[olderthanIusedtobe]

Thanks UCLA! They knocked off USC, meaning UW ends up tied for 2nd in the conference. Poor Arizona St. went 0-20. Stanford went 19-1.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

UW hosting 1st/2nd round matches. First up is LIU Brooklyn. After that would face winner of Illinois vs. Hawaii. No trip to Lincoln or Omaha this year. If they advance to the Regional Final it will most likely be Penn St. waiting for them, the overall #1 seed.

[trestle]

It always seems to be either Nebraska or Penn St. in our path. Thanks for the updates.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Yeah. Hawaii is a frequent post season opponent also.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

There were 4 matches last night, the rest of the first round matches are today. A handful of Pac 12 teams in action right now, must be playing back east in the early game. Utah won easily last night. Huskies scheduled to start at either 7 or 7:30, can't remember which one, but it's dependent on the first match ending on time. edited--Notre Dame made the tournament but was already knocked out. He cited being closer to his wife's family, but purely from a volleyball perspective former Husky coach Jim McLaughlin made a bad decision. 3 year in and Notre Dame has done nothing while Keegan Cook has kept things rolling for UW.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Illinois jumped out 2-0, Hawaii came back to force it to 5 but the Illini won. They had to work for it though. Just finished, UW won't be starting until after 8. Hopefully it will be a quick 3-0 sweep. Oregon St. surprisingly lost in the first round. Washington St. (the 9th place team from the Pac 12!), Colorado, and Oregon all won first round matches. The Cougs get the pleasure of playing the Huskers in Nebraska next round. Totally OT, but the women's soccer National Championship on Sunday will be Stanford vs. UCLA, so no matter what the Pac 12 will add another National Champion.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Huskies cruised to a 3-0 win. USC is still playing, up 2-1 and the 4th set just started. Stanford and UCLA also won easily.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Pac 12 Network isn't showing any of the playoff matches (they are showing replays of old matches though). Meanwhile the Big 10 Network is showing several matches today. Lame. Wazzu got destroyed by Nebraska. Not exactly surprising, but hoped they would put up at least a little bit of resistance. Stanford is rolling over Colorado St., Oregon is in trouble against BYU, USC is in a dogfight against San Diego, Colorado off to a good start against Baylor. Utah beat Purdue last night to advance to the Sweet 16. Washington and UCLA are playing late games (probably just starting now).

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Stanford and Colorado got sweeps. USC pulled out a 5 setter. Oregon got swept. UCLA and UW both dropped the first set, and Dawgs were digging themselves a hole to start the 2nd set. I think I'm glad I'm not watching them. Illinois is a solid team, but there's no way UW should lose to them on their home court. Their inconsistency might be biting them in the backside again.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

I might've gotten a a tad bit fatalistic. UW bounced back, now up 2-1. Looks like they had a bunch of hitting errors early but got their offense on track. Bajema and Dehoog are having big nights.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Crap. Going to a 5th set. I hate 5 setters when you can close it out in 4. Makes me too nervous.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Going down in flames. Down 10-4 in the 5th. Hit .048 in the 4th set and .077 in the 5th. Fitting ending to a disappointing season.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

It's over. 15-9 in the 5th. Crap.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

Utah just gave Texas (perennial Final 4 participant) everything they could handle, but fell 16-14 in the 5th set. Too bad. USC surprisingly swept Minnesota today. Nebraska swept Colorado. Penn St. swept Missouri. Michigan St. beat Illinois (the team that knocked out the Huskies) 3-1. Florida beat UCLA 3-1. Kentucky beat BYU 3-2. Stanford and Wisconsin are the last match left of the day. Pac 12 participants are dwindling quickly. Would have been really nice if Utah could have pulled it off. USC beating Minnesota was nice. Still plenty of Big 10 teams though. Penn St. plays Michigan St. next so guarantees of one of them getting to the Final 4, and I'll be stunned if Nebraska doesn't beat Kentucky (even though Kentucky is higher seeded and hosting) for another Final 4 spot. Hopefully Stanford takes care of Wisconsin and the Pac 12 gets at least one in the Final 4. Stanford would meet Texas and USC plays Florida.

[olderthanIusedtobe]

USC just blew a Final 4 appearance for the second time in I believe the last 3 years. Up 2 sets to 1 against Florida and blew a 21-18 lead in the 4th to lose 26-24, even worse in the 5th when they were up 9-5 and got outscored 10-2 the rest of the way. Now Stanford is the only hope left for the Pac 12. Nebraska beat Kentucky of course. Awaiting the other 2 teams to advance to the semifinals.