Just want to send my congratulations out to Penn State, the 2009 NCAA women's volleyball champions. It was an incredible season capped off by a completely unreal championship match. Also congratulations to Texas - who put on quite a show tonight (and throughout the season).

Here are some links to coverage of the match:
• Recap
• Box Score
• Video Highlights
• NCAA Photo Gallery (Images Available for Purchase)
• AP Photo Gallery
• Penn State Postmatch Press Conference
• Texas Postmatch Press Conference
• Quotes
• Notes

Plus, Penn State's official athletic site, gopsusports.com, has some nice coverage of the Nittany Lions' championship. You can check that out here.

While I'm thiking about it, it's never too early to look forward to next season. One thing I noticed today is that, although the four 2009 first-team All-Americans that we enjoyed seeing tonight (Hodge, Glass, Hooker and Engle) all graduate, nine of the 14 players on that first team will be back next season (which is exciting, in itself). Interestingly, out of those nine, six are in the Big Ten - so look for Penn State to be thoroughly challenged in its quest for a fourth straight championship. There are five schools that will return a pair of players who were AVCA All-Americans this year: Michigan, Nebraska, Penn State, Stanford and Washington. So maybe they'll be among the favorites next season. But there's still a lot of time for things to change between now and then.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has made this women's volleyball season beyond enjoyable - particularly all the fans and readers of this blog. It certainly ended in a special way. Happy holidays and enjoy the offseason!

You can read a full recap of the match here. We'll be adding more things to it, like video highlights, quotes, notes and box score, soon.

The fifth set was as good as every other one. After the score was tied for a 10th time at 12-12, a Darcy Dorton kill and a Destinee Hooker attack error gave Penn State two match points. Megan Hodge converted the second for a 22-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-13 victory and the Lions' third consecutive NCAA championship.

I'll have a full recap soon, but for now, you can view the stats here.

It's not over yet.

After the teams traded the first six points of the fourth set, Penn State ran off five in a row - including back-to-back double blocks from Alisha Glass and Arielle Wilson (the first coming against Destinee Hooker). But that advantage would be short-lived. The Longhorns would use a 7-1 run that included three kills from Rachael Adams and a pair from Hooker to get back into the set.

It was tight the rest of the way, but at 22-21, Penn State got a kill on a slide from Arielle Wilson and then survived a long rally that ended on a Texas ball-handling error. On set point, it was Megan Hodge pounding her seventh kill of the set to give Penn State a 25-21 victory.

Well, this couldn't have gone better ... and now we get a game five to decide it all. Awesome!

After the break, Penn State came out like a team that wasn't quite ready to taste defeat for the first time in more than two years. The refocused Nittany Lions built a lead of as many as six early (11-5) and then edged that out to an 18-11 advantage. But the Longhorns - now certainly the favorites in the match - would rally to make things interesting. Texas got to within a pair, at 22-20, but kills by Megan Hodge and Blair Brown gave Penn State a few set points, at 24-20. Again UT held strong, getting a kill from Adams and then a hitting error from Hodge to prolong the set and force a PSU timeout. On the next point, Hooker and Jennifer Doris blocked Blair Brown to pull the Longhorns to within one. But Hodge answered and finally converted Penn State's fourth set point for a 25-23 victory.

Hooker again led all players with seven kills in the set; she has 23 for the match. Hodge had five kills to lead the Nittany Lions.

This is the first time during Penn State's 101-match winning streak that the Lions have dropped the first two sets. They are trying to become the third team ever to rally to win the NCAA title match after losing the first two sets. Hawai'i rallied from the deficit to beat USC in 1982, and UCLA did so against Long Beach State in 1991.

After the teams split the first eight points of the second set, Texas went on another run - this one set off by a pair of PSU errors (a service error and a bad set). That was the only opening the Longhorns would need. For a time there, it wasn't as much a volleyball match as a spectacular showcase of Destinee Hooker's ability. After PSU used a kill and an error to cut the advantage to 10-8, Hooker made a case for being the top player in the collegiate game right now, National Player of the Year Award or not. Eight of the next 10 points ended in kills by Hooker - a display that you rarely see at this level. Mercifully for Penn State, the Longhorns committed a service error (they have six through the first two sets) that led to Hooker rotating out of the front row.

The Texas lead ballooned to as many as eight on several occasions, but the Nittany Lions would string together four straight points late and make somewhat of a set of it. In the end, though, Hooker and Texas prevailed 25-20 ... which is now the most-lopsided set defeat for the Lions this season.

One thing was clear early in this match: this is a different level. The start of the match was nothing short of beautiful, with both teams diving to keep points alive and then pounding kills into the floor. For awhile the play seemed flawless - that's when I looked at the box score and saw that it was. The first nine points of the match ended in eight kills and service ace - no attack errors. The level didn't drop much the rest of the way, though some great floor defense - something that often gets overlooked on these teams - drove the hitting percentages down.

It was back and forth for much of the set - which would have 10 tie scores. After kills from Ashley Engle and Amber Roberson and a Destinee Hooker ace put Texas up 18-15, Penn State responded with a 7-1 run - that got going with a pair of Darcy Dorton kills and also featured a couple of blocks - that put the Nittany Lions seemingly in control. But the Longhorns weren't done. Following a timeout, Texas reeled off six in a row - including three kills from Hooker, a kill and an ace from Engle, and a huge triple block by Juliann Faucette, Rachael Adams and Amber Roberson on Megan Hodge with the score tied at 22-22.

The three-point margin is, remarkably, the largest margin of defeat for Penn State in any set this season. The Nittany Lions have lost the opening frame three times before this season, but they rallied to win in five at Michigan on Oct. 16 and in four at Purdue on Nov. 20 and against Hawai'i on Thursday.

Hooker was an absolute monster, converting a match-high five kills (.333) and notching a match-best eight digs and two service aces. National Player of the Year Megan Hodge was held to just one kill and made three errors on her eight swings (-.250 hitting), but she did contribute six digs.

Just a reminder that coverage of tonight's match begins at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2. First serve is scheduled for 8:07 p.m. ET. If you're not around a television, you can follow the match via live statistics (Gametracker). You can also listen for free to audio coverage from either Penn State or Texas. Links to all of those things can be found on NCAA.com's interactive bracket. I'll also have a post after each set right here on the blog.

Because there has been a lot of content posted on the blog of late, here are some of the essentials to get you ready for the match:
• Championship Comparison: Penn State vs. Texas
• The Match We All Wanted to See
• The Penn State-Texas Series
• The Penn State-Texas Series: Beyond Volleyball
• The Quest for Perfection
• History of Back-to-Back-to-Back Failures

Enjoy the match!

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 8 minutes until first serve

Some of the Face Painters Had Themed Headgear

Once again, excited fans arrived early to the St. Pete Times Forum today to take part in the championship edition of the NCAA Fan Festival. One highlight was the AT&T serving contest - where 10 lucky (and skilled) fans qualified to take part in a serving contest on the main court between games two and three of tonight's match. Also, many of this year's AVCA All-Americans were in attendance to do a demonstration and then sign autographs for fans. Again, folks had the chance to snap a photo with this year's championship trophy, take part in a trivia contest, play cornhole, enjoy music and purchase concessions and championship gear. Also, both Penn State and Texas had cheerleaders, their mascot and a pep band in attendance to get their fans ready to cheer tonight.

I took some photos of the activity, and you can see them here.

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17 minutes until first serve

Tampa

It's been quite a pleasure being in Tampa this week for the last two rounds of the NCAA Championship. I did some research on our host city and host facility, and I thought I'd share my findings with you.

Tampa is a city in West-Central Florida of approximately 340,000 and is the county seat for Hillsborough County. The Greater Tampa Bay area has just over 4 million residents and is growing.

The word "Tampa" is said to mean "sticks of fire" in the language of the Calusa tribe that used to reside here. It is speculated that the name comes from the many lightning strikes the area receives during the summer months. The area was "discovered" by European conquistadors Panfilo de Narvaez and Hernando de Soto in the 1520s.

After suffering during Reconstruction, Tampa's economy took off with the discovery of phosphate - which is used in the production of fertilizers and other products - just southeast of the city in 1883, as well as a large cigar maker moving there in 1885.

Tampa is the site of the University of South Florida and the University of Tampa - in addition to several other smaller schools.

The St. Pete Times Forum was built in 1996 and called the Ice Palace. It's been the home of the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning and the Arena Football League's Tampa Bay Storm ever since. It has a capacity of 19,758 for NHL games; 20,500 for basketball; and 21,500 for concerts and other events.

It played host to the 1999 NHL All-Star Game, as well as first- and second-round games of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship in both 2003 and '08, plus four games in the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals - including the decisive game 7 that saw the Lightning beat the Flames to win their first Stanley Cup. It was also the site of the ArenaBowl in 1998 and 2003, as well as the 2007 ACC Men's Basketball Championship. In 2008, the St. Pete Times Forum was the site of the final two rounds of the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship, and it also played host to the 2009 SEC men's basketball tournament. In 2012, the St. Pete Times Forum will play host to the NCAA Ice Hockey Frozen Four.

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Two hours and 53 minutes until first serve ...