Observations from the women's volleyball championship

By Jeff Sheldon

Didn't catch the Women's Volleyball Championship in Omaha over the weekend? Don't worry, we've got you covered. Nebraska won its third title in front of a record crowd of 17,209. Sarah Pavan was selected as the tournament's most outstanding player and was joined on the all-tournament team by fellow Huskers Jordan Larson, Tracy Stalls and Rachel Holloway and Stanford's Kristen Richards, Foluke Akinradewo and Cynthia Barboza. But that wasn't all. SIOC's Jeff Shelden took in the festivities and filed this report:

Nebraska celebrates after beating Stanford for the NCAA women's college volleyball championship AP

Worst Heckler:  UCLA fan Chase Lyman, brother of Bruins' outside hitter Colby Lyman. Maybe the biggest indicator of the growth of college volleyball wasn't the record crowd that packed the Qwest Center for the semifinals, but the arrival of the most revered of college traditions: the annoying guy who sits in the second row and won't shut up.

Enter Lyman, who finished his football career as a wide receiver for UCLA in 2005 and was the most vocal individual among the small Bruin contingent in Thursday's national semifinal against Nebraska.

Some gems from Chase included: "No, that's too long" when players had a little too much on their serve, and "I know you can hear me" in the stillness before the ball was sent into play.

We'll cut him some slack since he was just released from the practice squad of the New Orleans Saints, but you would think someone who has a degree from one of America's best public universities could do better.

He agreed, but countered with: "There's 15,000 Nebraska fans and 50 of us. We've got to do something." Good point.

Best Band: UCLA. Any pep band that can pull off Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and Green Day's Welcome To Paradise in the same night while wearing Hawaiian shirts can play anywhere.

Biggest Smiles: UCLA. The Bruins looked like a bunch of kids on Christmas before the start of Thursday's semifinal with Nebraska, despite the fact they were playing in front of about 17,000 people cheering for the hometown Huskers. While NU played with the pressure of the entire state, the Bruins danced and grooved around the court before the match's first serve.

UCLA was used to having a large home crowd against them in the tournament, though, having just won their regional at Hawaii in front of nearly 10,000 opposing fans.

"We're a very fun team," senior outside hitter Katie Carter said. "Playing in front of Hawaii really was good for us and I don't think we let (the crowd) get to us."