We got the 1 vs 2 match up we’ve been waiting for all season, and didn’t even need the BCS to do it.
If Penn State is going to finish the season undefeated with a third consecutive National Championship, it seems only right that they have to go through the 29-1 Texas Longhorns.
Interestingly enough, quite a few Penn State fans were rooting for the Minnesota Golden Gophers to upset the Longhorns in last nights match, in hopes of a rematch with a team that the Nittany Lions not only beat twice in the regular season, but swept both times.
Would that have been an easier route to the title? Probably.
Would it have been as fun to watch as a fan? Absolutely not.
And while you’ll never get anyone associated with the team to admit this, you have to imagine that secretly, this is the match up that Penn State was hoping for as well.
If Penn State wants to be known as the top volleyball program in the nation, they need to compete against and beat the best. That is exactly what they have the chance to do Saturday night.
Minnesota is a very good team, and it had chances to take a couple sets from Penn State when they played earlier in the year, but it isn’t even playing with one of its main offensive weapons, Brook Dieter, who left the team midway through the season.
No, no, no. I want the Longhorns. I want Destinee Hooker. I want Salima Rockwell. I want the No. 2 team in the nation.
That’s what sports are supposed to be: beat the best to be the best.
Hooker is Texas’ version of Megan Hodge. Her 5.99 points per set were first in the NCAA, while her 4.95 kills per-set ranked fifth in the nation. Hooker posted 17 kills on .342 hitting in the Longhorns sweep of the Gophers.
In comparison, Hodge had 12 kills but hit only .145 in her national semi-final match.
Advantage: Texas.
Or so it would seem.
You can bet against the MOP of the last two Final Fours, but I’m going to go ahead and give her the benefit of the doubt.
But what to make of Salima Rockwell?
She has two National Championship rings on her fingers from the past two seasons at Penn State, but she lives and works in the Lone Star State now.
How much will her knowledge of Penn State benefit the Longhorns, if at all? That Rose guy on the Penn State sideline seems to know what he’s doing. I would imagine he has a plan to neutralize any advantage Rockwell’s knowledge of the team and the players would give Texas.
Speaking of Rockwell, her pupil, Alisha Glass, put on quite the show last night, coming up with 9 kills while attacking at a .692 clips, dishing out 41 assists (since she is a setter and all) and picking up 11 digs and 3 blocks.
That, my friends, is called a stat line.
This is Hooker’s last chance to win a title at Texas, but it’s also Glass and Hodge’s chance to really cement their legacy as two of the best to ever step on the court.
I’ve just seen those two come through too many times to believe that they’re not going to do it again.
