Oct. 10, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The third-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team committed only two unforced attacking errors en route to a three-game sweep of Ohio State (30-23, 30-17, 30-16) Wednesday night at Rec Hall in front of 2,912 fans. The Nittany Lions improve to 15-2 and 7-0 in the Big Ten while the Buckeyes fall to 8-8 and 2-5 in league action. Penn State hosts No. 15 Michigan Friday night at Rec Hall at 8:00 p.m.
"I thought everything other than the serving was solid," said head coach Russ Rose. "The passing was good, we hit well, we hit for a high percentage and I thought we did a nice job at the net with only a few unforced hitting errors."
Sophomore outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) recorded a match-high 15 kills as junior middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) tallied 10 kills on an errorless 14 swings to hit .714 and junior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) notched 10 kills on .500 hitting. Freshman middle hitter Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) added in seven kills on .636 hitting while sophomore setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) was perfect on all five of her attacks. As a team, Penn State attacked at a .462 clip while holding Ohio State to hitting only .080.
Glass directed the offense with 35 assists while junior libero Roberta Holehouse (Joppa, Md.) tallied a match-high 11 digs. Senior Kate Price (Fraser, Mich.) chipped in eight digs for the Lions as Glass posted seven and Hodge added six.
Penn State outblocked Ohio State, 12.5 to 6.5, led by Harmotto with eight stuffs and Hodge with five. Fawcett, Glass and Wilson all added three blocks in the contest.
Anna Szerszen led the Buckeyes with 13 kills as Danielle Meyer posted a team-high 11 digs and four blocks.
The Nittany Lions started the contest off on top, going up 10-6 on a Hodge kill. A Harmotto solo block made it 12-7 and two Fawcett kills and a Buckeye attack error pushed the score to 15-8 heading into the media timeout. The squads traded points four times out of the break and kills from Hodge and Harmotto gave Penn State the 21-14 lead. Two Ohio State blocks helped bring them within seven at 25-18 but a Fawcett kill and solo Wilson block extended the Lion lead to 27-18 before a Hodge kill ended the game, 30-23. Fawcett led the squad with six kills in the stanza as Hodge added five.
Penn State started the second game on fire, jumping out to the 8-2 lead aided by a Glass and Wilson block and three consecutive Fawcett kills. Two more Wilson kills after an Ohio State timeout pushed the Lion lead to 10-2 but the Buckeyes fought back to within five at 12-7 on kills from Meyer and Katie Dull. Two kills each from Hodge and Harmotto and a Fawcett solo stuff gave Penn State the 17-10 lead and the teams traded points five times before a Harmotto and Hodge block put the Nittany Lions ahead 23-16. Three Hodge kills in the next four points made it 26-17 and a Harmotto and Hodge block and three consecutive Ohio State hitting errors ended the game, 30-17. Penn State closed out the game on a 9-1 run, with Hodge recording six kills in the game and Fawcett and Wilson adding four.
Again taking the early lead, Penn State again went up 10-2 aided by two blocks and two Harmotto kills. A Glass and Wilson block extended the score to 12-3 before a kill from redshirt freshman Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) made it 16-5. A Holehouse service ace and block by Hodge and Harmotto pushed the lead to 21-7 before two Glass kills made it 24-11. An overpass kill from senior Melissa Walbridge (Yardley, Pa.) gave Penn State the 26-13 lead before kills from Hodge, Harmotto and Brown and a Harmotto and Hodge block ended the game, 30-16. Glass led the squad with five kills on five attacks as Harmotto and Hodge each added four kills, with Harmotto also chipping in four blocks.
The contest will be rebroadcast on the Big Ten Network several times, including on Thursday, Oct. 11 beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET.
Penn State remains at home, hosting No. 15 Michigan on Friday, Oct. 12 at 8:00 p.m. at Rec Hall.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.