Recap | Postgame Quotes | NCAA Tournament Scores
December 20, 1997
Stanford Captures Fourth NCAA Championship
By NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS
Associated Press Writer
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – Kristin Folkl was around to help Stanford write itself into the record books.
Stanford won a record fourth national women’s NCAA Division I volleyball championship Saturday by beating Penn State in a five-game match.
Folkl, playing for her third championship team, had 22 kills, including the final three points, as the Cardinal (33-2) won 15-10, 15-6, 2-15, 15-17 and 15-9.
“To win the last match of your college career feels pretty special,” said Folkl, a member of Stanford’s 1994 and 1996 title winners. Stanford won its first in 1992.
Hawaii and UCLA have won three championships apiece.
“Experience all the way around was a big factor,” Stanford coach Don Shaw said.
Penn State (34-2), which defeated Stanford twice during the season, dropped the first two games. The Nittany Lions rallied but fell short despite an outstanding performance by Terri Zemaitis, who had 25 kills.
Zemaitis was named the most outstanding player of the tournament, and added a team-leading 25 digs on Saturday. Lauren Cacciamani and Carrie Schonveld added 20 kills each for Penn State.
“I feel proud of my team,” said Penn State’s Terri Zemaitis, who led all players with 25 kills and was named the most outstanding player of the tournament. “We could have lost in three, but we didn’t.”
“We played hard but not well,” Nittany Lions coach Russ Rose said. “Terri kept up in the match almost singlehandedly.”
The Cardinal won a school-record 28th straight match with its last loss coming against Penn State on Sept. 6. Paula McNamee added 20 kills for the Cardinal, while Kerri Walsh and Lisa Sharpley had 30 digs each.
Folkl, the Pac-10’s Player of the Year, and McNamee each had six kills as Stanford jumped to an 11-4 lead and cruised to victory in the first game.
McNamee had seven kills as Stanford easily won the second game.
But the Nittany Lions roared back in Game 3, building a 10-1 lead and cruising to a 15-2 victory behind six kills by Schenveld and only one hitting error for the entire team.
Stanford jumped to a 7-3 lead in Game 4, but Cacciamani’s kill tied the game at 10-10, and the teams traded points until Schonveld recorded a kill and Barbara Ifejika of Stanford hit the final ball out.
Stanford outblocked Penn State 4-1 in the final game. The score was 12-8 in Stanford’s favor when Folkl made the final three kills for victory.
Box Score
Stanford | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
No Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
--------------------------|------------------|---|-------|---|---|--------|---
2 Sharpley, Lisa...... 5| 2 4 11 -.182| 69| 2 3| 0| 30| 1 4 1| 1
7 McNamee, Paula...... 5| 20 4 43 .372| 0| 0 1| 0| 6| 2 8 0| 0
8 Ifejiki, Barbara.... 5| 16 4 28 .429| 1| 0 0| 0| 14| 0 4 1| 0
9 Walsh, Kerri........ 5| 14 7 37 .189| 11| 0 3| 0| 30| 2 4 0| 0
12 Clark, Sarah........ 5| 18 9 44 .205| 1| 0 0| 0| 4| 0 3 0| 0
15 Lambert, Debbie..... 1| 0 1 1-1.000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
16 Gregory, Jaimi...... 5| 0 0 2 .000| 1| 0 2| 0| 7| 0 0 0| 0
23 Neal, Sarah......... 5| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 4| 0 0 0| 0
24 Folkl, Kristin...... 5| 22 5 72 .236| 1| 1 0| 1| 18| 1 1 0| 0
--------------------------|------------------|---|-------|---|---|--------|---
Totals.............. 5| 92 34 238 .244| 84| 3 9| 1|113| 6 24 2| 1
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 18.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 23 7 56 .286 GAME SCORES 1 2 3 4 5 TEAM RECORDS
2 22 6 47 .340 Stanford............ 15 15 2 15 15 33-2
3 9 8 33 .030 Penn State.......... 10 6 15 17 9 34-2
4 27 12 81 .185
5 11 1 21 .476
Penn State | ATTACK |SET| SERVE |SRV|DEF| BLOCK |GEN
No Name GP| K E TA PCT| A| SA SE| RE|DIG|BS BA BE|BHE
--------------------------|------------------|---|-------|---|---|--------|---
1 Stout, Emily........ 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 1
2 Cacciamani, Lauren.. 5| 20 3 49 .347| 0| 0 0| 0| 4| 1 5 0| 0
3 Bremner, Bonnie..... 5| 4 2 21 .095| 70| 0 0| 0| 14| 0 1 0| 0
4 Higley, Nikki....... 1| 0 0 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
5 Zemaitis, Terri..... 5| 25 6 55 .345| 2| 1 3| 1| 25| 0 5 0| 0
7 Schonveld, Carrie... 5| 20 9 52 .212| 3| 0 0| 1| 22| 1 1 0| 0
8 Anderson, Lindsay... 5| 6 7 24 -.042| 5| 0 2| 0| 9| 0 6 0| 0
11 Cochran, Christy.... 5| 13 8 48 .104| 0| 0 2| 1| 16| 0 2 0| 0
14 Burdis, Jen......... 1| 0 5 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 0| 0 0 0| 0
15 Schlottfeldt, L..... 2| 0 5 0 .000| 0| 0 0| 0| 1| 0 0 0| 0
17 Miller, Kalna....... 5| 0 5 0 .000| 0| 0 1| 0| 6| 0 0 0| 0
--------------------------|------------------|---|-------|---|---|--------|---
Totals.............. 5| 88 35 249 .213| 80| 1 8| 3| 98| 2 20 0| 1
TEAM ATTACK PER GAME TOTAL TEAM BLOCKS: 12.0
Game K E TA Pct
1 17 9 62 .129 Site: Spokane, Wash. (Spokane Arena)
2 14 7 45 .156 Date: Dec. 20, 1997 Attend: 10,792 Time: 2:29
3 16 1 31 .484 Referees: Verna Klibnikin, Patty Salvatore
4 33 14 88 .216 NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship
5 8 4 23 .174
Stanford-Penn State NCAA Championship Press Conference Quotes
Stanford head coach Don Shaw
Opening comments: “First of all I’d like to congratulate Russ (Rose) and the Penn State team. I know how hard it is to play a match like that and end up second. They really fought back and made a match out of it. I fully expected them to do that.”
On Penn State’s comeback: “We came out so flat in game three. That’s the worst position to be in when you have that 10-minute break when you’re up and in control. It’s tough to go back and be as sharp as you were at the end of game two. Game four was a great effort, not only by Penn State, but by us. It was tough that we didn’t pull it off, but you move on.”
On Senior Paula McNamee: “Paula has not had the opportunity until this year to get in there and get a lot of game time. She got a chance to be our starter at the beginning of the year and she’s just developed as the year went on. She’s always been one of our hardest workers and she’s one of our leaders and it’s great to see her go out in a blaze of glory like she did.”
On Senior Lisa Sharpley: “Lisa’s a proven big-game player and I always have confidence with her out there. She pays attention to what’s going on. If we make an adjustment, she is going to find a way to make it work.”
On game four: “When you look at the statistics you see both teams had over 80 attempts in that one game. These two teams have played matches this year where we haven’t that many swings in the match. It was just a classic, I can’t wait to see it.”
On PSU rotation change in game five: “They went four games starting with their sixth rotation instead of their third. Terri (Zamaitis) was playing so well, I think Russ was forced to get her up front for the start of game five. That gave us the matchup I wanted in the first place. She had to go against Folkl a few times, so they had to send Terri in the other direction.”
Senior Kristin Folkl
On what turned the match around after game four: “There never is one defining thing that turns it all around. We got in the huddle and told each other we’ve worked too hard and too long for this. We can’t go out this way. We had the first two games, we can do this. We realized that’s not the volleyball that Stanford plays and that we can play a lot better.”
On her third championship: “This one by far is the best I’ve been in. Hawaii was great, but it was over in three games. This one was a total team effort, it was such a battle and the crowd was so into it, it just made it feel like it was a very special event. Plus as a senior you always want to win your last match and go out on top.”
Senior Paula McNamee
On her ‘storybook’ ending: “This is what I have been looking forward to the last five years. The other championships were nice, but I was on the bench. Being out there when we actually won the point, I didn’t know what to do. I just stood there for a second and absorbed all the excitement all around me. It was absolutely amazing.”
Senior Lisa Sharpley
On winning in her senior year: “This feels so rewarding right now to have won such a battle. As much as we wanted to win in three, looking back, to have won such a great match just feels all the better. To know that both teams were at their best and to still come out on top is a great, great feeling.”
Penn State head coach Russ Rose
Opening comments: “First I’d like to congratulate Stanford on their success in this match. I thought we played hard for a few games but we dug ourselves such an early hole early in the first two games. We were going uphill most of the time. Even when we gained the momentum after winning the third and fourth games there were just a couple on the bench who were really gassed, it looked like, and didn’t have the ability to focus on things they needed to focus on. We just didn’t have the ability to do some of the things we wanted to do.”
On his team’s effort: “I think we played hard. I don’t think we played particularly well. I’m disappointed in the way we played. I’m not disappointed with my team as people and players. You learn lessons and that’s the way it goes. A lot of balls didn’t go our way, but we kept our composure.”
On Stanford: “I think you have to credit Stanford. We were out-hit, we were out-blocked, and we were out-dug — all of these things statistically. I think Stanford played well enough to win today and we didn’t. I think there’s a big difference at the end of the game when we’re tipping and hitting roll shots and Folkl’s taking big swings. To me, that was one of the bigger differences.”
On Terri Zemaitis: “I really admire the way Terri played especially. I thought she kept us in the match almost single-handedly. She provided us with the emotion that we needed, but it was not meant to be.”
Terri Zemaitis
On being named the tournament MVP: “I don’t find consolation in that. I’m just really proud of my team. Hey, we could’ve quit in three, but we didn’t.”