska also out-blocked USC, 8-2. The Women of Troy took an early lead, only to see the Huskers take the lead for the first time at 11-10 on a solo block by Jennifer Saleaumua. The teams traded the lead back and forth, as Nebraska eventually built a 29-28 lead after a Trojan hitting error. Nebraska had a second game point after Pavan’s kill gave NU a 30-29 lead. USC came right back with two points and had a pair of match points, the last being at 32-31 after Bibiana Candelas’ kill. With the game tied at 33, Tracy Stalls put Nebraska up 34-33 before Keao Burdine’s hitting error gave NU game one.

In game two, neither team would give an inch, as the teams were within two points of each other until the final point of USC’s 30-27 win that sent the teams to the locker room tied at one game apiece. The Huskers took a 24-22 lead after a Saleaumua kill, but USC came back with four straight points, including a pair of aces by Candelas, to take a 26-24 lead. Behind a kill by Pavan and a combined block by Christina Houghtelling and Dani Busboom on Emily Adams tied the match at 26. With the match deadlocked at 27, the 16th tie of the game two, the Women of Troy scored the final three points, capping the win on a kill by Staci Venski. Burdine had 10 kills in game two alone for USC.

The Women of Troy raced to a 6-2 lead in game three after a Debora Seilhamer ace before Nebraska responded. The Huskers closed to within 7-5, but USC went on a 9-3 spurt to push the margin to 16-9 after a combined block by Adams and Venski. USC continued to roll, pushing the lead to 19-10. Nebraska began to chip away, closing to within 25-20 after a pair of Pavan kills forced a USC timeout. The Huskers got within 25-21 on a Saleaumua kill, but could get no closer as USC scored the final five straight points to close out a 30-21 win. In all, USC out-hit Nebraska, .300-.075 to take a 2-1 lead.

In game four, the Huskers came out quickly, jumping to an 8-4 lead and forcing USC to take a timeout.
After USC closed to within 8-6, NU scored three straight points to push the lead to 11-6 after a Michelle Lynch ace, her first of the match. Nebraska led 14-8 after a Stalls kill, but USC would charge back, using a 5-1 spurt to get within 15-13 after Sarah Florian’s kill, forcing NU Coach John Cook to call timeout. The Women of Troy sliced the lead to 15-14 before two straight kills by Christina Houghtelling and a kill by Saleaumua pushed the margin to 18-14 and forced a USC timeout. The Women of Troy chipped away at the Husker lead, using a 6-2 spurt to tie the match at 20 and took a 23-21 lead after a Burdine kill. NU got to with 24-23 after a Pavan kill, but two quick kills by USC pushed the lead to 26-23. A kill by Houghtelling and two kills by Pavan tied the match at 26-all. With the match tied at 27, an Elmer block and a USC hitting error gave NU game point, but the Trojans staved off two game points. NU then fought off three match points, tying the match at 33 and took a 34-33 lead on a Houghtelling kill. With the match tied at 34, kills by Elmer and Pavan gave NU a 36-34 win and sent the match to a decisive fifth game.

In the finale, USC got off to a 3-0 lead after Burdine’s 29th kill of the match and eventually pushed the lead to 5-1 before NU regrouped, using a 5-1 run to tie the match at 6-all on Saleaumua’s kill. USC then took an 8-6 lead on kills by Candelas and Venski to take the lead at the switch. Trailing 9-6, NU got to within 11-10 on Pavan’s 35th kill of the match and tied the match on a net violation. The Huskers tied the match at 12, but a service error and hitting error put USC within a point of victory.  On USC’s next serve, Sarah Florian slammed an overpass, ending the Huskers’ magical run.

Notes: Jennifer Saleaumua broke Nebraska’s career records for digs, as she broke the school mark held by Lindsay Wischmweier, who had 1,111 digs between 1999 and 2002...Saleaumua now has 1,132 career digs....With her 10 blocks tonight, Melissa Elmer moved into sole possession of second place on NU’s single-season block list, passing Amber Holmquist (2001) and Stephanie Thater (1990), who both had 197 blocks...Elmer finished with 200 blocks...Pavan’s 30-kill match is the first by a Husker since Nancy Metcalf in 1999 and only the eighth by a Husker in the postseason...Pavan finished with 481 kills, breaking the freshman mark of 479 by Eileen Shannon in 1989, while her total ranked 10th on NU’s single-season list...Amanda McCormick set a Husker NCAA Tournament record with 30 digs...Busboom posted her 15th double-double of year, while Saleaumua (10th) and Houghtelling (fourth) also posted double-doubles...Pavan’s seventh 20-kill match, most by a Husker since Nancy Metcalf had 10 in 1999....NU drops to 8-9 all-time in regional finals.

Nebraska head coach John Cook
"It was a good match, obviously we didn't take advantage of our opportunities to win and USC did. I think the difference was Keao Burdine, she showed why she was the MVP of the last two final fours. I thought their libero did a great job and that was probably the difference in the match. "

On where this loss ranks in his career
"This is my third regional final loss. I've been through it before. I know Nebraska and USC are two of the best teams in the country. What's disappointing is that we didn't take advantage of our opportunity at the end to win it and gave it to USC. USC has a lot of experience over there and probably some of our inexperience showed up, but I thought our team competed really well and found ways to stay in there."

On Sarah Pavan
"When I look at this match, USC looked a lot fresher in the fifth game and that's probably because they've been in more five game matches than we have. That's one of the things about it. We've been winning 3-0 since October, so that probably didn't help us, but Sarah showed why she's such a great player and she kept us in a lot of games and I know she will really learn from this because she's never been in a match like this as a freshman. This was a great learning match for her and a lot of our players."

Melissa Elmer
On having the season come down to game five
"It's hard and we've always said serving and passing wins games and that was a great example of it right there. It's hard, we've been playing so well, our confidence level was so high, it's just hard, especially in a five game match. We fought so hard in that fourth game and to lose * the feeling is indescribable and it's hard to look on the positive side."

On the fourth game
"It just shows the type of team we have. To fight back in rally scoring when you're down by one point, especially on game point, it's really easy to let up and let the game go. But we kept fighting and we made some huge plays, we just stayed in it. We played from our hearts, that's why we won that game.

Jennifer Saleumua
On the emotions in the fifth game
We didn't start off too well and we still fought back like we did in the fourth game. We still kept composure and everything. We were just believing in each other. When it was 12-12 we just knew that we had to play our best because USC is such a great team. By us competing the whole time, we just made little mistakes and those are what count * but USC is a great team.

USC head coach Mick Haley
"After a match like that, I guess a couple of things come to mind. First, I don't think we've seen a match where two teams went after it with their heart like that in the last two or three years. I think that the athleticism and the eliteness of the players out there was something special. It was kind of hard to have it stop because as much as you wanted to win, you had to appreciate the effort of everybody out there on the court. "

"Naturally, we're very pleased that we were able to come out on top, but I think that was a special thing that went on out there, and I hope everybody who watched that match will remember it for a long time. I'm particularly proud of the fight of our athletes, the way they refused to say die and the way they came back in the match when they were behind. It really felt to me like it didn't matter what the opponents did, we were going to stay right in there. You either had to nail us to the cross or we were going to win. That's what happened, so I'm really happy."

On thoughts between game four and five
"The hardest thing to do is keep thinking about game four. When game four is over, you have to leave it. You have to get your players to leave it in order to play the next game. Through the process of doing this for a while, you know you have to do that. If you allow yourself to feel mad or angry about anything you didn't take advantage of , more bad swings, those sort of things get you into that state and you don't want to transmit that to your team. So what you focus them on immediately is how you want them to come out. And if you get an opportunity to win again we want to make sure we are patient and we do things a little differently."

Keao Burdine
On where the match ranks in her career
"It ranks as one of the top matches in my career here at USC. It was so much fun just playing with all the heart that our team gave. It's really fun just playing with them. "

On being the underdog
"We really didn't think about the underdog thing. Now there is the rankings, but we feel like every team in the tournament is pretty much equal, especially the teams left in the top eight. We just went out there with fight and the determination to live."

Debora Seilhamer
On her defense
"Actually I didn't worry that much about their hitters. I think our blocking was really good and that allowed me to play better defense. I just kept playing defense the way USC plays."

2004 NCAA Volleyball Tournament - Louisville Regional All-Tournament Team
Keao Burdine, USC - Most Outstanding Player
Bibiana Candelas, USC
Devon Forster, San Diego
Jennifer Hoffman, Louisville
Sarah Pavan, Nebraska
Jennifer Saleaumua, Nebraska
Deborah Seilhammer, USC*
Staci Venski, USC
*-Libero

 

-- Huskers --

 

USC vs Nebraska (Dec 11, 2004)

• Box Score
• Short Box Score

Volleyball Box Score

Volleyball Box Score Nebraska Volleyball USC vs Nebraska (Dec 11, 2004 at Louisville, KY)

USC | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7 Candelas, Bibiana... 5| 10 5 28 .179| 0| 2 0| 0| 8| 1 1 0| 0| 13.5 8 Burdine, Keao....... 5| 30 7 80 .287| 0| 0 0| 0| 30| 4 0 0| 0| 34.0 9 Adams, Emily........ 5| 6 7 32 -.031| 0| 0 0| 0| 5| 0 4 0| 0| 8.0 11 Florian, Sarah...... 5| 16 8 41 .195| 1| 1 0| 3| 15| 0 2 0| 0| 18.0 21 Venski, Staci....... 5| 17 7 49 .204| 1| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 3 0| 0| 18.5 32 Dillon, Allison..... 5| 0 1 1-1.000| 42| 0 0| 0| 16| 0 0 1| 0| 0.0 1 Freeburg, Kimi...... 5| 0 0 1 .000| 36| 2 0| 0| 12| 0 0 0| 2| 2.0 2 Seilhamer, Debora... 5| 1 0 1 1.000| 0| 1 1| 0| 37| 0 0 0| 1| 2.0 13 Robinson, Alicia.... 5| 7 3 27 .148| 0| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 0 0| 0| 7.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Totals.............. 5| 87 38 260 .188| 80| 6 1| 3|129| 5 10 1| 3| 103.0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 10.0 Game K E TA Pct 1 20 13 59 .119 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 5 TEAM RECORDS 2 20 8 59 .203 USC................. (3) 33 30 30 34 15 23-5 3 15 3 40 .300 Nebraska............ (2) 35 27 21 36 12 30-2 4 23 9 74 .189 5 9 5 28 .143

Nebraska | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN ## Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE|POINTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3 Houghtelling, Chris. 5| 11 4 47 .149| 0| 0 3| 2| 14| 0 5 1| 2| 13.5 8 Elmer, Melissa...... 5| 9 10 40 -.025| 3| 1 1| 0| 5| 3 7 1| 0| 16.5 9 Pavan, Sarah........ 5| 35 11 90 .267| 1| 0 1| 1| 11| 1 3 0| 0| 37.5 11 Stalls, Tracy....... 5| 12 5 25 .280| 0| 0 0| 0| 3| 0 7 0| 0| 15.5 18 Busboom, Dani....... 5| 2 1 7 .143| 64| 1 2| 0| 18| 0 2 0| 1| 4.0 26 Saleaumua, Jennifer. 5| 15 7 55 .145| 3| 0 0| 2| 22| 1 6 0| 0| 19.0 1 McCormick, Amanda... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 1| 30| 0 0 0| 0| 0.0 2 Lynch, Michelle..... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 9| 1 0| 0| 5| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0 7 Mancuso, Dani....... 1| 1 1 5 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0 10 Fautsch, Kelsey..... 3| 1 0 4 .250| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0| 1.0 13 Rebholz, Ally....... 2| 0 0 2 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 2| 0| 0.0 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Totals.............. 5| 86 39 275 .171| 80| 3 7| 6|109| 5 30 4| 3| 109.0

TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 20.0 Game K E TA Pct 1 22 9 61 .213 Site: Louisville, KY (KICC) 2 18 6 58 .207 Date: Dec 11, 2004 Attend: 1800 Time: 2:47 3 16 12 53 .075 Referees: Kathy Ferraraccio, Patty Salvatore 4 24 8 81 .198 2004 NCAA Regional - Louisville 5 6 4 22 .091

1 2 3 4 5 Total Tie scores 21 16 1 11 3 52 Lead changes 11 5 0 5 0 21

Short Box Score

Short Box Score (Match) Nebraska Volleyball USC vs Nebraska (Dec 11, 2004 at Louisville, KY)

USC def. Nebraska 33-35,30-27,30-21,34-36,15-12

USC (23-5) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Burdine, Keao 30-0-4; Venski, Staci 17-0-3; Florian, Sarah 16-1-2; Candelas, Bibiana 10-2-2; Robinson, Alicia 7-0-0; Adams, Emily 6-0-4; Seilhamer, Debora 1-1-0; Freeburg, Kimi 0-2-0; Totals 87-6-10.0. (Assists) - Dillon, Allison 42; Freeburg, Kimi 36. (Dig leaders) - Seilhamer, Debora 37; Burdine, Keao 30; Dillon, Allison 16; Florian, Sarah 15; Freeburg, Kimi 12; Candelas, Bibiana 8

Nebraska (30-2) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Pavan, Sarah 35-0-4; Saleaumua, Jennifer 15-0-7; Stalls, Tracy 12-0-7; Houghtelling, Chris 11-0-5; Elmer, Melissa 9-1-10; Busboom, Dani 2-1-2; Fautsch, Kelsey 1-0-0; Mancuso, Dani 1-0-0; Lynch, Michelle 0-1-0; Totals 86-3-20.0. (Assists) - Busboom, Dani 64. (Dig leaders) - McCormick, Amanda 30; Saleaumua, Jennifer 22; Busboom, Dani 18; Houghtelling, Chris 14; Pavan, Sarah 11

Site: Louisville, KY (KICC) Date: Dec 11, 2004 Attend: 1800 Time: 2:47 Referees: Kathy Ferraraccio, Patty Salvatore 2004 NCAA Regional - Louisville