In 2009, the Nittany Lions came close to perfection — In 2008, the Nittany Lions came close to perfection

Perfection in sports is rare. The Penn State Women’s Volleyball team came close in 2008, going 38-0 and dropping only two sets all season (those two coming in the classic NCAA Semifinal match against Nebraska in Omaha), en route to winning a second consecutive NCAA Division 1 Women’s Volleyball National Championship.

In 2009, Penn State extended its streak of consecutive sets without a loss to 141, before losing a set to Iowa at Rec Hall on October 2nd, followed by another dropped set on October 7th, (this time to Ohio State), and then two more against Michigan on October 16th, and ended with a 2009 total of eight sets lost. The 2009 Penn State team ended its season with a third consecutive NCAA Division 1 Women’s Volleyball National Championship.

How do those teams stack up to other teams that have made the Final Four? To answer that question, we took a look at the records of all the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Final Four teams from 1998 on (admittedly, a somewhat arbitrary choice) — total wins, total losses, sets won, and sets lost.

Only four NCAA Champions (in this admittedly limited sample) have dropped fewer than 10 sets in their Championship season (Penn State with a 114-2 record in 2008, Penn State with a 114-8 record in 2009, Long Beach State at 108-8 in 1998, and USC at 105-8 in 2003). The most sets lost by a Final Four team through 2014? Wisconsin’s 2013 Finalist, with 53.

So take a look — one feature we like is that you can click on a team logo and go straight to the team’s website.

If you find an error . . .

We'll feel sheepish, but tell us if we made mistakes — We’ll feel sheepish, but tell us if you find an error in our statistics

A final note. We tried our best to ensure that these statistics are accurate, but to err is human, and we are decidedly human, so if sharp-eyed readers notice any mistakes in this table, please let us know. We’ll be very grateful.

Wins & Losses (Matches and Sets): Final Four Teams from 1998 to 2014 (Click team logos for more info)

Year	NCAA Finish	Team	Conf.	W	L	Sets Won	Sets Lost
2014	Champ	Penn State	B1G	36	3	112	15
2014	Finals	BYU	WCC	30	5	95	26
2014	Semi	Stanford	Pac 12	33	2	101	27
2014	Semi	Texas	Big 12	27	3	84	21
2013	Champ	Penn State	B1G	34	2	106	21
2013	Finals	Wisconsin	B1G	28	10	94	53
2013	Semi	Washington	Pac 12	30	3	91	28
2013	Semi	Texas	Big 12	27	3	83	30
2012	Champ	Texas	Big 12	31	4	98	23
2012	Finals	Oregon	Pac 12	30	5	96	29
2012	Semi	Michigan	B1G	27	12	94	52
2012	Semi	Penn State	B1G	33	3	104	21
2011	Champ	UCLA	Pac 12	30	6	97	31
2011	Finals	Illinois	B1G	32	5	100	43
2011	Semi	Florida State	ACC	28	7	90	39
2011	Semi	USC	Pac 12	29	5	91	25
2010	Champ	Penn State	B1G	32	5	103	20
2010	Finals	California	Pac 12	30	4	95	23
2010	Semi	Texas	Big 12	28	6	89	34
2010	Semi	USC	Pac 12	29	5	91	36
2009	Champ	Penn State	B1G	38	0	114	08
2009	Finals	Texas	Big 12	29	2	91	13
2009	Semi	Hawaii	WAC	32	3	100	17
2009	Semi	Minnesota	B1G	28	9	88	41
2008	Champ	Penn State	B1G	38	0	114	02
2008	Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	31	4	95	23
2008	Semi	Nebraska	Big 12	31	3	97	21
2008	Semi	Texas	Big 12	29	4	94	24
2007	Champ	Penn State	B1G	34	2	104	18
2007	Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	32	3	101	24
2007	Semi	California	Pac 10	26	8	87	36
2007	Semi	USC	Pac 10	29	5	91	35
2006	Champ	Nebraska	Big 12	33	1	101	14
2006	Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	30	4	92	19
2006	Semi	UCLA	Pac 10	33	4	104	24
2006	Semi	Washington	Pac 10	29	5	92	26
2005	Champ	Washington	Pac 10	32	1	98	10
2005	Finals	Nebraska	Big 12	33	2	101	15
2005	Semi	Tennessee	SEC	19	12	70	49
2005	Semi	Santa Clara	WCC	27	5	88	30
2004	Champ	Stanford	Pac 10	30	6	98	35
2004	Finals	Minnesota	B1G	33	5	105	34
2004	Semi	Washington	Pac 10	28	3	89	23
2004	Semi	USC	Pac 10	23	6	76	32
2003	Champ	USC	Pac 10	35	0	105	08
2003	Finals	Florida	SEC	36	2	109	08
2003	Semi	Hawaii	WAC	36	2	109	16
2003	Semi	Minnesota	B1G	26	11	85	49
2002	Champ	USC	Pac 10	31	1	95	12
2002	Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	32	5	102	27
2002	Semi	Hawaii	WAC	34	2	102	12
2002	Semi	Florida	SEC	34	3	105	17
2001	Champ	Stanford	Pac 10	33	2	101	21
2001	Finals	Long Beach State	Big West	33	1	NA	NA
2001	Semi	Nebraska	Big 12	31	2	94	14
2001	Semi	Arizona	Pac 10	25	5	79	25
2000	Champ	Nebraska	Big 12	34	0	102	13
2000	Finals	Wisconsin	B1G	33	4	NA	NA
2000	Semi	Hawaii	WAC	31	2	95	16
2000	Semi	USC	Pac 10	29	3	87	20
1999	Champ	Penn State	B1G	36	1	110	15
1999	Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	31	3	95	18
1999	Semi	Pacific	Big West	32	3	NA	NA
1999	Semi	Long Beach State	Big West	31	4	95	23
1998	Champ	Long Beach State	Big West	36	0	108	08
1998	Finals	Penn State	B1G	34	1	104	06
1998	Semi	Nebraska	Big 12	32	2	99	16
1998	Semi	Florida	SEC	35	3	107	24

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Photo Credits

Reflection in a soap bubble. By Brocken Inaglory. The image was edited by user:Alvesgaspar. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License.
Portrait of three lions (one female and two males) of a pride, all resting at morning time. Taken in Masai Mara, southwest Kenya. By Benh LIEU SONG. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Sheep-goats shepherd / Vistonida lake landscape, Glikoneri, Rhodope Prefecture, Thrace, Greece. By Ggia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

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Pursuit of Perfection: Won-Lost Records (Matches and Sets) — NCAA Final Four Teams from 1998 to 2014

If you find an error . . .

Wins & Losses (Matches and Sets): Final Four Teams from 1998 to 2014 (Click team logos for more info)