The top two seeds in the 2016 NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament fell in the national semifinals. Instead of a Big Ten battle and the potential for a Husker repeat, we will see No. 6 seed Stanford take on No. 4 seed Texas in the national championship match. 

In the first semifinal on Thursday, December 15, Stanford won the first two sets, heading into the break with a comfortable lead. Minnesota managed to take the third, but the fourth set was Stanford's almost from the start. 

Redshirt senior middle blocker praised her freshmen teammates after the match. "I haven't seen talent come through in a class like that in a really long time." Indeed, AVCA National Freshman of the Year Kathryn Plummer tied Ajanaku's team-high 15 kills, freshman setter Jenna Gray had 49 assists and five kills and no errors to hit .625, and frosh libero Morgan Hentz led the match with 27 digs. Audriana Fitzmorris rounded out the group of youthful contributors with eight block assists.


The second match of the night kicked off with a very hot Texas team. The Longhorns had a lot to prove after losing to Nebraska in the 2015 national championship match and being swept by the Huskers in the second match of the 2016 season. They took the first set 25-18, out-blocking Nebraska four to one and hitting .323. 

In the second and third sets, Nebraska was able to keep the scores closer, but never achieved a significant advantage or any momentum to speak of.

"My whole mindset was just go out and play your game," senior setter Chloe Collins said. "There's nothing you need to change at this point. For us it's just go out and play, and we definitely did that tonight."


Senior outside hitter Paulina Prieto Cerame said the victory was even sweeter since many people expected Nebraska, which was ranked No. 1 for most of the season, to be the team to advance. 

Prieto Cerame hit over .500 in the first set, and with 12 kills and five errors on 27 swings to hit .259.


The national championship match will be played at 9 PM ET at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.