Sept. 8, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Nittany Lion women's volleyball team closed out play in the Penn State Classic with a three-game sweep of VCU (30-15, 30-13, 30-14) Saturday afternoon at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions improve to 6-1 while the Rams fall to 2-7.
Junior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) led all players with 13 kills on .478 hitting as sophomore outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) notched 12 kills. Junior middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) posted nine kills on .538 hitting as freshman Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) and redshirt freshman Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) each recorded seven kills on an errorless eight swings to hit .875. As a team, Penn State attacked at a .482 clip for the match while limiting VCU to -.020 hitting.
Sophomore setter Jessica Yanz (Bolingbrook, Ill.) directed the offense for two games with 25 assists as sophomore Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) recorded 17 assists in the third game. Hodge led all players with 12 digs as freshman libero Alyssa D'Errico (Byron, N.Y.) notched eight digs.
Penn State outblocked VCU 16.0 to 7.0, led by Brown with a career-high nine and Wilson with a personal-best seven. Harmotto, Hodge and Yanz all chipped in three blocks.
Fawcett led the match with three service aces while senior Kate Price (Fraser, Mich.) contributed two and Harmotto and D'Errico both posted one.
Elisa Kuehnel recorded seven kills for VCU while adding five blocks along with Ivana Rich.
Penn State jumped out to the early lead to start the match, going up 8-3 on a Fawcett kill and 14-7 on a Hodge put-away. VCU pulled within four at 14-10 on an ace and Lion attack error but a Harmotto service ace and two blocks from Walbridge and Brown put Penn State back on top, 20-11. Kills from Brown and Walbridge extended the lead to 24-13 and a Harmotto and Brown block made it 26-13 before another block, this one from Yanz and Harmotto, ended the game, 30-15.
The teams traded points to start the second stanza before kills from Fawcett and Brown gave Penn State the 8-3 lead. Two Lion blocks, one from Brown and Wilson and another from Harmotto and Brown, extended the score to 13-5 before consecutive Hodge and Fawcett kills made it 17-7. A Yanz and Wilson block pushed the lead to 20-9 and two Wilson and Brown blocks, coupled with consecutive Fawcett service aces, put the Nittany Lions ahead 27-12 before a solo Yanz block ended the game, 30-13.
A Ream and Hodge block, coupled with a Hodge overpass kill, gave Penn State the 9-6 lead to start the third game. A Fawcett kill and a D'Errico dig-kill maintained the Lion lead at 16-11 and a block from Wilson and Brown made it 18-11. Back to back Brown kills, including a monster overpass put-away, gave Penn State the 22-11 lead and a block by Hodge and Wilson pushed it to 25-12 before a Ream kill ended the game, 30-14.
Penn State Classic All-Tournament Team:
Casey Ritt, Colgate
Dana DeMayo, St. John's
Latoya Blunt, St. John's
Ivana Rich, VCU
Christa Harmotto, Penn State
Nicole Fawcett, Penn State
Megan Hodge, Penn State (MVP)