With respect to Texas' players, coaches, and fans, who surely don't give a crap, that was a powerfully disappointing match.
It was probably Texas' very best match of the season, the same night Oregon had their very worst. It was certainly National Player of the Year Alaina Bergsma's worst match, going 9/9/34 for a zero hitting percentage. She improved upon an out-and-out nightmarish 0/5/9 in the first, but I would never expect to see such a strong and smart hitter struggle like that more than once in a very great while. And if it had happened in a September match, no one would care as much. Maybe we never even would have noticed.
I don't think it says anything bad about Bergsma that she came up so badly short in the biggest match of her career. I doubt very much that her volleyball career is over, despite this being the end of her college eligibility. Texas' defense tonight, certainly in the first set, was some of the strongest I have ever seen, and they would have made a fool of most any hitter in college volleyball tonight.
Liz Brenner picked up a little bit of the slack for the Ducks tonight, with a perfectly acceptable 13/4/28 hitting line (for .321), but the Ducks did a bang-up job of beating themselves tonight. Even with a downright scintillating second set that they looked like they'd draw the match even, their hitting line as a team was 45/22/112 for just .205. That's seldom going to be enough to get it done, and when you combine it with Texas' 42/4/88 (42/4/88!! That's unbelievable) for .432, you don't need to know much else.
Seriously, I'm not sure major college volleyball will ever see a team hitting line so effective as that. Just 4 attack errors in a national championship match. That's jaw-dropping stuff. I can find absolutely no fault with Texas' game tonight. None at all. I never knew Texas were such a good defensive team as this. Not just blocking, but all-around defense. I said that Oregon, who had some of the worst defense of the season, would have had more experience defending power than Texas had Oregon's unorthodox style, but with such gulfs in execution that sure didn't end up mattering.
You know, I balked at the notion after the national semifinals that Penn State would have won the match had the extra points in the second set been correctly called. They would have been up 2-0, but they still had a gimpy setter running their offense. But it may have been true. Tonight we saw Oregon lose a first set and cough up a second set lead, only to have the second go to extra points. It was a far less competitive first set, the second set lead was smaller, and the second was over much sooner, so the parallel isn't exactly the same, but perhaps we saw the Oregon team come out in the third just a bit less crisp in execution than they were in the second (although far better than that ghoulish first).
All told, Oregon made 30 scoring errors tonight – 22 attack, 7 service, and one blocking. This is to just 7 for Texas – 4 attack and 3 service. It was bad out there for the Ducks, but they need only look in the mirror to find out why.
I'm a little bit conflicted. On the one hand, I come away thinking the match Oregon had with Penn State could have ended like this if not for Micha Hancock's injury and a couple of bad calls. But at the same time, I was expecting and hoping for more. These were the only two Oregon matches I was able to see live this season, and last night left me looking for a more competitive match.
Texas' dominance tonight was even more amazing when you look at how distributed it was. Five different Longhorns had at least 4 kills. The three players I highlighted in my championship preview all had 7 or more, with Bailey Webster, who was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, going 14/1/26 for .500 (and that one was easily avoidable) and Haley Eckerman "bringing up the rear" at 12/2/25 for .400. I'm sure they're really excited at the prospect of another year together.
But the player I think I'm happiest for is probably Sha'Dare McNeal. McNeal was 7/0/16 for .438 tonight, to go along with 4 digs and 4 blocks. If the match weren't over so quickly, I have little doubt she'd have recorded a double-double, maybe even a triple-double. She's a great all-around player, and wonderful leader, but I tend to doubt she'll ever be on a stage this big again. She doesn't have the same physical skills that someone like Webster or Eckerman (or Bergsma) have, but she makes her skillset work to become an indispensable part of the team. Let me put it this way – I hope to see her on a stage this big again in the future, because she's such a likeable player with her all-around abilities.
And that about wraps it up for the 2012 season. The next couple of weeks represent the only real "break" in the year-round volleyball season, as men's college volleyball gets underway just after New Year's.
I won't go completely dark between now and then, but I'll probably be occupied with other things over the holidays. So from me to you, a very nice and happy holiday season, and let's see you again for the 2013 NCAA men's volleyball season in a few weeks 🙂
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