Ross & Co., a.k.a. USC, put away Stanford

Newport Harbor High product April Ross, a junior at USC, had a

dream realized Saturday as she and her Trojans’ teammates dethroned

defending national champion Stanford in the NCAA Division I Women’s

Volleyball Championships at the New Orleans Sports Arena.

Ross & Co. (31-1) handed Stanford (33-5) a 30-27, 23-30, 30-24,

30-26 defeat to claim the Trojans’ first NCAA crown in women’s

volleyball since 1981.

She and three others in the starting lineup were all listed with

double-figures in kills, and almost always just when it meant the

most.

Ross’ reaction?

“It is so amazing,” she told the Daily Pilot by telephone. “Right

after the match, it hit me right away. I just started crying,

bawling. It’s hard to describe the feeling. It’s been our goal for so

long. It’s amazing that we actually did it.”

The Trojans took the opening game with neither team really showing

any momentum, and when the Cardinal bounced back to even the score at

1-1, it became a best-of-three showdown.

“What held such importance is that we refused to lose,” continued

Ross. “We didn’t want to lose. It was such a collective effort. It

was like, if that’s what we feel like, that’s what’s going to happen.

From there the Trojans went on their winning run with the 30-24,

30-26 conquests.

Just what made the USC team so special?

“The people on it,” said Ross. “We’re such a family. It’s never a

pain to be around your team. We just love each other. It’s just so

fun to be with my team. If we didn’t care for each other, we wouldn’t

have been able to pull off the effort we did today.”

Among all the accolades that have come Ross’ way, she said this

was No. 1.

“It’s definitely the highest,” she said. “It’s on a completely

different level. I can’t take anything away from the other

championships from high school, but this one meant so much. It was

such a high level and it made that much more of an accomplishment.”

Ross’ emotions had nothing to do with the ordeal she had endured

over the past year because of injuries.

“This was all about the moment and the people and this team,” she

said.

-- by Steve Virgen