[76lsjumb]

It's funny, but I just happened to watch the youtube video of the 2004 national championship match where senior Oganna NNAMANI, considered by many as arguably the greatest Cardinal hitter of all time, led Stanford to their 6th national crown.  The announcers mentioned that the Cardinal struggled through the start of the 2nd half PAC 10 play. And my research tells me that

-  they lost to St Mary's twice and to Penn State to finish their relatively easy OOC slate (definitely much easier than the brutal OOC schedule played by the current Stanford team) at 11-3;
-  then lost to USC, Washington and Cal to sport a 7-3 PAC 10 record through the start of the 2nd half of PAC 10 play;  

Then, all of a sudden:

-  they swept through the last 8 matches of PAC 10 play;
-  had to play at Florida during the NCAA tournament preliminary rounds where they beat Jacksonville (1st round) and host Florida (2nd round); 
-  then played at Wisconsin during the NCAA regionals where they beat Texas (R16) and host Wisconsin (Elite 8) to reach the Final 4;
-  then beat Washington in the national semifinals before dominating Minnesota in the national champoinships.


Well, I thought, maybe the current Stanford team can duplicate that feat.  Wishful thinking but, of course, they don't have a superwoman like Oganna NNAMANI, although I feel that the combined trio of BAIRD, KIPP and FRANCIS can collectively provide the firepower that NNAMANI unleashed, and boy, did Oganna unleash thunderous KABOOMs which made my jaw drop often, hahaha!

And speaking of NNAMANI KABOOMs, I also watched another youtube video when this was in utter display toward the end of the 1st set of Stanford's 2001 national semifinal match vs. Nebraska when, with Nebraska owning 4 set points at 29-25, then-freshman NNAMANI unleashed three (3) KABOOMs as Stanford rattled off 6 straight points to win that 1st set in dramatic fashion. WOW!

We won that year because of two things:

[1] November 18, 2004 match @ Stanford vs. UW:

"Stanford, Calif. - Senior outside hitter Ogonna Nnamani tallied a career-high 37 kills as the ninth-ranked Stanford women's volleyball team upset top-ranked Washington, 3-2, tonight in Burnham Pavilion. Game scores were 28-30, 11-30, 30-27, 34-32, 20-18. The Cardinal improve to 20-6 on the year, 12-3 in the Pac-10 while the Huskies drop their first match of the season to go to 22-1, 14-1 in league play."

That match was one of the most memorable I've ever attended. It was in Burnham, since Maples renovation was underway. The change in crowd emotion from "we're toast!" to "WE WON!" was palpable.

[2] As you point out: Ogonna Nnamani -- IIRC, the win over Florida in post-season [also a 3-2 victory] was a match where Ogonna announced in the locker room at the break that Stanford was NOT going to lose that match... and she made sure they didn't.

I keep looking for someone to show they have that presence/terminator factor/whatever to take over and dominate and, unfortunately, I haven't seen it yet. Plenty of matches left, so it can still appear, and I'll keep hoping.

[76lsjumb]

It's funny, but I just happened to watch the youtube video of the 2004 national championship match where senior Oganna NNAMANI, considered by many as arguably the greatest Cardinal hitter of all time, led Stanford to their 6th national crown.  The announcers mentioned that the Cardinal struggled through the start of the 2nd half PAC 10 play. And my research tells me that

-  they lost to St Mary's twice and to Penn State to finish their relatively easy OOC slate (definitely much easier than the brutal OOC schedule played by the current Stanford team) at 11-3;
-  then lost to USC, Washington and Cal to sport a 7-3 PAC 10 record through the start of the 2nd half of PAC 10 play;  

Then, all of a sudden:

-  they swept through the last 8 matches of PAC 10 play;
-  had to play at Florida during the NCAA tournament preliminary rounds where they beat Jacksonville (1st round) and host Florida (2nd round); 
-  then played at Wisconsin during the NCAA regionals where they beat Texas (R16) and host Wisconsin (Elite 8) to reach the Final 4;
-  then beat Washington in the national semifinals before dominating Minnesota in the national champoinships.


Well, I thought, maybe the current Stanford team can duplicate that feat.  Wishful thinking but, of course, they don't have a superwoman like Oganna NNAMANI, although I feel that the combined trio of BAIRD, KIPP and FRANCIS can collectively provide the firepower that NNAMANI unleashed, and boy, did Oganna unleash thunderous KABOOMs which made my jaw drop often, hahaha!

And speaking of NNAMANI KABOOMs, I also watched another youtube video when this was in utter display toward the end of the 1st set of Stanford's 2001 national semifinal match vs. Nebraska when, with Nebraska owning 4 set points at 29-25, then-freshman NNAMANI unleashed three (3) KABOOMs as Stanford rattled off 6 straight points to win that 1st set in dramatic fashion. WOW!

We won that year because of two things:

[1] November 18, 2004 match @ Stanford vs. UW:

"Stanford, Calif. - Senior outside hitter Ogonna Nnamani tallied a career-high 37 kills as the ninth-ranked Stanford women's volleyball team upset top-ranked Washington, 3-2, tonight in Burnham Pavilion. Game scores were 28-30, 11-30, 30-27, 34-32, 20-18. The Cardinal improve to 20-6 on the year, 12-3 in the Pac-10 while the Huskies drop their first match of the season to go to 22-1, 14-1 in league play."

That match was one of the most memorable I've ever attended. It was in Burnham, since Maples renovation was underway. The change in crowd emotion from "we're toast!" to "WE WON!" was palpable.

[2] As you point out: Ogonna Nnamani -- IIRC, the win over Florida in post-season [also a 3-2 victory] was a match where Ogonna announced in the locker room at the break that Stanford was NOT going to lose that match... and she made sure they didn't.

I keep looking for someone to show they have that presence/terminator factor/whatever to take over and dominate and, unfortunately, I haven't seen it yet. Plenty of matches left, so it can still appear, and I'll keep hoping.