2003 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament

2003 NCAA women's Division I volleyball tournament
2003 NCAA women's Division I volleyball tournament
	2003 NCAA Final Four logo
Champions	Southern California (3rd NCAA (6th national) title)
Runner-up	Florida (1st title match)
Semifinalists	Hawaiʻi (8th Final Four); Minnesota (1st Final Four);
Winning coach	Mick Haley (3rd title)
Most outstanding player	Keao Burdine (2nd) (Southern California)
Final Four All-Tournament Team	Bibiana Candelas (Southern California); April Ross (Southern California); Jane Collymore (Florida); Aury Cruz (Florida); Cassie Busse (Minnesota);
«2002	2004»

The 2003 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament began on December 4, 2003 with 64 teams and ended December 18 when Southern California defeated Florida 3 games to 1 in Dallas, Texas for the program's third NCAA title and sixth national title overall.

It was Southern California's second consecutive NCAA title. The team capped off the 2003 season undefeated at 35-0, becoming the third team in NCAA history to accomplish the feat,^[1] the first repeat NCAA national champion to go undefeated, and the first team in the NCAA era to be ranked #1 in the coaches poll for the entire season.

Florida made the school's first national championship match in the program's seventh final four appearance. Minnesota also made the program's first NCAA final four appearance.

Records

Three teams in the 2003 NCAA Volleyball Tournament qualified with either 0 or 1 losses: USC (29-0), Hawaii (32-1), and Florida (31-1). It is the most recent tournament to feature at least three such teams.

Lincoln Regional
Seed	School	Conference	Berth Type	Record
	Arizona	Pac-10	At-large	17-14
	Cal State Northridge	Big West	At-large	16-12
	Dayton	Atlantic 10	Automatic	25-9
	Loyola Marymount	West Coast	At-large	25-6
	Michigan State	Big Ten	At-large	19-11
	Missouri	Big 12	At-large	18-10
9	Nebraska	Big 12	At-large	26-4
	New Hampshire	America East	Automatic	23-11
	Nicholls State	Southland	Automatic	18-14
	San Diego	West Coast	At-large	17-12
16	Texas A&M	Big 12	At-large	21-9
	UC Irvine	Big West	At-large	23-9
8	UCLA	Pac-10	At-large	21-8
1	USC	Pac-10	Automatic	29-0
	Valparaiso	Mid-Continent	Automatic	27-7
	Wisconsin	Big Ten	At-large	21-10

Long Beach Regional
Seed	School	Conference	Berth Type	Record
	Green Bay	Horizon	Automatic	23-10
	Kansas	Big 12	At-large	21-10
	Long Beach State	Big West	At-large	19-10
	Manhattan	MAAC	Automatic	21-13
13	Minnesota	Big Ten	At-large	22-10
	Northern Iowa	Missouri Valley	Automatic	27-5
	Northwestern	Big Ten	At-large	18-14
	Pacific	Big West	At-large	17-13
4	Pepperdine	West Coast	Automatic	25-2
	Sacramento State	Big Sky	Automatic	23-11
	San Francisco	West Coast	At-large	23-7
	Santa Clara	West Coast	At-large	20-10
5	Stanford	Pac-10	At-large	23-6
	UC Santa Barbara	Big West	Automatic	19-8
	Utah	Mountain West	At-large	20-8
12	Washington	Pac-10	At-large	19-8

Gainesville Regional
Seed	School	Conference	Berth Type	Record
	American	Patriot	Automatic	22-9
	Arkansas	SEC	At-large	26-6
	Cincinnati	Conference USA	At-large	27-5
14	Colorado State	Mountain West	Automatic	28-4
3	Florida	SEC	Automatic	31-1
	George Mason	CAA	Automatic	16-14
	Georgia Southern	Southern	Automatic	27-9
6	Kansas State	Big 12	Automatic	28-4
	Maryland	ACC	Automatic	26-7
	Ohio	MAC	Automatic	28-4
	Penn	Ivy League	Automatic	20-6
11	Penn State	Big Ten	Automatic	28-4
	Pittsburgh	Big East	Automatic	25-5
	Robert Morris	Northeast	Automatic	23-11
	Southwest Missouri State	Missouri Valley	At-large	27-5
	UCF	Atlantic Sun	Automatic	22-6

Honolulu Regional
Seed	School	Conference	Berth Type	Record
	Alabama A&M	SWAC	Automatic	23-5
	BYU	Mountain West	At-large	22-8
10	California	Pac-10	At-large	23-6
	Colorado	Big 12	At-large	21-9
	Florida A&M	MEAC	Automatic	26-3
7	Georgia Tech	ACC	At-large	31-3
2	Hawaii	WAC	Automatic	32-1
	Idaho	Big West	At-large	19-10
15	Illinois	Big Ten	At-large	24-6
	Louisville	Conference USA	Automatic	24-5
	Michigan	Big Ten	At-large	20-11
	Murray State	Ohio Valley	Automatic	24-5
	New Mexico State	Sun Belt	Automatic	30-4
	Notre Dame	Big East	At-large	23-6
	Saint Mary's	West Coast	At-large	20-12
	Winthrop	Big South	Automatic	24-12

Lincoln Regional

First round December 4–5			Second round December 5–6			Regional semifinals December 12			Regional finals December 13

1	Southern California	3

	New Hampshire	0
			1	Southern California	3
Los Angeles, CA
				Loyola Marymount	0
Cal St. Northridge		0

Loyola Marymount		3
						1	Southern California	3

						16	Texas A&M	0
Arizona		1

Wisconsin		3
				Wisconsin	0
College Station, TX
			16	Texas A&M	3
	Nicholls St.	0

16	Texas A&M	3
									1	Southern California	3

									8	UCLA	1
9	Nebraska	3

	Valparaiso	0
			9	Nebraska	3
East Lansing, MI
				Dayton	0
Dayton		3

Michigan State		2
						9	Nebraska	1

						8	UCLA	3
Missouri		2

UC Irvine		3
				UC Irvine	0
Los Angeles, CA
			8	UCLA	3
	San Diego	0

8	UCLA	3

Long Beach Regional

First round December 4–5			Second round December 5–6			Regional semifinals December 12			Regional finals December 13

5	Stanford	3

	Sacramento St.	0
			5	Stanford	3
Stanford, CA
				Pacific	0
Pacific		3

San Francisco		0
						5	Stanford	1

						12	Washington	3
Santa Clara		2

Utah		3
				Utah	0
Seattle, WA
			12	Washington	3
	Northwestern	0

12	Washington	3
									12	Washington	2

									13	Minnesota	3
13	Minnesota	3

	Wisconsin-Green Bay	0
			13	Minnesota	3
Minneapolis, MN
				Northern Iowa	1
UCSB		2

Northern Iowa		3
						13	Minnesota	3

						4	Pepperdine	2
Kansas		3

Long Beach St.		0
				Kansas	1
Malibu, CA
			4	Pepperdine	3
	Manhattan	0

4	Pepperdine	3

Gainesville Regional

First round December 4–5			Second round December 5–6			Regional semifinals December 12			Regional finals December 13

3	Florida	3

	Georgia Southern	0
			3	Florida	3
Gainesville, FL
				Central Florida	0
Cincinnati		2

Central Florida		3
						3	Florida	3

						14	Colorado St.	0
Maryland		3

American		0
				Maryland	0
College Park, MD
			14	Colorado St.	3
	George Mason	0

14	Colorado St.	3
									3	Florida	3

									11	Penn St.	0
11	Penn St.	3

	Robert Morris	0
			11	Penn St.	3
University Park, PA
				Pittsburgh	1
Pittsburgh		3

Pennsylvania		1
						11	Penn St.	3

						6	Kansas State	1
SW Missouri St.		1

Arkansas		3
				Arkansas	0
Manhattan, KS
			6	Kansas State	3
	Ohio	0

6	Kansas State	3

Honolulu Regional

First round December 4–5			Second round December 5–6			Regional semifinals December 12			Regional finals December 13

7	Georgia Tech	3

	Alabama A&M	0
			7	Georgia Tech	3
Atlanta, GA
				Florida A&M	0
Winthrop		0

Florida A&M		3
						7	Georgia Tech	3

						10	California	0
Colorado		0

Michigan		3
				Michigan	0
Berkeley, CA
			10	California	3
	St. Mary's	0

10	California	3
									7	Georgia Tech	1

									2	Hawaiʻi	3
15	Illinois	3

	Murray St.	0
			15	Illinois	3
Champaign, IL
				Louisville	0
Notre Dame		0

Louisville		3
						15	Illinois	0

						2	Hawaiʻi	3
New Mexico St.		0

BYU		3
				BYU	0
Honolulu, HI
			2	Hawaiʻi	3
	Idaho	0

2	Hawaiʻi	3

Final Four – Reunion Arena, Dallas, Texas

National Semifinals December 18			National Championship December 20

1	Southern California	3

13	Minnesota	0
			1	Southern California	3

			3	Florida	1
3	Florida	3

2	Hawaiʻi	1

National Semifinals

Southern California vs. Minnesota

Teams	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
USC	30	30	30
MIN	27	28	20

Minnesota, making their first NCAA Final Four appearance in program history, played top-seeded USC tough in the first two sets, falling 30-27, 30-28. USC rode the momentum in the third set, winning easily 30-20 to advance to the national championship match for the second consecutive year. USC's balanced attack consisted off three players with double digit kills, including Bibiana Candelas with 12, Keao Burdine with 13 and April Ross with 11. Minnesota was led by Cassie Busse with 23 kills and Erin Martin with 11.^[2]

Florida vs. Hawaiʻi

Teams	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4
FLA	30	30	23	30
HAW	28	28	30	28

Florida and Hawaiʻi battled in the second semifinal, with Florida looking to advance to their first final in school history after being 0-for-6 in previous NCAA semifinals, while Hawaiʻi was looking to advance to their first final since 1996.

Both teams played even in the first two games, but it was Florida who won them by the scores of 30-28, 30-28. Hawaiʻi answered back after the break to win 30-23. The 30-23 loss was the first individual game the Gators lost since August 23, breaking their NCAA record of 105 straight game wins. Florida and Hawaiʻi once again played even in the fourth set, but Hawaiʻi was unable to force a fifth set as Florida won the fourth set, 30-28.^[3] Hawaiʻi was paced by AVCA National Player of the Year Kim Willoughby and Lily Kahumoku who both had 21 kills.^[4]

National Championship: Southern California vs. Florida

Teams	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4
USC	25	30	30	30
FLA	30	27	19	26

Florida started out the match well by winning the first set off of undefeated Southern California. USC answered back by taking the second set 30-27 and used a 6-0 run in the third set to win easily, 30-19. In the fourth set, USC never trailed and led 22-15 before Florida mounted a comeback to cut USC's lead to 25-23. USC did not let up and won the fourth and final set 30-26 to cap off an undefeated season at 35-0. Florida ended their season at 36-2 with their only other loss coming to USC in the season opening AVCA Showcase tournament.

References

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