Oct. 12, 2007
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
The third-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team remained perfect in the Big Ten, sweeping No. 15 Michigan (30-16, 30-28, 30-22) Friday night at Rec Hall in front of 3,306 fans. The Nittany Lions improve to 16-2 and 8-0 in league action while the Wolverines fall to 15-4 and 3-4 in conference play.
"I thought it was a good match with a lot of energy," said head coach Russ Rose. "We hit well and in the first and third games, we controlled the ball well. In the second game Michigan showed why they are ranked 15th in the country. We have to be able to learn those lessons on how to stop players when they're scoring at will from certain positions, and that's what Michigan did in the second game."
Sophomore outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) led all players with 13 kills as junior middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) and junior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) both posted 12 kills on .550 hitting. Redshirt freshman opposite Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) notched eight kills on .615 hitting as freshman middle hitter Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) notched seven kills. As a team, Penn State attacked at a .393 clip while holding Michigan to hitting just .174.
Sophomore setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) directed the offense with 43 assists and added four kills as junior libero Roberta Holehouse (Joppa, Md.) led all players with 15 digs as Glass and Hodge posted six each. Harmotto led the service game with two aces as Fawcett, Holehouse and senior Kate Price (Leland, Mich.) all notched one ace.
Penn State outblocked Michigan, 12.0 to 5.0, led by Wilson with seven rejections. Glass added in five blocks while Harmotto posted three and Fawcett contributed three.
Katie Bruzdzinski led the Wolverines with 12 kills as Lyndsay Miller notched nine and Beth Karpiak and Veronica Rood each provided eight kills. Lexi Zimmerman dished out 34 assists and Stesha Selsky tallied 13 digs. Karpiak headed the blocking chart with three blocks.
The first game remained even early on, with a Harmotto and Glass block and kills from Harmotto and Hodge giving Penn State the 11-8 lead. Two more kills from Glass and Hodge pushed the score to 15-9 before Fawcett and Wilson kills and a Glass and Wilson block put the Nittany Lions on top 18-10. Another block, this one by Wilson and Hodge, extended the lead to 21-12 before consecutive Brown kills and a Holehouse service ace made it 24-13. A Harmotto kill, Glass solo block and Michigan attack error ended the game, 30-16. Hodge and Brown led the Lions with four kill apiece in the game.
The second game featured 16 ties and seven lead changes as Michigan took the 15-11 lead a Rood block, Penn State attack error and Sarah Draves kill. Fawcett ended the run with a kill of her own and added a service ace to put the Lions within one at 15-14. The teams traded points twice and a Harmotto overpass kill knotted the game at 17-17. Four ties ensued and a Wolverine block by Bruzdzinski and Karpiak gave Michigan the 22-21 lead and forced the Penn State timeout. Out of the break, kills from Wilson and Fawcett and a Wolverine attack error swung the momentum and put the Nittany Lions ahead, 24-22. The squads exchanged kills twice and a Harmotto kill gave Penn State the 28-24 advantage. Wolverine kills from Bruzdzinski and Zimmerman trimmed the Lion lead to two at 28-26 and Hodge and Bruzdzinski traded kills before a Lion attack error brought Michigan to within one at 29-28. But Harmotto responded with a kill to end the game, 30-28. Fawcett, Harmotto and Hodge all posted six kills in the contest as Penn State earned 24 of their 30 points on kills.
Penn State went up 10-6 in the third game on a Brown and Harmotto block before a Harmotto kill and consecutive service aces gave the Nittany Lions the 15-9 lead. A Lion block from Wilson and Brown pushed the score to 17-10 before kills from Brown and Harmotto along with a Harmotto and Glass block pushed the Penn State advantage to 21-14. A Price service ace and Harmotto solo block made the score 24-14 and a Fawcett kill pushed the score to 27-17. Consecutive Hodge and Wilson kills continued the run before a Fawcett kill ended the game, 30-22. Fawcett tallied four kills on an errorless six swings to hit .667 in the stanza as Penn State racked up seven blocks, including four from Wilson and three each from Harmotto and Fawcett.
Penn State takes to the road for the next two weekends, heading to Illinois on Friday, Oct. 19 before taking on Wisconsin on Sunday, Oct. 21 at 1:00 p.m. CT in a match that will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.