Moments before the Stanford women’s volleyball coach and players entered the briefing room at Sacramento’s ARCO Arena, an NCAA official took a look at the boxes of Kleenex that had been placed near the microphones, and removed them. There would be no crying at the press conference.
“I’m not exactly clear at this point what happened,” head coach John Dunning said about the championship match that top-seeded Stanford (32-3) lost to No. 3-seed Penn State (34-2), 3-2, on December 15. “But I’m very proud of our team . . . and of the great effort and heart they showed tonight and have shown all season.”
After losing the first two games of the title match, 30-25 and 30-26, the Cardinal rallied to win games three and four by decisive margins, 30-23 and 30-19. But in the tie-breaker game, with a crowd of 13,631 looking on, the momentum shifted and Stanford came up short, 15-8. “Penn State’s a great blocking team, and our goal was to be aggressive in the fifth game,” junior Foluke Akinradewo said. “When you’re aggressive, sometimes you make errors, and that’s what happened.”
Akinradewo, a three-time All-American who was named the 2007 Division I National Player of the Year on the eve of the championship, leads the NCAA in hitting percentage (.503). In her trademark red goggles, the 6-foot-3 middle blocker is a fire-breathing presence when she is airborne. But her weaponry was overpowered by the taller—6-foot-4, 6-foot-3, 6-foot-2—Nittany Lions lineup.
The loss to Penn State was the second consecutive defeat in the title match for the Cardinal, who succumbed to Nebraska in four games in 2006. But within minutes of the final point, the Pac-10 champs were looking ahead. “Next year in Omaha,” said junior outside hitter Cynthia Barboza, who contributed 16 kills to the final effort. “Hopefully.”
Barboza’s parents were in the stands, clapping with the Band and jumping up at the appropriate moments. In back of them, mom Comfort Akinradewo waved red and white pom-poms, and in the front row a homemade sign proclaiming “No. 6 is No. 1 in my book. Go Franci!” bobbed up and down every time senior middle blocker Franci Girard leapt into action. Her mother, Jennifer Berkeley, had traveled to Sacramento from Brooklyn, along with Girard’s high school volleyball coach, Collin Henry. In her No. 6 team jersey and Cardinal hat, Berkeley was drawing on higher reserves. “There are many prayers over here,” she said before the opening whistle.
After winning the Pac-10 title on November 23 with a five-game victory over No. 7 Cal, Stanford had fought a four-game battle against UCLA in the regionals on December 8, to advance to the national semifinals. In the semifinals against the No. 5-seed Trojans of USC on December 13, the Cardinal won the tie-breaker, 16-14. But the final battle with Penn State was brutal. In spite of 18 kills apiece by Akinradewo and Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Alix Klineman, and 62 assists by star senior setter Bryn Kehoe, the Card struggled for air against the Nittany Lions, dropping by six points in the final game, and then seven. “They just put their heart out on the floor,” Dunning said about Penn State. “They did a great job and got all the momentum, and it’s hard to catch up when you get down by three or four points.”
University President John Hennessy was on hand to applaud the players as they walked off the court, holding their runner-up awards. With more NCAA championships (six), more Final Four appearances (17) and more NCAA tournament wins (86) than any other women’s volleyball program in the nation, it was clear the Card would be back to fight another day.
