With the Pacific-10 Conference opening up play in volleyball this past weekend, we are taking the time to examine the conference’s dominance. Here’s 10 things that point out this excellence, and show why Oregon’s recent run into the top 10 in the national rankings is so impressive.
1) The Pac-10 is ridiculously good:
The Pac-10 is head and shoulders above the competition when it comes to volleyball. Just to give you an idea, ranked No. 11, Oregon is still expected to finish sixth. There are six teams in the top 11 nationally; No. 4 UCLA, No. 5 USC, No. 6 Stanford, No. 8 California, No. 9 Washington and No. 11 Oregon. Don’t forget, Arizona and Oregon State are Nos. 27 and 28 respectively.
2) The NCAA Tournament is the Pac-10 playground:
Volleyball has been a contested NCAA sport for 27 years. Of those, the Pac-10 has an incredible 13 titles and 12 runner-up finishes, including 11 of the last 18 finishes. The Conference of Champions has a record of 298-143 in the tourney, with 50 of those losses coming to other members of the Pac-10. Finally, there have been four years (1985, 2004, 2006, 2007) in which three teams from the conference have made the Final Four.
3) The “Fab 50” is a personal reservation list for the pac-10:
Thirty-one out of the 100 top recruits the past two years have gone to the West Coast. In 2008 there were 14 top 50 recruits who made their way to Pac-10 schools, and there were 17 in 2007. Oregon has two Fab 50 recruits, sophomore Heather Meyers and junior Sonja Newcombe.
4) The best play for Gold:
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Bejiing, there was a small contingent of volleyball players with Pac-10 ties. On the silver medal-winning USA Women’s Olympic Indoor team, the roster featured players from Arizona, Stanford and USC. And the rockstar, Kerri Walsh, who won gold in beach volleyball with Misty May-Treanor, graduated from Stanford in 1999.
5) Stanford is the cream of the crop:
Since 1986, Stanford has gone an incredible 346-50 in conference play, and 619-107 overall. In those years, they have won 11 Pac-10 titles, and 6 NCAA titles. Against Oregon, Stanford has a 38-match winning streak that was just furthered this past weekend when the Ducks fell in three sets to the Cardinal.
6) But the rest of California knows how to play too:
The four California schools have a combined record of 1,071-513 in conference play. That’s compared to the other six schools having a combined record of 907-1,469. Stanford leads the list with a .874 winning percentage. Oregon is last in the Pac-10 in career winning percentage with a .202 mark.
7) Nine All-americans are back for another season in 2008:
Stanford (shocking) leads the list with three names, Washington has two players returning, and UCLA, USC, California, and Oregon all have one All-American for the 2008 campaign. Senior Gorana Maricic is the lone Duck selected to the list, when the American Volleyball Coaches Association tagged her with a second-team title.
8) It’s pronounced Fa-LUKE-a, ahh-kin-rah-day-woe (Foluke Akinradewo):
The senior from Stanford is the reigning AVCA National Player of the Year, and the Pac-10 Player of the Year. She also received the Honda Award in 2007, given each year to the best female athlete in their respective sport. As a freshman she was named the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, and is a three-time All-American. To top it all off, she trained with the USA National Team and was an alternate for the 2008 Olympics.
9) Coach Moore is Bob the “Re”-Builder:
Oregon head coach Jim Moore, who was the 2006 Pac-10 Coach of the Year, has coached at Northern Michigan, Kansas State, Texas, and Chico State. They all combined for a 143-228 record before he was hired. In the first year of his tenures at those schools, the record improved to 268-118. The three seasons prior to Moore’s hiring at Oregon, the Ducks were 24-64. The three years after? The Ducks have gone 51-41 with two NCAA tournament births.
10) Katie Swoboda is known to be scrappy:
The senior from Portland has made a name for herself in the hustle department. In 2007, Swoboda set an Oregon single season record for digs at 5.33 per game, and for career digs at 1,599. This year she has been equally spectacular, as she is only one dig away from tying former California libero Jillian Davis for fifth on the all-time Pac-10 career digs list.
[email protected]