Sept. 22, 2007
Final Stats - Final Stats (PDF)
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Sept. 22, 2007 - The third-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team swept Northwestern (31-29, 30-23, 30-13) Saturday night at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions improve to 10-2 and 2-0 in the Big Ten as the Wildcats fall to 10-3 and 1-1 in conference action.
"We didn't come out as fired up as I thought we should have, knowing that Northwestern defeated Ohio State last night in five games," said head coach Russ Rose. "I thought Northwestern played very well at the beginning of the match and they did the things that they needed to do and caused us some problems. But I like how we responded at the end of the match. Overall I thought we played very well this weekend."
Junior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) led all players with 21 kills on .436 hitting as sophomore outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) tallied 14 kills for the Lions. Senior middle hitter Melissa Walbridge (Yardley, Pa.) and junior middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) each posted six kills as Penn State attacked at a .322 clip for the match.
Sophomore setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) directed the offense with 45 assists and added three kills, digs and blocks as Hodge and junior libero Roberta Holehouse (Joppa, Md.) each notched 14 digs, Hodge's 17th career double-double and a season-high mark. Senior Kate Price (Fraser, Mich.) contributed nine digs as Fawcett posted seven.
Penn State outblocked Northwestern, 12.5 to 6.0. Fawcett led the way with a career-high seven stuffs as Walbridge tied her season high with six blocks and Harmotto and Glass each posted three.
Brittani Gray led Northwestern with 10 kills as Chelsy Hyser and Courtnie Paulus posted eight and seven kills, respectively. Elyse Glab dished out 27 assists and Kate Nobilio recorded 13 digs as Hyser led the squad with five blocks.
Game one featured 22 tie scores and nine lead changes, as a triple block by Fawcett, Harmotto and Glass and a double block from Harmotto and Glass gave Penn State the 13-11 lead. Northwestern kills from Hyser and Gray, a Nittany Lion attack error and a Wildcat block by Glab and Hyser swung the momentum and put Northwestern up 15-13. Two Wildcat errors knotted the game at 15-15 and five ties ensued before Northwestern claimed the 23-20 lead on a kill from Anderson, a Nittany Lion attack error and a block by Anderson and Hyser. But kills from Hodge, Fawcett and Glass tied the game at 23-23 and the squads traded points four times before kills from Walbridge and Hodge put Penn State ahead 29-27. A Nittany Lion attack error coupled with a Wildcat block by Paulus and Moffett knotted the score at 29-29. Penn State returned the favor with a block by Walbridge and Brown before a Harmotto kill ended the game, 31-29. Fawcett tallied eight kills in the game as Hodge contributed five.
Northwestern took the lead early in the second game, going ahead 13-9 on an Anderson kill. Lion kills from Fawcett and Hodge helped Penn State close the gap and two Fawcett and Walbridge blocks and consecutive Fawcett put-aways gave the Nittany Lions the 17-15 lead. A Northwestern kill and two Penn State errors put the Wildcats back on top 18-17 but another Fawcett kill knotted the game. Three ties ensued before kills from Hodge and Fawcett and a Hodge service ace gave Penn State the 24-21 lead. Kills from Harmotto and Fawcett pushed the score to 28-23 before a Walbridge kill ended the game, 30-23. Fawcett produced nine kills on .533 hitting as the Nittany Lions attacked at a .459 clip as a team in the game.
Penn State came out in the third game on fire, taking the 15-4 lead on consecutive Hodge kills. Back to back Fawcett put-aways extended the score to 20-5 and a block by Fawcett and freshman Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) pushed it to 22-6. A Fawcett put-away gave Penn State the 26-8 advantage before three Hodge kills in four points ended the game, 30-13, in favor of the Nittany Lions.
The Nittany Lions take to the road, facing Indiana and Purdue on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 28-29.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.