Sept. 24, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State women's volleyball junior middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) has been named the Big Ten Player of the Week, conference officials announced today. It is the fourth career league accolade for Harmotto and her second of the year as she was also honored on Aug. 27. The award brings Penn State's total Big Ten Player of the Week citations to 53 since joining the conference for the 1991 season and is the third for the Nittany Lions this season as sophomore outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) picked up the honor on Sept. 10.
Harmotto led the Nittany Lions to two Big Ten wins to open the conference season, sweeping Michigan State and Northwestern over the weekend. Against the Spartans on Friday, she attacked at a career-high .917 clip, recording 11 kills on an errorless 12 swings and added a season-high 11 blocks for her second career double-double. Her attack percentage also helped Penn State to hit .434 as a team and rack up a season-high 18.5 team blocks, the Nittany Lions' second-highest team total in the rally-scoring era. The following night versus Northwestern, Harmotto was again steady, recording six kills and three blocks with a career-high-tying two service aces and two digs.
For the weekend, Harmotto averaged 2.83 kills per game on .556 hitting with three aces, five digs and a team-high 14 total blocks, good for an average of 2.33 blocks per game.
For the year, the junior is leading the Big Ten in overall hitting percentage (.514) and conference-only hitting percentage (.556) while also ranking third in overall blocks (1.55 bpg) and first in league blocking (2.33 bpg). Also in conference play, Harmotto sits ninth in points (4.58 ppg) and tied for third in services aces (0.50 sapg).
Penn State takes to the road this weekend, facing Indiana and Purdue. On Friday, the Nittany Lions and Hoosiers square off in Bloomington, Ind., at 7:00 p.m. before Penn State faces the Boilermakers on Saturday, Sept. 29 at 7:00 p.m. in West Lafayette, Ind. The Nittany Lions return home to host Iowa and Minnesota on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 5-6 at Rec Hall.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.