DALLAS - All-American Aury Cruz had 19 kills and 14 digs, and Jane Collymore added 15 and 20 as Florida defeated Hawaii 3-1 Thursday night to advance to the final of the NCAA women's championships against defending champion Southern California.
The Gators, making their second straight appearance in the national semifinals, took the first two games 30-28, then saw Hawaii rally in the third 30-23. A third 30-28 game won it and lifted UF's record to 36-1. Hawaii (36-2) was making its third consecutive appearance.
Florida's only loss this season came to Southern California. The teams meet at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPN2.
Keao Burdine had 13 kills and 10 digs as USC defeated Minnesota 30-27, 30-28, 30-20 in the first semifinal.
Southern Cal (34-0) struggled to win the first two games of the match and had to score the final three points of the second game after Minnesota led most of the way. Burdine scored the game's final point on a spike from the left side. It was one of her six kills in the game.
USC won the first game despite blowing an early eight-point lead. USC opened a 19-11 lead, but the Gophers went on a 12-3 run, scoring seven straight points off the serve of setter Lindsey Taatjes to take a 23-22 lead. USC rallied to score eight of the game's final 13 points and won 30-28 on a kill by April Ross.
The Gophers took a quick 5-0 lead to start Game 3, but USC went on an 18-4 run to take control and finish off Minnesota.
Ross and Bibiana Candelas each had 11 kills for USC. Ross added seven digs and Toni Anderson led USC with 38 assists.
Cassie Busse led all players in the match with 23 kills for Minnesota (26-11) and had 12 digs. Erin Martin also added 11 kills for the Gophers.
