The 16th-seeded Florida Gators have put together an impressive string of seasons during Mary Wise’s reign, having won 18 consecutive SEC titles before this season and extending the nation’s longest streak of 25-win seasons to 19 while reaching their 18th regional during that span.
But all of those numbers pale in comparison to the team that will be taking the court with Florida to open the Round of 16 Friday in the O’Connell Center. In fact, Penn State is in the midst of a magical run that may make the Nittany Lions the greatest women’s college volleyball team of all-time when it is all said and done.
How does 98 straight victories hit you? That’s right, two-time NCAA champion Penn State has won 98 straight matches heading into Friday’s 6 p.m. match that follows the other Gainesville Regional semifinal between Baylor and California.
“We look at it like this: There are only 16 teams remaining, only four teams hosting a regional and only one team that gets to play the No. 1 seed and two-time defending champions,” Wise said. “We understand what a great challenge this is, playing one of, if not the best all-time women’s volleyball teams in history. It’s a great challenge for us.”
That challenge will be an historically tough one for the Gators, as the Nittany Lions (34-0) are looking to become the first women’s collegiate volleyball team to win three consecutive national championships and also the first to finish two seasons undefeated (only three other teams have finished with an unblemished record). Penn State has been so dominant that it has dropped only five sets the entire season, with 13th-seeded Michigan being the only team to push them to five sets in the past two seasons. The Nittany Lions only dropped two sets all of last year.
It is a run so dominating that earlier in the week Wise compared the run to that of John Wooden’s UCLA basketball teams that 10 national championships in 12 years. Could Florida do in volleyball what Notre Dame did in basketball in 1974 when it ended UCLA’s 88-game winning streak in South Bend?
There is no doubt, of course, who is playing the underdog role here.
“The underdog role is kind of something different for us,” senior Elyse Cusack said. “Going into the SEC season, at Florida we’re always expected to win. This is kind of exciting for us because the underdog role is something we’re not used to. It’s going to be a great challenge to face the No. 1 team. Since I’ve been here we haven’t faced the No. 1 team.”
Although it’s a role the players seem to be embracing, Wise’s years of experience tell her that it doesn’t always work out for the best.
“If you give me the option of playing on the road as the heavy favorite or playing at home as the underdog,” Wise said, “I think coaches will tell you that you always take the team with the most talent.”
If there is anything going for the Gators, it’s that Wise has gone 3-2 against Penn State, including a win in 2003, the last matchup between the two teams, when Florida swept the Nittany Lions to win the Gainesville Regional and advance to the Final Four. Florida also defeated Penn State in 1999 when it was ranked No. 1 and comes into the match 2-11 all-time against top-ranked teams, with their other win coming in 2002 against Stanford.
But Wise knows that history doesn’t always carry a lot of weight in the world of college athletics.
“One thing about college players is you’re lucky if they remember yesterday,” Wise said. “But trying to talk to them about something that happened six years ago, Kelly Murphy was 14 and a freshman (in high school), so I might ask her if she was watching Hannah Montana. That might be relevant.”
Instead of turning the pages in the history books, Wise has used a different approach to help her players when David goes up against Goliath.
“What we try and do is draw analogies to players that we’ve played,” Wise said. “A year ago we lost in the Regional Semifinals to Stanford, and Foluke (Akinradewo) made plays that weren’t defendable, similar to what (Arielle) Wilson does. So we can draw analogies. This is like a Foluke play. When Wilson does this, it’s similar to Foluke. Or even more recently Britnee Cooper, the SEC Player of the Year. But having said that we had no success against Britnee Cooper or Foluke.”
Even with all of the analogies swimming around in their heads, the Gators will still be fighting an uphill battle going up against several players Wise said she expects to see playing for the Olympic team one day. The Penn State attack is led by Big Ten Player of the Year Megan Hodge, who leads the team with 4.70 kills per set, and Alisha Glass, who leads the team with 11.94 assists per set. Arrielle Wilson leads the nation in hitting percentage at .561 and is second in the nation in blocks at 1.58 per set. As a team, Penn State leads the nation in blocking at 3.26 per set and in hitting percentage at .393.
Wise referred to both Hodge and Glass as National Player of the Year candidates and a formidable duo to encounter on the volleyball court.
“When you get that good a quarterback and that great a running back on the same team, that’s a BCS team,” Wise said. “We talk in football lingo around here.”
One thing the Gators will have going for them is the opportunity to play on their home court, but it will look a little different than usual on Friday. The NCAA mandates that all teams play on Sport Courts, which are similar to plastic and go over the normal hardwood floors, once the regionals roll around.
If there is anything negative about the courts for the Gators, it’s that it takes away some of their home-court flair.
“The disadvantage is that we don’t have our nice big Florida Gator logo,” Cusack said. “But we know it’s under there. So it’s OK.”
Even though the logo will be hiding under the new playing surface, Cusack does like the idea of how her defensive style meshes with the court.
“I think it’s better for defense,” Cusack said. “I like to slide on it. Definitely a little more cushiony. It doesn’t hinder us at all.”
Kelly Murphy also didn’t mind the idea of playing on the court, even though it has been a while since she has played on them.
“We haven’t played on a Sport Court in a while,” Murphy said. “When I was in high school we played on it all the time. I actually liked it. I think it’s going to be fun because the wood floor is underneath, so it’s a little bit of extra cushion. It’s going to be different, but I think I will like it.”
The teams all got a chance to practice on the court this week, so they will be prepared on Friday.
The players are all ready to face the challenge of the juggernaut Penn State squad, since they have not played since last Friday, but Wise wishes she had more time to prepare for a team that she said had no weaknesses.
“With as much videotape as we’ve watched, I’m not sure the month of December is enough time (to prepare for Penn State),” Wise said. “From a coaching standpoint, we’ve needed every single minute that we’ve received.”
Cusack also has a chance to make a little history of her own Friday, as she is only four digs shy of becoming the SEC’s career digs leader.
But all of the history and the numbers go out the window when the teams actually take the court, and Florida has a chance to make a little history of its own on Friday night.
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
GAINESVILLE REGIONAL
SEMIFINALS
Friday, Dec. 11 at Gainesville, Fla.
(9) California (20-10) vs. Baylor (24-9), 3:30 p.m.
(16) Florida (25-5) vs. (1) Penn State (34-0), 6 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, Dec. 12 at Gainesville, Fla.
Semifinal winners, 4 p.m. (ESPNU)
STANFORD REGIONAL
SEMIFINALS
Friday, Dec. 11 at Stanford, Calif.
(5) Illinois (26-5) vs. (12) Hawaii (29-2), 8 p.m.
(13) Michigan (26-9) vs. (4) Stanford (23-7), 10 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, Dec. 12 at Stanford, Calif.
Semifinal winners, 11:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
MINNEAPOLIS REGIONAL
SEMIFINALS
Friday, Dec. 11 at Minneapolis, Minn.
Kentucky (29-4) vs. (3) Florida State (30-2), 5:30 p.m.
Colorado State (25-5) vs. (11) Minnesota (26-8), 8 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, Dec. 12 at Minneapolis, Minn.
Semifinal winners, 6:30 p.m. (ESPNU)
OMAHA REGIONAL
SEMIFINALS
Friday, Dec. 11 at Omaha, Neb.
(2) Texas (26-1) vs. Texas A&M (20-10), 5:30 p.m.
(7) Iowa State (27-4) vs. (10) Nebraska (25-6), 8 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, Dec. 12 at Omaha, Neb.
Semifinal winners, 9 p.m. (ESPNU)
FINAL FOUR AT TAMPA
Dec. 17 semifinals
Gainesville regional winner vs. Stanford regional winner, 7 or 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
Minneapolis regional winner vs. Omaha, Neb. Winner, 7 or 9 p.m. (ESPN2)
Dec. 19 championship
Semifinal winners, 8 p.m. (ESPN2)