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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Texas and Stanford are both volleyball royalty, but theyre not the teams everyone expected to be in the last match of 2016. The Cardinal lost seven times this season; the Longhorns lost four. Neither team was ranked No. 1 at any point during the year, and neither won its conference title.Yet, you get the sense that we really will be seeing the best two teams as of right now when they meet for the national championship Saturday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN2/WatchESPN).The AVCA polls top ranking stayed in the Big Ten all season, with Nebraska being No. 1 for 12 weeks, Minnesota two weeks and Wisconsin one week. Did the grind of Big Ten play wear out NCAA tournament top seed Nebraska and No. 2 seed Minnesota? Perhaps, but whats certain is that the No. 4 Longhorns and No. 6 Cardinal definitely wore them out in Thursdays semifinals.Texas swept Nebraska, and Stanford beat Minnesota 3-1. Now, well see who has more firepower when they face each other for the 27th time in the programs history; Stanford leads the series 18-8.Each team had scares during earlier rounds this year, with Texas facing two match points against BYU in the regional semifinals and Stanford being down 2-0 to Wisconsin in the regional final. But its as if every test that the Longhorns and Cardinal faced along the way was a needed step to getting here.Stanford is the top blocking team in Division I at 3.4 per set. Texas, meanwhile, is second in hitting percentage at .311. So that right there is a very intriguing matchup. Nebraska is a strong blocking team, too, yet the Longhorns successfully challenged that in the semifinals. Stanford should provide a bigger obstacle, literally.The Cardinals size certainly was tough for Minnesota to deal with, including 6-foot-8 junior Merete Lutz, and 6-6 freshmen Kathryn Plummer and Audriana Fitzmorris. But Texas hitters Ebony Nwanebu, Paulina Prieto Cerame and Micaya White are all major threats against even the best block.Stanford will be playing in its 15th NCAA championship match; the Cardinal have won six titles, but none since 2004. For Stanford, appearing in the final four used to be about as common as the calendar changing to a new year. It has been more difficult in recent seasons, which coach John Dunning acknowledges. At the same time, he understands exactly why so much is always expected from the Cardinal.Stanford gives us the resources to have a chance to be great, Dunning said. And thats all I could ask for. Its up to us to go out and find the players who fit at Stanford and will be happy there.Weve been to 20 of the final fours, and thats a lot of success. In the last six or seven years, we havent been here as much, and yes, thats frustrating. Just because I want the program to succeed at the level that all the people who came before set the bar at. But it is harder, because there are so many good teams.Kerri Walsh Jennings, who helped lead Stanford to two NCAA titles in the 1990s, said shes thrilled to see the Cardinal playing in the national championship match for the first time since 2008.Its such an amazing program, Walsh Jennings said. It just shows the level of collegiate volleyball that Stanford has come up short the past few years. Im not surprised that they can do what theyve done with freshmen, though, because Ive seen leadership and greatness at all ages. It says something about how the freshmen feel empowered that they can do that.Stanfords rookies, including AVCA National Freshman of the Year Plummer, say the connections with the past are strong enough that they energize the current Cardinal athletes.I was reading the emails that former players sent to us, Stanford freshman setter Jenna Gray said. And the one that probably got me the most excited was from Bryn Kehoe, the setter who led them to a national championship as a freshman [in 2004]. Its crazy, because the All-Americans are up on the wall in our locker room, and now theyre talking to us.Texas has not won as many championships (two, in 1988 and 2012) nor been in as many final fours (12) as Stanford, but the Longhorns consistency in the past decade in particular has been tremendous. Texas has made the final four in eight of the past nine seasons and is playing in the final for the sixth time overall. As with Stanford, the Texas alumni have been reaching out to current Longhorns with good wishes.It just lets you take a step back, Texas senior setter Chloe Collins said, and be like, Wow, Im a part of this big university and representing them in a way that I never thought I could.The pressure that comes from that, though, perhaps got to the Longhorns at times this season.They wanted it so bad, Texas coach Jerritt Elliott said of a chance at winning a title, and they didnt know how to get it. We [coaches] were just confident in what we were doing with them.Its important to be able to create leadership within our team that is able to speak when were not in the locker room, and on the road, and those kind of things. You have to be very real with them, and you have to be honest with them.Elliott and Dunning are both in their 16th seasons at their respective schools; Dunning also coached 16 years before that at Pacific, where he won two NCAA titles to go along with his two at Stanford. Both coaches have watched how much the sport has grown and changed.Ive seen it from like the very embryo kind of stage -- at least on the college and high school scene -- through now, Dunning said. And its remarkable. It doesnt surprise me at all, the parity we have right now.In the end though, the 2016 final has come down to two programs that have, for the most part, defied parity and stayed at or near the top. Now they are back on familiar turf: playing for a championship. Cheap Curry Shoes Shoes . Perhaps Carroll was so prepared for a break because he believes there is very little the Seattle Seahawks need heading into the off-season. "I dont see anything that we need to add. We just have to get better," Carroll said. Cheap Wholesale Curry Shoes . By having more great seasons. Manning was the only unanimous choice for the 2013 Associated Press NFL All-Pro team Friday. http://www.wholesalecurryshoes.com/ . 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"Given the way the meeting transpired," Ray Halbritter, an Oneida representative and leader of the "Change the Mascot Campaign," said Wednesday, "it became somewhat evident they were defending the continued use of the name.COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Mike Magee had the winning goal and Joel Lindpere had two assists to help the Chicago Fire rally in the second half for a 2-1 victory over the Columbus Crew on Saturday night. Lindpere found former Crew midfielder Dilly Duka at the far post for a right-footed stab that tied the game 1-1 in the 52nd minute. Two minutes later, Lindpere assisted on Magees 10th goal, sending a crross into the box that Magee chested into the goal.dddddddddddd Magee has scored in four league matches and six straight in all competitions since being acquired from Los Angeles in May. The Fire (5-7-3) are 3-0-2 in their past five matches and have won six of the past seven against the Crew. Federico Higuain scored on a penalty kick in the seventh minute for Columbus (5-6-5). 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