Stanford battles back to beat USC

SACRAMENTO-- Just when Asia Kaczor appeared poised to power fifth-seeded USC past top-seeded Stanford and into the NCAA Division I women’s volleyball championship, the Cardinal capitalized on two of her rare mistakes to save its season.

Kaczor served long on match point and was blocked on the next play, then the Cardinal finished off a Game 5 win over its Pacific 10 Conference rival Thursday night at Arco Arena.

Stanford won, 23-30, 30-20, 30-25, 20-30, 16-14, to extend its winning streak to 12 since losing at USC on Oct. 27.

The Cardinal trailed by as many as nine points in the opening game, then started playing with more consistency, energy and emotion. The fourth game was tied at 11 before USC (29-5) went on a 11-3 run to force a Game 5.

Setter Bryn Kehoe overcame a slow start to record 70 assists and Pac-10 player of the year Foluke Akinradewo had seven of her 26 kills in the second game.

Stanford (32-2) is seeking its seventh NCAA title and first since 2004 after winning back-to-back regular-season conference titles for the first time since winning six in a row in the late 1990s.

The Cardinal will play third-seeded Penn State Saturday night for the title. The Nittany Lions (33-2) advanced by defeating 10th-seeded California, 30-28, 30-25, 30-16.

The Golden Bears (26-7) were making their first semifinal appearance after a fourth-place finish in the conference.

This marked the third time in four years that the Pac-10 made up three-fourths of the Final Four field.

Kaczor made seven of her match-high 29 kills in the decisive game, but Franci Girard’s leaping block against her with the score tied turned the momentum in the Cardinal’s favor.

Gabi Ailes made the key dig before Cynthia Barboza’s 17th kill of the match sent Stanford into Saturday night’s title match.