Aug. 25, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Aug. 25, 2007 - The third-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team hooked fourth-ranked Texas in four games (19-30, 30-13, 30-21, 30-24) for the second consecutive night to improve to 2-0 on the young season.
"This was the tale of two matches for us tonight," said head coach Russ Rose. "Texas played great at the beginning of the match, hitting .424 in the first game. We thought that could happen, they're a proud program. After the first game, we played much better. We passed well and our blocking was much better. Nicole (Fawcett) rallied tonight after the first game and Christa (Harmotto) had two very good matches against a very big block. I thought that Blair (Brown) and Ann (Naylor) came in and made some very good contributions."
Sophomore outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) led all players with 20 kills as junior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) racked up 19 kills on .351 hitting. Junior middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) posted 13 kills on .524 hitting and senior middle hitter Melissa Walbridge (Yardley, Pa.) notched six kills. Redshirt freshman Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) posted five kills on seven attacks to hit .571 for the match. As a team, Penn State attacked at a .355 clip while holding Texas to hitting .193, including -.156 in the second game.
Sophomore setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) directed the offense with 57 assists and added three kills and six digs. Junior libero Roberta Holehouse (Joppa, Md.) led all players with a match-high 17 digs as Hodge posted her second consecutive double-double with 10 digs. Senior Kate Price (Fraser, Mich.) recorded seven digs, Fawcett tallied five and freshman defensive specialist Alyssa D'Errico (Byron, N.Y.) contributed four digs.
Each team recorded four service aces, as D'Errico provided Penn State with two and Glass and Price each added one.
Penn State outblocked Texas 12.0 to 7.0, led by Hodge with a career-high six stuffs. Walbridge notched five blocks, Harmotto tallied four and Brown posted three blocks.
Juliann Faucette and Destinee Hooker led Texas with 18 and 17 kills, respectively, as Brandy Magee posted six. Michelle Moriarty dished out 35 assists and Ashley Engle chipped in 13, also leading the squad with two service aces. Alyson Jennings topped the squad with 11 digs as Heather Kisner notched 10 and Hooker led the blocking front with five stuffs.
Texas jumped out to the early lead in the first game, with a Walbridge tip kill to the middle trimming the gap to 11-6. But a Texas kill, two Penn State attack errors and Longhorn ace pushed the Texas lead to 15-6 heading into the television timeout. A Fawcett kill finally ended the Longhorn run but Texas quickly answered with a kill by Faucette to put them ahead 17-7. A Hodge rocket down the line pulled the Nittany Lions to 17-8 but an Engle kill on the second ball pushed the lead to 10. The teams traded points and Texas continued to roll, with a block from Doris and Hooker putting the Longhorns up 21-9 and forcing another Penn State timeout. A Fawcett kill to the sideline pulled the Lions within 23-11 and scrambling defense by Holehouse ultimately ended in a Lion attack error but provided some momentum and life into the crowd. A Walbridge joust kill made it 24-12 before another Texas kill from Faucette made the score 25-12 in favor of the Longhorns. A block from Hodge and Walbridge and a Texas attack error pulled Penn State to within 25-15 and forced a Longhorn timeout. A Lion service error was quickly followed by a Hodge deep line kill, but another Texas kill from Faucette extended the Longhorn lead to 27-16. A Texas service error and a Glass tip killed Penn State within nine at 27-18 but a hard Hooker shot down the line made it 28-18. A Hooker kill ended the game in favor of the Longhorns, 30-19.
Penn State roared out to a 10-4 lead to start the second game and a Fawcett kill down the line pushed the Lion lead to 14-9. A monster solo stuff block and a kill by Fawcett put Penn State up 17-10 but a Faucette overpass kill trimmed the Lion lead to 17-11. A double block by Hodge and Walbridge pushed the score to 19-11 and forced a Texas timeout. A D'Errico service ace, a block by Walbridge and Hodge and another block from Brown and Walbridge extended the Lion lead to 22-11. Following a Lion error, a kill from Brown, the first of her career, made it 24-12 and a Texas attack error pushed the score to 25-12. A solo Hodge stuff kept the crowd and the team pumped up and a Harmotto kill off a dig from Ann Naylor (Los Angeles, Calif.) pushed the score to 27-12. A D'Errico dig, a from-the-knees set by Glass and a Hodge kill followed by another block, this one from Harmotto and Brown, gave Penn State the 29-12 lead. A monster Hodge kill ended the game, 30-13.
A Fawcett kill out of the backrow evened the score at 3-3 to start the third game and five ties ensued before a Hodge kill and Texas attack error put Penn State ahead 9-7. A Brown overpass kill made it 10-8 before a Harmotto slide kill pushed it to 12-10. The teams traded kills and a Walbridge kill off a Holehouse dig made the score 14-11. Out of the media timeout the teams traded points and a Hodge and Harmotto block on Hooker and a Texas attack error put Penn State up 18-13. A Price overpass kill extended the Lion lead to 20-13 and forced another Texas timeout. A Harmotto kill extended the lead to 21-13 and a Hodge kill made it 23-16 before a Fawcett put-away gave Penn State the 25-18 lead. A D'Errico service ace pushed the score to 27-19 but two Penn State attack errors brought Texas within six at 27-21. A Longhorn service and attack error pushed the lead to 29-21 before another Texas attack error ended the game, 30-21.
A Fawcett kill after a great rally coupled with a Glass service ace up Penn State up 6-3 to start the fourth game. A Hodge cross-court kill made it 8-5 and a Harmotto overpass kill pushed it to 9-5. Harmotto pounded a quick backset to extend the lead to 11-7 but a Hooker kill and solo block brought Texas within two at 11-9. Following a diving dig by D'Errico, a Hodge tip kill over the block put Penn State up 15-12 heading into the media timeout. Texas kills from Paolini and Magee pulled the Longhorns within one at 15-14 but a Hodge kill made it 16-14. Texas responded with two points of their own to knot the score at 16-16 but a Brown kill with no blockers followed by a Hodge kill to the deep corner put the Lions up 18-16. Following a Texas kill from Christian, a Harmotto cut-back kill out of the middle kept the two-point advantage. A Hooker kill off the block trimmed the Lion lead to one at 19-18 but Fawcett responded with her own kill off the top of the block to put Penn State up 20-18. A Hooker tip that she tried to wipe off the block went long, giving the Lions the 21-18 advantage and out of a Longhorn timeout, a Penn State block by Glass and Walbridge put Penn State up 22-18. The teams traded points and a Texas block from Paolini and Hooker pulled the Longhorns within three at 23-20. The squads exchanged errors and following a great rally with several diving and one-armed digs, a Hodge kill out of the backrow gave Penn State the 25-21 lead. After trading points twice, a monster cross-court shot by Brown put the Nittany Lions ahead 28-23 and another huge shot down the line gave Penn State match point at 29-24. A Texas attack error ended the game, 30-24.
Penn State heads to Nebraska next weekend, facing #14 Cal Poly on Friday, Aug. 31 in Lincoln before taking on the top-ranked Cornhuskers on Sunday, Sept. 2 in Omaha.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUSports.com.