2007 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament - National Championship Recap: Stanford Vs. Penn State

National Championship Recap: Stanford Vs. Penn State

In front of the second highest crowd in NCAA history to watch a women's volleyball championship match, Penn State, coached by 2007 AVCA National Coach of the Year Russ Rose, was ranked #1 in the AVCA coaches poll since October, but Stanford was the #1 seed, while previously ranked #4 in the poll. This was the third time in a decade that the two teams have met in the NCAA title match, tying an NCAA record. The teams previously met in 1997, when Stanford won in a five game match, and two years later, when Penn State won in a sweep. Additionally, Penn State and Stanford are the only Division I universities that have made every NCAA tournament appearance since NCAA starting sponsoring in 1981.

Coming into the match, Penn State had the highest hitting percentage in the nation as a team, while Stanford was ranked number 4. The first game started out back at forth with Stanford holding a slight edge at the media timeout at 15-13. The difference proved to be a 6-0 run after the timeout that separated Penn State from Stanford as the Cardinal never got closer than 3 points, with Penn State winning 30-25. The second game was much like the first as it featured many lead changes and ties. Penn State remained in control, never allowing Stanford to get closer than three points, thus winning 30-26 and sending Stanford in the locker room with their first 0-2 deficit of the season.

In the third game, Stanford responded back and took control of the third, by winning 30-23, and handing Penn State their first single game loss of the tournament, as Penn State swept through each opponent until that point, ending their bid to become just the 3rd school in NCAA history to sweep through each opponent en route to winning the NCAA title. The fourth game was all Stanford as Penn State saw them take the second game, 30-19 as Stanford did not record a hitting error, and force a 5th game. This was the first five game match in a championship since rally scoring began in 2001.

In the decisive 5th game, Penn State saw Stanford take a 4-3 lead out of Penn State errors, but after that, it was all Nittany Lions as they did not allow Stanford a single kill in a 7-0 scoring run to take their biggest lead of the night at 10-4. Stanford was not able to get any closer than 4 points. Stanford took their last point on their only kill of the game, but Penn State took the next points to earn match point on a block and MVP Megan Hodge's 26th kill of the match sealed the championship, 15-8. As a team, Stanford hit negatively, with 1 kill, 4 errors on 19 attempts to hit -.158%, compared to Penn State's 11 kills, 5 errors on 21 attempts to hit .286% in the fifth game. Penn State outhit Stanford for the match, .317 to .291, just the second time all season Stanford was outhit. This win snapped an 12 match winning streak by Stanford, while it was the 26th consecutive match won by Penn State, as their last loss of the season was to Stanford exactly three months before on September 15, 2007, in another five game thriller.