Even though their chances for a National Championship had been spoiled in pool play, the rest of the teams still had plenty to play for. Friday and Saturday were full of great matches outside of the Gold Bracket.
Silver: Top teams left out of the Gold Bracket competed for consolation in the Silver. Perennial powerhouses Virginia and Michigan played in some of the toughest pools in the tournament, and made quick work, both advancing to the Silver Bracket Final. Virginia eeked it out with a couple close matches over South Carolina, Villanova, and Northwestern. Meanwhile, Michigan got there beating a couple Section Champions along the way: BYU, Oregon, and New Mexico. In a thrilling final, Virginia won 28-26. BYU bounced back to take the consolation bracket over North Carolina.
Bronze: Third place teams took the field in the Bronze Bracket and it was yet another Pool P team in the final in Colorado. It wasn't easy though, beating Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Minnesota and Rutgers along the way. They faced and beat Western Washington, who got there by beating Washington, Harvard, and Baylor. Cornell bounced back from a 2-point round of 16 loss to Baylor to beat Daytona Beach College in the final 26-20.
Copper: While the 4th place teams didn’t fair well in pool play, they had a chance to make up for it in the Copper Bracket. Virginia Tech had a tough day in pool play, having lost 3 1-point matches, but made sure to make the weekend matter, storming to the final, taking out VCU, Texas State, and Puerto Rico along the way. On the other side of the draw was Missouri Valley Champion Oklahoma, who beat Marquette, then 2 Section-Mates St. Louis and Iowa State. Virginia Tech then dominated the final 30-8. On the other side, Nebraska pulled through with a 24-23 win over Central Michigan.
Section-wise, Midwest teams performed the best again this year, bringing 10 teams. 2 of those teams finished 1st in their pool, 4 finished 2nd, and 2 finished 3rd. Southern also did well with 10 teams, 2 of them finishing 1st in their pool, 3 of them finishing 2nd in their pool, and 1 finishing 3rd. Mid-Atlantic had 7 teams represented, Texas 6, and Middle States had 5.
The USTA Campus Championships proved to be successful once again. All of the teams were placed well and everybody seemed to have a good time. We’ll see you next year in 2009!
