Nov. 19, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State women's volleyball sophomore setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) has been named the Sports Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week and the Big Ten Player of the Week, officials from the respective organizations announced. It is the second career national and conference honor for Glass, as she also earned both accolades on Sept. 11, 2006.
The Sports Imports/AVCA award is the fifth honor for a Penn State student-athlete as Glass joins current teammate Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.), who captured the recognition on Sept. 10, along with Sam Tortorello (2005) and Syndie Nadeau (2004). Her conference accolade brings Penn State's total Big Ten Player of the Week citations to 58 since joining the conference for the 1991 season.
Glass' accolade is the eighth for the Nittany Lions this season, as junior middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) has earned the award three times (Aug. 27, Sept. 24, Oct. 15), junior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) nabbed the honor on Oct. 8, freshman middle hitter Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) earned the award twice (Oct. 1, Nov. 5) and Hodge picked up the accolade on Sept. 10
Glass led top-ranked Penn State to two wins to clinch the Lions' fifth consecutive outright Big Ten title and their 11th in 17 years. Against No. 9 Wisconsin on Friday night, Glass dished out 59 assists and added in four kills, two blocks and 10 digs for her ninth career double-double. Three Lion players had 15 or more kills with two others recording more than seven kills as the squad hit .346 for the match. The following night versus Illinois, Glass provided 40 assists, two kills, five digs and six blocks, good for second on the team. She had three players with 10 or more kills and led the offense to a .355 hitting percentage.
For the weekend, Glass posted six kills on .500 hitting with 99 total assists for an average of 14.14 assists per game, also adding in 15 digs (2.14 dpg) and eight blocks (1.14 bpg). She had three players average more than 4.10 kills per game with another one adding in 2.80 kpg, and for the weekend, the team attacked at a .350 hitting percentage while holding its opponents to hitting .171.
The Nittany Lions take to the road for their final Big Ten contests this week. Penn State faces Ohio State on Wednesday, Nov. 21 at 8:00 p.m. in a match that will be televised live on the Big Ten Network. Penn State then travels north to Ann Arbor, Mich., for a Saturday, Nov. 24 contest with the Wolverines. The match is slated for 5:00 p.m. and will be broadcast on a tape-delay basis on the Big Ten Network on Sunday, Nov. 25 at 6:00 p.m. ET. The NCAA Selection show is also Sunday, Nov. 25 and is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. on ESPNU.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.