Volleyball

Although collegiate volleyball normally does not garner many headlines, there are times when an event causes people to take notice. The retirement of Al Scates in June of 2012 after 50 years of coaching men's volleyball at UCLA represents one of those occasions.

Scates, 73, leaves the UCLA Bruins with a career record of 1,239-290. No other program at UCLA in the last 50 years have won as many national titles as Scates' volleyball teams.

John Wooden's 10 national championships as UCLA men's basketball coach pale in comparison to the number that Scates has won. In addition, Scates did not need the questionable help from Sam Gilbert to reach his milestones.

In total, Scates led UCLA to 24 conference titles, two United States Volleyball Association national championships and 19 NCAA national championships. Those are not bad accomplishments for someone who didn't grow up as a volleyball enthusiast.

Scales received his formal introduction to college volleyball when his football coach at Santa Monica College, who also was the volleyball coach, required all of his players to tryout for the volleyball team. Scales was not very good and was cut from the volleyball team quite quickly.

Despite the rejection, Scales caught the volleyball bug and started to play regularly at the Santa Monica State Beach. Soon, he became one of the best players on the beach.

Scates transferred to UCLA and became a member of UCLA's volleyball team in 1959. He captained the squad in 1960 and 1961.

In 1963, Scates became the part-time men's volleyball coach for the Bruins. He was not the full-time coach until 1978. By then, Scates' squads had already captured his two USVBA championships and six national titles.

Scates coached several historical names in men's volleyball such as Karch Kiraly and Sinjin Smith. Scates' teams went undefeated in three different seasons, including an incredible 38-0 record in 1984. It was not until 2009 that a Bruins team had a losing record (14-16) under Scates.

As a coach, Scates was known for his positive attitude and his ability to make key adjustments during a match. In volleyball circles, Scates is considered a master strategist.

Scates may not be talked about much by sports fans that don't consider volleyball to be a major sport, but those who enjoy the sport consider Scates as one of the greatest coaches in collegiate history. Scates may be retired now, but his accomplishments will not soon be forgotten.

Oregon and Texas have made it through the women's college volleyball tournament unscathed and will face off against each other for the title of national champion on Saturday night.

No. 3 Texas outlasted Michigan on one side of the bracket in a five-set thriller that featured back-and-forth attacks from both teams and a ton of talent on both sides of the court. Bailey Webster had 18 kills, and Haley Eckerman had 16 for the Longhorns, who ended an improbable run to national semifinals by the Wolverines.

No. 5 Oregon's journey was much more intriguing, as the Ducks found a way to knock off No. 1 Penn State on Thursday night by a 3-1 score in a dominating performance, considering the stakes at hand.

It will mark the first-ever appearance for the Ducks in the national championship game and will help bolster the University's already sparkling reputation as a national powerhouse in multiple sports.

Here's a look at the date, time and location for this showdown, including a preview for Saturday night's championship game between the Horns and the Ducks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7FxuMG0_dE

When: Saturday, December 15 at 7 p.m. ET

Where: KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Ky.

Watch: ESPN2

Photo gallery of NCAA Division I Women's National Championship semifinals with Oregon and Texas advancing. (Photo... fb.me/1oti2Uiny

— USA Volleyball (@USA_Volleyball) December 14, 2012

Preview

The Ducks may be a five seed, but they have one-seed potential.  

According to the Associated Press report following the game, this is no ordinary volleyball team—the Ducks are using quickness and pace, much like their football counterparts.

The Ducks entered the game leading the nation in team kills per set (15.97) and team assists (14.91). Most of that was due to Oregon's mix of quickness and improvisation that won all but two sets in the tournament.

Texas is no slouch, either.

The Longhorns are a perennial powerhouse in the volleyball scene, gathering top recruits like Webster and Eckerman while head coach Jerritt Elliott has managed to lead the Horns to four Final Four appearances in the last five seasons.

While Texas will be looking for its first title since 1981, Oregon will look to celebrate its first in school history. Be sure to tune into ESPN2 for all of the action leading up to this matchup on Saturday night, and check back with Bleacher Report for all things volleyball as the new 2012 champion is crowned.

Ethan Grant is a featured columnist for B/R's Breaking News Team.

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Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh aren’t just the most talented women’s beach volleyball players ever—they’re the most mentally gifted too.

May-Treanor and Walsh won their third straight Olympic gold medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics.

In London, Beijing and Athens—three top-end tournaments which featured only the best beach volleyball players in the world—they never lost a match. They boast three more golds at the World Championships. And at one point in their careers, May-Treanor and Walsh won 108 straight games.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why they’re widely known as the greatest beach volleyball duo ever: unmatched dominance.

How they became a special breed of competitor is a different story, though—a story that Dr. Michael Gervais, Director of High Performance Psychology at DISC Sports & Spine Center in Los Angeles, CA, has the answer to.

In an interview, Gervais stressed that winning is a product of talent, but winning repeatedly on the world class stage is a product of refined skill and mental strength. He said: “Once you summit, everything changes. This is what we’ll see often times with athletes once they taste victory, one of two things happen: they get hungrier for more or they become satisfied.”

That is the key, isn’t it?

Back in 2008, the world witnessed a historic display of dominance as Michael Phelps racked up eight gold medals. Instead of being fueled even further by his success, though, Phelps fell victim to satisfaction. He admitted that, in the three years following his takeover of Beijing, he lost the motivation to train.

And this year, the result showed as Phelps’ gold-medal count was cut in half.

Gervais explained the heightened pressure that an athlete at the top of his or her game is faced with when they peak. He said:

“You now have a bull's-eye on your back. If athletes are not careful, they can move from predator to prey quickly. What we want to be able to do is create that predator mindset, that hunter mindset. And to do that we have to know what we’re hunting.”

May-Treanor and Walsh were likely unsure of what they were hunting at the beginning of the 2012 season. They stumbled out of the starting blocks in the FIVB World Tour. After the women sought the help of Gervais, though, their fortunes began to change.

Gervais shed light on just how challenging May-Treanor and Walsh’s attempt at an Olympic three-peat was. He said:

“Winning after winning is very difficult to do and this is their third opportunity to do it together at the Olympic Games. Their platform, the way that they engaged with the world was fundamentally different now than it was 12 years ago.”

When May-Treanor began her career, she wasn’t married. When Walsh began her career, she wasn’t married or a mother. What do those off-the-court issues have to do with their performance on the beach?

When “everything changes,” as Gervais said, naturally, everything is influenced by that change.

Jon Ackerman of NBC Olympics reported that Walsh revealed why she and May-Treanor worked with Gervais—to help enhance their chemistry, sanding away any rough edges that were created by change. She said:

I've known (Misty) for so long and I’m so close to her but I don't know everything she's thinking. And it's really important to just get on the same page and talk about those little things. Nothing's too little.

Gervais deflected the credit of aiding May-Treanor and Walsh saying, “They were already unbelievable,” and he went on to clarify his role in their comeback. He listed their agenda as, “Spending time to articulate the vision together, to be very clear about how they wanted to achieve this goal together and to sharpen up a few mental skills.”

He went on to give further detail to his philosophy on what it takes to zero in on that unparalleled poise. Gervais said:

“This is something that I think all of us can take away from, is to spend a lot of time being very clear about what the mission or the vision is for our own life. And the second half of it is, how do we want to move together to work on a mission?

“And then the third piece is to sharpen up or dust off the mental skills such as generating confidence, no matter what the situation is. Knowing how to generate a sense of poise in big moments and small moments—whatever those might be. And knowing how to adjust to when things don’t go their way.”

May-Treanor identified their mission: to win gold and end their storied careers on the highest note possible. They moved together on that mission by adapting to change and embracing their roles within their relationship. Walsh illustrated her bond with May-Treanor:

“We're married. Misty and I are married. I have two amazing partners: my husband Casey and Misty” (via NBC Olympics).

And it’s safe to say that they effectively generated confidence. The results speak for themselves.

Now, while May-Treanor and Walsh succeeded in adjusting to the change that invaded their life, not all are able to make such a nearly seamless transition. Case in point: Tiger Woods.

Woods faced a more extreme case of adversity than May-Treanor and Walsh—and he couldn’t take the heat. His entire world was flipped upside down after his adultery debacle.

How did Woods cope with this change?

He created more change.

He fired his long-time caddie Steve Williams—a friend that he could’ve had a May-Treanor-to-Walsh-like rapport with. But he removed Williams, his swing coach and others from his life in an attempt to recover.

Woods hasn’t won a major in over four years. It’s safe to say that his approach failed.

I asked Gervais if Woods’ collapse was the result of mental susceptibility created by the scandal. Before stating that only Woods knows what truly caused his downfall, he replied:

"When our lifestyle becomes incongruent with our philosophy—or approach toward life—our performance in other aspects of our life can become negatively impacted. Even worse, when our behaviors—life choices—are so out of whack with our deeper philosophy, we can quickly run out of mental and emotional tools that allow ourselves to consistently perform at a high level. When this takes place, by definition, we run head-on into a crisis."

How does Woods regain his once legendary swagger that made him not only the greatest golfer in the world, but the most clutch athlete alive? How does he reach that level of mental strength that May-Treanor and Walsh attained?

Gervais walked through how a competitor reaches his or her ideal mentality to fulfill their potential—the process that May-Treanor and Walsh went through before winning their third straight Olympic gold. He said:

“For athletes to achieve close to their potential, they have to be able to string together many high quality moments. Because this really is a moment to moment adjustment in life, in sport, that allows athletes to be high performers.

"The first part is being present. The second part is, in that present moment, engaging in a very high quality way. When you do that repeatedly, you end up becoming a high performer in life. When you become a high performer in life, you end up being able to touch your potential.”

So, the next time an athlete flat out chokes, you now know the reason behind it: they weren’t prepared for the moment. May-Treanor and Walsh adjusted to change which prepared them for the moment and because of that, they reached their full potential.

David Daniels is a featured columnist at Bleacher Report and a syndicated writer.

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Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings have had one of the most glorious Olympic runs ever. Their threepeat performance in London has assured that in terms of volleyball history, these two are in a class of their own. Winning 21-straight matches and every set but one makes it very hard to think of a way that these two could have performed better. 

In light of that, it's a little sad to think that they will not be teaming up again. May-Treanor has confirmed that this was her last Olympics and she will be retiring. Walsh Jennings now has the unenviable task of trying to find a new partner.

As unfair as it is to the legacy of both women, the question on the mind of many volleyball fans is, what's next? People always want to move onto the next big story; they want to see the next unbreakable world record fall to pieces. It's part of the reason why the very young Missy Franklin is already being called the next Michael Phelps.

For Olympic volleyball the answer to that question seems to be an easy one. There won't be another threepeat champion as dominant as May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings any time in the near future, if ever. The competition is just too good with even May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings having some close calls in London.

The immediate new favorite for U.S. women's beach volleyball is the formidable team of April Ross and Jen Kessy. In both of their sets against May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings, they only lost 21-16. Also, it was Ross and Kessy that downed the reigning world champions and gold-medal favorites Juliana and Larissa from Brazil.

Now both Ross and Kessy will be in their late 30's when the 2016 Olympics come around. Kessy in particular seems likely to retire soon as she is already 35 years old. Ross could still be playing though and depending on who her partner is, she could be a threat for a gold medal.

Another possible favorite is Walsh Jennings, who is looking for a new partner. It's definitely going to be hard for her to compete without May-Treanor, as the two women clearly know each other's game really well. Still May-Treanor alone is one of the greatest volleyball players of all time, so her chances of a fourpeat are actually pretty good.

It's most likely that the future of U.S. volleyball will come from youth. There were great player duos before May-Treanor and Walsh Jennings and there will be great duos after them.

For now the future of beach volleyball in the U.S. in a little uncertain. May-Treanor's retirement marks the end of an era that might never be realized by U.S. volleyballers again. Today though, U.S. volleyball fans can celebrate the tremendous run of these two women and what they have done for the world of volleyball. 

In an event that was wide open at the start of the Olympics, Russia was able to top the competition and win a gold medal in men's volleyball at the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Brazil had a very impressive run to earn the silver medal, but Russia showed it would not quit as it won the final in comeback fashion.

Gold Medal Game

Russia defeats Brazil 3-2

Brazil looked almost unbeatable in the first two-and-a-half sets in the final match. After defeating Argentina and Italy the previous two games in straight sets, Brazil kept the momentum up to get to match point in the third set against Russia.

Unfortunately, Russia would not give up and fought back to win the third set 29-27. Russia continued a great run in the fourth to send it to the fifth and final set.

The Russians went from not being able to set anything up or block the Brazilian attack to controlling almost every rally. They also avoided the unforced errors that hurt them early.

Just like they did against the United States, Russia finished off the comeback after being down two sets early on and showed incredible resolve to win the gold medal.

The body language of the Brazilian team was noticeable as they felt the game slipping away from them in the final few sets. The normally solid squad finished with 23 errors and were not finishing spikes like it usually did. Only 28.03 percent of hits were successful.

Brazil earns it second straight silver after winning gold in 2004. Russia now earns its first gold medal in volleyball as an independent nation. After medaling in the last four Olympics, it is nice to elevate to the top spot.

Key Player: Dmitriy Muserskiy

Muserskiy was all over the place for Russia throughout the match. At times, it seemed like he was the only person keeping the team alive.

He finished with 28 winners on spikes and had great efficiency, successfully finishing 44.9 percent of his attempts. Although he struggled on serves, he had an important ace to keep momentum for his team.

The steady play of the 7'2" giant helped his team take home the gold.

Bronze Medal Game

Italy defeats Bulgaria 3-1

The Italians barely reached the quarterfinals after a disappointing performance in the preliminary round, but the team stepped it up when it mattered and earned a bronze medal.

Italy was 3-2 in the group stage, losing nine sets in the process. In the first match against Bulgaria, the team was swept in straight sets. The Italians turned it around with a dominant win over the United States before falling to Brazil in the semifinals. 

Bulgaria had a different path, winning the group before being upset by the red-hot Russian team in the semifinals.

In the bronze-medal match, the teams were very evenly matched. The squads split the first two sets, but Italy was able to take control of the third set late and won 25-22. The Italians  kept momentum and closed out the match in the fourth set.

Key Player: Michal Lasko

Cristian Savani was a big part of the victory with seven aces, bu Michal Lasko was all over the place for Italy.

Lasko had 13 spikes and seven blocks, four of which ended up being kills. He served well, hit the ball well in transition and made very few mistakes.

He helped Italy win its fourth medal in the last five Olympics.

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Brazil are going to easily dispatch Russia in the final of the 2012 Olympics men's volleyball tournament, and their legacy as an elite volleyball nation will be unrivaled.

Brazil have been dominant in this run. They advanced to the final by beating Italy 25-21, 25-12, 25-21. That straight-set win certainly wasn't out of the ordinary. They beat Argentina in straight sets in the quarterfinals. 

They also beat Russia in straight sets in preliminary play. 

The Russians advanced on the strength of their 25-21, 25-15, 23-25, 25-23 win over Bulgaria. They were on point and punishing, and that Russian team looked much different than the one that was completely overpowered against Brazil.

Just reaching the final is a victory for Russia. They have a rich volleyball tradition, but this is their first final in 22 years. In the final, they will be going for an unprecedented fourth gold. Only they and the U.S. have won three since volleyball was added as an Olympic event in 1964. 

They won't be the only two countries to have won three golds for long. When it comes to the current volleyball landscape, the Brazilians are kings. 

This is their third straight Olympic final. They took the gold in 2004 and lost out to the Americans in 2008. 

A victory on Sunday will give them two of the last three Olympic golds and an appearance in every final. It is an impressive run—impressive enough for Brazil to be called the unquestioned kings of men's volleyball. 

In 2008 Destinee Hooker was 20 years old and preparing herself for a first-time appearance in the Olympics. 

The gifted athlete was not a terribly vital part of the team at the time, so Team USA didn't lose any sleep after it was forced to cut her at the last minute and exclude her from the trip to Beijing for the Summer Games. 

Surely her personal devastation was beyond comprehension, but the U.S. managed to perform without her, as it earned a silver medal in Beijing after a 3-0 sweep of Cuba in the semifinals and a 3-1 loss to Brazil in the finals (which sounds familiar). 

What the Americans didn't realize at the time, at least not completely, is that Hooker is a star player who could have single-handedly changed the outcome of their performance. 

But now that Team USA has completed its memorable run through the 2012 Olympics in London, the team now realizes that it has a weapon that will make U.S. women's volleyball a major factor in the future. 

2012 London Olympics

The 24-year-old Destinee Hooker first felt the spotlight on her during the United States' first preliminary game of the 2012 London Olympics, against South Korea. 

Korea's Yeon-Koung Kim played up to her potential and posed a serious threat to the U.S. after scoring 29 points throughout the match. 

Typically, when the opposing team has a player capable of scoring 29 times, the end result is not good. But luckily for the U.S., Hooker immediately proved that she can score with the best of them and finished with 21 points. 

The U.S. defeated Korea, 3-1. 

Korea provided the U.S. with a challenging first match, and things didn't get any easier afterward, as the Americans went up against Brazil in the second preliminary round. 

Despite facing two of the best teams in the tournament during the first two rounds, Hooker was once again able to lead her team in scoring, with 23 points, which helped the U.S. to a 3-1 win. 

Hooker scored 60 points throughout the next three preliminary rounds, and Team USA had lost only two sets upon entering the quarterfinals. 

Hooker scored 19 points in quarterfinal match against the Dominican Republic and totaled a whopping 24 points against Korea in the semifinals.

Team USA didn't lose a single set during those two games. 

By the time Hooker entered the finals, her popularity had skyrocketed, and fans everywhere hoped that she would earn her first gold medal as an Olympian. 

However, in the finals, against Brazil, Hooker scored only 14 points, her lowest point total of the Olympics. 

Despite its best efforts, Team USA suffered a 3-1 loss to Brazil in the finals and settled with a silver medal for the second consecutive time. 

The loss was a miserable ending to an otherwise great story, but there's still hope for the future. 

Future Olympics

Destinee Hooker will be 28 years old by the time the Olympics roll around in 2016. 

She will still be well within her prime and will have a chance to avenge Team USA's loss to Brazil during the 2012 Olympic finals. 

In fact half of team USA's 12-person roster is currently under the age of 30, and Danielle Scott-Arruda is the only member of the team who will be 40 years old or older by the time the 2016 Olympic games arrive. 

As a result, the majority of the team should remain intact. And as for Hooker, she will be older and even more mature, which will allow her to enter the role of team leader. 

The U.S. had to settle for the silver this time around, but it will have another shot at Brazil in four years. 

Perhaps it's fitting that the 2016 Olympics take place in Rio de Janeiro, the second-largest city in Brazil. With such an appropriate setting, be sure to remember this storyline.

As for Hooker, she'll be ready. 

The United States women's volleyball team fell just short of its goal for the 2012 London Olympics, losing to Brazil in the gold medal match.

The Americans opened strong and took the first set by a convincing score of 25-11. But the Brazilians seized momentum and refused to relinquish control going forward, winning three straight sets by scores of 25-17, 25-20 and 25-17, via NBCOlympics.com.

This is the second consecutive gold medal in the event for Brazil, who entered the tournament ranked second in the world behind the Americans. This is also second consecutive time the Americans have earned silver after losing to the Brazilians.

The two teams met earlier during group play, with the Americans emerging victorious in four sets. The United States looked extremely strong at that stage in the tournament, but were unable to sustain their form with the gold medal on the line.

The team stormed through to the finals, winning all its matches and only dropping sets to Brazil and Korea.

Brazil appeared to be fading following its loss to the Americans, with a 3-0 defeat at the hands of South Korea. But the team started to build momentum and continued to get stronger from that point on, clearly hitting its peak in the second set of the gold medal match.

Jaqueline Carvalho was the standout for the Brazilians, recording 18 kills throughout the match. 

For the United States, Destinee Hooker was stifled and held to a relatively disappointing 13 kills, while Logan Tom chipped in 11 more.

This is an exceptionally disappointing result for Tom, 31, who has played on the team in every Olympics since 2000. This team gave her the best chance at gold she’s had in her career, but the London tournament ended exactly the same as the one Beijing. 

Still, the United States is loaded with young talent and will be ready for Round 3 on the Brazilans’ home court in four years.  

The United States women's volleyball team turned into one of the more entertaining stories of the London 2012 Olympics after an incredible run into the finals. 

Upon entering the finals, Team USA had won 21 sets while remarkably losing only two. 

The U.S. finished a 3-0 sweep of the Dominican Republic in the quarterfinals, and they exited the semifinals with yet another 3-0 sweep, over South Korea. 

Brazil met the U.S. in the finals after a close encounter with Russia that ended in a 3-2 win. The Brazilians regained their form against Japan in the semifinals and won 3-0. 

Korea and Japan both entered the bronze round with something to prove after both teams were swept in the semifinals. 

After a 3-1 loss to Russia in the preliminary rounds, Japan was able to put together an impressive and unlikely 3-2 victory over China in the quarterfinals. 

Korea lost three matches in the preliminary rounds, but victories over Brazil and Serbia sent them to the quarterfinals, where they defeated Italy, 3-1. 

Bronze Match: Korea vs. Japan 

Japan        25  26  25  X  X

Korea        22  24  21  X  X

Korea lost multiple matches during the preliminary rounds and made it as far as they did only as a result of the momentum they gained from a shocking victory over Brazil. 

Their 3-1 victory over Italy was impressive, but it's clear that Japan was a far superior team talent wise. 

Saori Sakoda led Japan in scoring, with 23 of the team's 76 total points.

Korea's Kim Yeon-Koung was not far behind Sakoda and finished with 22 total points, but she obviously didn't receive the same level of support from her teammates. 

Korea had a chance to take over the momentum when they gained an 8-1 lead during the second set, but Japan came soaring back and eventually finished with the victory. 

Japan will take home the bronze medal. 

Gold Match: United States vs. Brazil 

United States       25  17  20  17   X

Brazil                  11  25  25  25    X

The United States entered the championship game as the clear favorites after losing only two sets throughout the entire Olympics, but Brazil offered a challenge that was too tough to handle. 

All seemed well for the U.S. after it took the first set with a dominate 25-11 score, but the momentum did not last long. 

The U.S. struggled to score points in the second set, putting up just 17 and falling back even to Brazil with a 25-17 loss. 

The Americans had every opportunity to come back in the third set and regain their focus, but Brazil shocked them with a 25-20 victory. 

At that point, Brazil obviously had the edge over a U.S. team that is not used to playing catch-up. The focus of Team USA was totally lost by the fourth set, but the determination was still there. 

The U.S. managed to play better after falling behind, but the deficit was too great to overcome.

Brazil won, 25-17, and took the match, 3-1. 

The Brazilians will be awarded the gold medal, while the U.S. will get a nice silver-medal consolation prize.