Annie Sullivan has been replaced

Sure, Sullivan found a way to teach Helen Keller to communicate with the outside world, but could she have turned UC Irvine from a disaster to national champs in just five years?

I didn't think so. I mean, that whole converse-with-a-deaf-mute -blind-person-thing is nice and all, but it ain't a national title.

With a four-game win over IPFW and the National Title, Speraw is the new miracle worker on the block, and he'll hold that title until Kansas, Oregon State, Iowa, and NC State meet in the women's Final Four.

OK, sure, UC Irvine is in Orange County, the Great Petri Dish of Volleyball Talent, but UCI was not a big name school when Speraw took the job, it didn't have the history of the other MPSF schools. It was "that other school" the way Loyola Marymount was in L.A. when they had a program.

And a big tip of the hat to IPFW for not making the final an after-thought. They were legitimate contenders. If these guys had held on and won game four, anything could have happened in game five.