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NCAA Tournament Central
| Fawcett recorded 18 kills on a career-high .720 hitting percentage. |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Dec. 2, 2005 - The second-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team needed only an hour and 11 minutes to take down Binghamton in three games (30-15, 30-8, 30-10) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Nittany Lions improve to 30-2 while the Bearcats end their season at 20-12. Penn State will take on Long Island in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Rec Hall on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. The Blackbirds downed Cornell in three games (31-29, 30-24, 35-33) in the first match on Friday.
Binghamton's eight points in the second game equals the lowest score Penn State has held an opponent to during the rally scoring era. The Nittany Lions held Northwestern to eight points on Nov. 12, 2004. The win also gives Penn State 30 wins for the year, the Lions' 18th 30-win season under head coach Russ Rose and their first since the 2003 season.
"I thought tonight's match was a match that you don't have as much of an opportunity to see where you are because we were just at a higher level physically," said Rose. "It was a tough match to get a flow going offensively. I thought Nicole [Fawcett] took some big swings and Kaleena [Walters] did nice job ball handling. It's a tough match-up for a team in its first tournament appearance to play against a team that's so much more physical at this stage."
Freshman outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) exploded in her first career NCAA Tournament match, ripping 18 kills without an error on 25 attempts to hit a career-high .720. Junior Cassy Salyer (Aurora, Colo.) posted 11 kills on .471 hitting as sophomore Kate Price (Fraser, Mich.) chipped in 10 kills on .350 hitting. Freshman Laura Holloway (Barrington, Ill.) tallied seven kills on .400 hitting as sophomore Melissa Walbridge (Yardley, Pa.) notched six kills.
Senior setter Sam Tortorello (Shorewood, Ill.) dished out 45 assists and move to within just 38 assists of becoming the Big Ten career leader. Senior libero Kaleena Walters (Mt. Lebanon, Pa.) recorded a match-high 17 digs as Price posted her second double-double of the season with 10 digs. Fawcett, Tortorello and junior Kris Brown (Wooster, Ohio) all recorded eight digs in the win.
Penn State dominated from behind the service line, recording nine aces while not allowing Binghamton any. Price and freshman Joanie Guman (Allentown, Pa.) each tallied two winners, a career-high for Guman, as Fawcett, Walbridge, Tortorello, Brown and junior Ashley Fidler (Wauconda, Ill.) each notched one.
The Nittany Lions outblocked the Bearcats, 8.0 to 7.0, led by Tortorello with four and two each from Fawcett, Walbridge, Salyer and senior Kim Holm (St. Charles, Ill.).
Binghamton was led by Katie Brody with seven kills and eight digs as Brody and Megan Hoag each posted four blocks.
Two kills from Salyer and one each from Fawcett put Penn State up 9-3 to start the match. Out of a Binghamton timeout, the Nittany Lions used an 8-1 run to take the 17-4 lead as back to back Walbridge kills made the score 22-6. Back to back Binghamton blocks brought the Bearcats to within 26-14 but a Salyer kill and two Fawcett putaways ended the game, 30-15. Fawcett recorded seven kills on .700 hitting in the stanza as Walters racked up nine digs.
Three Walbridge kills sparked the Lions into jumping out to the 15-3 lead in the second game. Three consecutive Holloway kills made it 20-3 before back to back Price putaways pushed the advantage to 23-5 before kills from Salyer and Fawcett ended the game, 30-8. Holloway led all players with five kills on .714 hitting as Price, Fawcett and Walbridge each posted four on an errorless six swings. As a team, Penn State hit .633 (20-1-30) for the stanza.
Penn State took the 8-5 lead on a Fawcett kill, sparking a 15-0 Nittany Lion run to make it 22-5. Within the run, five Fawcett kills and strong serving from Price and sophomore Kara Callahan (Bloomington, Ill.) aided Penn State. Kills from Fidler and Salyer pushed the Lion lead to 26-8 as three Salyer kills ended the match, 30-10.
The winner of the Penn State-Long Island match on Saturday will face the winner of the Tennessee-Minnesota match next Friday, Dec. 9, in the NCAA Regional Semifinal match at Rec Hall. Tickets for the event are on sale now.