Dec. 8, 2007
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Dec. 8, 2007  The top-ranked Penn State women¹s volleyball team pounded No. 17 Brigham Young (30-23, 30-15, 30-18) Saturday night at Rec Hall to advance to its sixth NCAA National Semifinal in program history. The Nittany Lions (32-2) will take on California, who swept defending national champion Nebraska, on Thursday, Dec. 13 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, Calif., at a time yet to be determined. The National Championship match is Saturday, Dec. 15.
Freshman middle hitter Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Regional Championship and was joined by junior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) and junior middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) on the Regional All-Championship team. Also named to the squad were BYU¹s Chelsea Goodman, Rachel Dyer and Amy Schlauder and Middle Tennessee¹s Izabela Kozen.
Wilson, Harmotto and Fawcett all recorded 12 kills in the match, with both Wilson¹s and Harmotto¹s coming on .733 hitting and Fawcett¹s coming on .556 attacking. Sophomore outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) contributed nine kills as the team attacked at a .530 clip for the match.
Sophomore setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) dished out 42 assists and added in four kills on an errorless six attacks to hit .667 and junior libero Roberta Holehouse (Joppa, Md.) picked up a match-high 14 digs.
Penn State dominated the serving game, racking up 11 service aces to BYU¹s two while only committing nine errors. Holehouse led the way with three winners as Fawcett and senior Ann Naylor (Los Angeles, Calif.) each posted two and Glass, Hodge, senior Kate Price (Fraser, Mich.) and sophomore Kelsey Ream (State College, Pa.) all tallied one.
The Nittany Lions also took control of the net, recording 14.0 team blocks, including 10 in the second game alone. Harmotto ended the night with nine blocks as Wilson posted four, Hodge, Fawcett and redshirt freshman Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) all recorded three stuffs.
For Brigham Young, Goodman notched 13 kills as Bryn Porter tallied 10. Schlauder dished out 31 assists and Annie Pinegar picked up six digs as Goodman, Erica Lott and Ashton Hansen all recorded two blocks.
The first game remained even early on, with Penn State taking the 15-12 led on a Wilson kill into the media timeout. Service aces from Glass and Fawcett pushed the lead to 18-14 and back to back kills from Wilson and Brown made it 20-15. BYU fought back within three at 20-17 but consecutive Cougar attack errors gave Penn State the five-point cushion and kills by Harmotto, Wilson and Fawcett made it 26-21. Out of a BYU timeout, a Fawcett ace pushed the score to 27-21 and a Wilson kill and Holehouse ace made it 29-22 before a Cougar service error ended the game, 30-23. Wilson racked up eight kills on an errorless nine swings to hit .889 in the stanza.
Blocking was the name of the game in the second set. Penn State sprinted out to the 15-4 lead aided by five blocks. Another Lion stuff, this one by Wilson and Brown pushed the score to 20-6 and three consecutive blocks, two by Harmotto and Glass and another by Harmotto and Fawcett, extended the Lion lead to 26-12 before two Fawcett kills ended the game, 30-15. Penn State racked up 10 blocks in the second game alone, with Harmotto assisting on seven and Glass assisting on four. The Lions also hit .609 in the game, committing only two errors on 23 swings with 16 kills.
A Goodman kill brought BYU within one at 10-9 to start the third game but a kill from Hodge and an ace by Price was quickly followed by a Harmotto put-away to give Penn State the 13-9 lead and force a BYU timeout. The teams traded points and consecutive Harmotto kills put the Lions up 16-10. Kills from Wilson, Fawcett and Hodge helped Penn State stay in control at 21-15 and following another BYU timeout, the Nittany Lions caught fire. Sparked by a Holehouse ace, Penn State rattled off the next four points to go up 25-15. The teams traded points three times before a Fawcett block and a Ream service ace ended the game, 30-18. Harmotto connected on all seven of her attacks to hit 1.000 in the game as Penn State attacked at a .515 clip.
The Nittany Lions have an overall record of 52-25 in the NCAA Championship, including six trips to the NCAA Semifinals (1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2007) and one National Championship (1999). Penn State is 34-3 in NCAA Tournament matches at Rec Hall and has won its last 37 consecutive contests within the friendly confines.
For more information on the Penn State women¹s volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com/.