No. 6 California Sweeps Past No. 18 Iowa State
December 07, 2007 | Volleyball
In the first game of the Madison NCAA Division I Volleyball Regional, sixth-ranked California (25-7) defeated No. 18 Iowa State (19-14) 30-27, 30-27 and 30-24 Friday evening at the UW Field House.
California's Hana Cutura and Angie Pressey led all hitters as they each tallied 16 kills in the three-game match. Iowa State was led by Victoria Henson as she had 12 kills on the night.
The Golden Bears outnumbered the Cyclones in many team categories: hitting percentage (.303 to .148), digs (42-38), and team blocks (12-6.5). ISU was able to ace California six times and was only aced upon four times.
With the win, California advances to the Regional Final game against the winner of the Nebraska/Michigan State match at 7 p.m. Saturday night at the UW Field House.
CALIFORNIA NOTES
-Friday's match against #18 Iowa State advances California to the regional final for the first time in program history
-The 2007 team is now tied all-time for most wins in a season (25)
-Kristen Kathan is tied for ninth all-time in digs after Friday's regional semifinal with 516
-Carli Lloyd is tied for second all-time in assists, with 1,469 in total
-In this year's NCAA tournament, the Golden Bears beat Liberty 3-1 Nov. 30 and #22 Duke 3-1 to get to the regional semifinal
-In the 2007 season, California is 25-7 (12-6 in the Pac-10)
-This season marks California's sixth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, a program record
-In program history, California has made postseason play a total of 11 times
-Coach Feller holds a 9-5 NCAA postseason record with California and a 6-0 record in NCAA first round matches
-Coach Feller is the most successful volleyball coach in Cal history
-In his career, Coach Feller has a total of two conference titles and 13 NCAA berths, five of those with the Golden Bears
-California went 22-10 overall in the 2006 season, 9-9 in the Pac-10
POST-MATCH QUOTES
Coach Rich Feller: 'I think these guys really felt confident going in, but a little pressure. But as we got to know the Iowa State team a little better, we started executing a little better ... I've got to say, this was a team effort. The players just came to play. They were not going to give anything up.'
'[Pressey and Cutura] work very, very hard every day in practice to get around, up, and over big blocker, and they were successful tonight in doing that.'
'We've been looking so much at Iowa State, I've hardly looked at [Michigan State and Nebraska]. They're here, so we know they're good. I've seen Nebraska five or six times on TV, but Michigan State is going to be brand new.'
Player Quotes
'We practice so hard ' we really do hard drills, so it's not just that it's going to happen one day. It has to be happening throughout the whole season. So I think we're used to playing hard, playing well.' --Cutura
'When we're on the court and we're playing together, it 's surreal. It's almost like you're in a different place ' so I'm not nervous, because I'm in another place. '
ISU NOTES:
-Iowa State ends the season 19-14
-Jen Malcom broke the single season block assist record tonight. She had four block assists to put her total at 159. She broke teammate Erin Boeve's record of 158 which was set last season
-Ashley Mass had 11 digs tonight and extended her double-digit digs streak to 26 matches
-Tonight's match was ISU's first trip to the NCAA Regional
-Tonight's match was also the last for four seniors: Erin Boeve, Lauren Cummings, Laura Cady and Meghan Ferrie
-Boeve leaves ISU as the career block assist leader (503), third all-time in career kills (1,334) and as the seventh Cyclone player to reach over 1,000 kills in her career
ISU quotes
Head Coach Christy Johnson: 'It's been a magical season, especially with these last two weeks. It 's a magical time for us. Even tonight, maybe the scores don't look like that, I thought we just fought and played with a lot of heart and ran into a team with two terrific left sides that we just had trouble slowing down. Even tonight, I thought we played about as hard as we possibly could and never gave up. And that's what this team has shown the last couple of weeks. This group is the first, this group of seniors has done something pretty special. I think they have started a tradition and a legacy that our underclassmen have learned a lot from and will be able to follow. It's just been neat because I think this team has overachieved in the last couple of weeks, with almost beating Texas and then Oklahoma and then Wisconsin. If that isn't overachieving, I 'm not sure what is and we've been inspired by it as coaches and I think their fellow players have been inspired by what our seniors have been able to do. It 's exciting for the program and exciting for the future, I'm even more excited than I was a couple weeks ago. It's been a special time for us, we 're sorry to see the end of course but we're thankful for the time and for advancing and excited for the future.'
Erin Boeve on what it's been like to be on the turnaround of a program:'It's been a great experience. Coming in as a freshman, I knew it was a rebuilding program and to see it turn around this quickly, I never dreamed it would. I wanted to be a part of something that set new school records, but I never thought I'd be setting a record by coming to the Sweet 16 like we did, so it's just awesome that we did accomplish that in the short time that Christy was here with her staff.'
Erin Boeve on dealing with Cal 's Angie Pressey and Hana Cutura: 'They're great outside hitters. Obviously hard to slow down, they just look for your hands and they used them and they did a great job out there. It was frustrating as a blocker, you want to get a few more blocks on them but anything, we just tried to slow them down, which we did at times, but at times we didn't.'
