2006 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament
| 2006 NCAA Women's Division I Volleyball Tournament | |
|---|---|
2006 NCAA Final Four logo
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| Champions | Nebraska (3rd title) |
| Runner-up | Stanford (12th title match) |
| Semifinalists |
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| Winning coach | John Cook (2nd title) |
| Most outstanding player | Sarah Pavan (Nebraska) |
| Final Four All-Tournament Team |
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The 2006 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament began on November 30, 2006 with 64 teams and concluded on December 16, 2006, when top ranked Nebraska defeated second ranked Stanford 3 sets to 1 in Omaha, Nebraska for the program's third NCAA title.
At the time, the 17,209 national championship match attendance was the highest attended volleyball match ever in the United States. The record was later broken during the 2008 NCAA Semifinals, also held at the Qwest Center.
In the Gainesville region, no seed was a victim of an upset, although some were very close to doing so. In the first round, unseeded American put a scare into top seeded Nebraska by taking game 3 from them, but Nebraska responded by winning the fourth game, 30-16. In the second round, unseeded St. John's took 8th seeded Minnesota to 5 games, losing the 5th, 15-12. As expected, Nebraska and Minnesota reached the regional finals, and Minnesota almost pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament by winning the first two games. Top seeded Nebraska rallied back from the 0-2 deficit and won the fifth game, 15-9. Nebraska sophomore Jordan Larson was named the regional's most outstanding player, as she tallied a career high 21 kills in the dramatic comeback win.
This marked the first time in Nebraska's history that they won a regional final outside of the state of Nebraska. Nebraska advanced in hopes of making up for their 2005 national championship loss to Washington.
Each expected team, Hawai'i, UCLA, Southern California and Oklahoma reached the regional semifinals, and as expected, UCLA defeated Oklahoma. The other semifinal was a different story, as 12th seeded Hawai'i pulled off the biggest upset of the regional by defeating Southern California in 5 games, 28-30, 30-21, 21-30, 30-27, 15-5 in front of a partisan Hawai'i crowd. Hawai'i could not continue the upsets however, against overall number 4 seed UCLA in the regional finals. UCLA advanced to their first final four since 1994.
Much like the previous two regionals, each seeded team reached the Sweet 16 as expected. Penn State swept past Big Ten foe Purdue, while host Washington swept past Ohio State. Perhaps the biggest upset of the tournament occurred in the regional final, when defending champion Washington defeated third seed Penn State on UW's home floor in front of 6,000 fans. The win improved the Huskies to 12-0 at home in postseason play. Washington advanced to their third consecutive final four in hopes of defending their 2005 national title.
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