Cal's Tarah Murrey: No one woman should have ALL that POWER #ncaavb

When Tarah Murrey winds up and slams the volleyball across the net, I immediately think of that baseball movie, Rookie of the Year, where the kid breaks his arm and all of a sudden has superhuman pitching power.

I would not want to be in the way of that ball. And apparently neither would any of the other players, as Murrey had 23 kills in last night's 3-set match against PAC-10 rival USC in the Semifinals of the NCAA Volleyball Final Four, 7 kills more than teammate Adrienne Gehan and Texas' Juliann Faucette, who tied for second most kills of the night at a nothing-to-scoff-at 14.

Coach Rich Feller praised his team's "efficient volleyball," saying they were "very business-like and executed perfectly." Murrey admits that she used to just want to kill every ball that came her way and has worked on being more analytical and choosing the right opportunities.

Cal Setter Carli Lloyd elaborated on the team's strategy for execution, saying that they had several specific goals, and "beating them in three [sets] was one of them. I don't think that was our best game But we had composure and we wanted it bad. We were able to slow down their go-to hitters."

Indeed. Alex Jupiter led USC in kills with 8 followed by PAC-10 Freshman of the Year Falyn Fonoimoana and junior Lauren Williams, who had 6 each. Contrast that with the first and second match-ups between the Bears and the Trojans earlier this season, where Jupiter had 26 and 17 kills and Fonoimoana had 15 and 20, respectively.

"They did some things we weren't ready for," admitted Jupiter. "For example, the 3-person block. We had to think of different angles to hit the ball and it just wasn't working."

"I think we were our biggest enemy to be honest," added Fonoimoana. "They put a lot of pressure on us, but we should have relaxed and played USC volleyball."

The USC players were visibly devastated in the post-match press conference. Coach Mick Haley pointed out that his team had won in Dayton, flown to Charlotte, gone back to LA and then tried to do laundry and take their finals while trying to think about volleyball at the same time.

"It really shows you that what these kids do is so hard," Haley said, choking up a bit.

Tomorrow night at 8:30pm eastern, the Cal Bears will take on defending champs Penn State for the fourth time in as many years with the one difference being that they are facing them in the finals. They are hoping that a second difference will be that they win. Stay tuned.

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• NCAA Volleyball Final Four