Aug. 14, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The defending national champion Penn State women's volleyball team has been voted as the preseason favorite for the fourth consecutive year by the league coaches, conference officials announced today. In addition, a conference-leading five Nittany Lions earned Preseason All-Big Ten honors from the coaches. Senior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio), junior setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.), senior middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.), junior outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) and sophomore middle hitter Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) all earned the accolade, with Fawcett and Hodge picking up unanimous selections to the squad. It is the third preseason honor for Fawcett and Harmotto, the second for Hodge and the first for Glass and Wilson.
The five-time defending Big Ten champions command the preseason poll for the fifth time since 2001. Minnesota was picked second in the preseason poll and Wisconsin was slated third, Purdue picked fourth and Illinois tabbed fifth. Rounding out the rest of the poll was Michigan at sixth, Northwestern at seventh, Michigan State at eighth, Ohio State at ninth, Indiana at 10th and Iowa at 11th.
Penn State is one of three schools to have multiple student-athletes on the Preseason All-Big Ten squad, which is comprised of 12 players from six schools. Laura DeBruler (Illinois, So., OH), Lexi Zimmerman (Michigan, So., S), Brook Dieter (Minnesota, So., OH), Lauren Gibbemeyer (Minnesota, So., MH), Stephanie Lynch (Purdue, Sr., MH), Brittney Dolgner (Wisconsin, Jr., OH) and Audra Jeffers (Wisconsin, Sr., MH/OH) filled out the remaining spots, with Dolgner picking up the third unanimous selection.
Fawcett is a three-time AVCA All-America selection and a three-time unanimous First Team All-Big Ten pick. She averaged 4.44 kills per game, including averaging 4.20 kills per game on .387 hitting with 12 service aces, 22 digs and 26 blocks in 20 games of last season's NCAA Tournament. She enters the 2008 campaign with 1,512 career kills, good for fifth on the Penn State all-time career kills list, aided by 31 double-digit kill matches last season. Fawcett also led the team with 47 service aces and recorded 177 digs and 101 total blocks.
Last season's Big Ten Player of the year and an AVCA First Team All-American, Harmotto led the team and the conference and ranked second in the nation with a .492 hitting percentage, also a new Big Ten record. She produced 22 double-digit kill matches a year ago and also ranked second on the team and in the conference and sixth in the country with an average of 1.65 blocks per game. Harmotto provided a team-high 200 total blocks in 2007, good for seventh all-time, and her 167 block assists ranks second all-time on the single-season list and is just 10 shy of the record of 177 set by Terri Zemaitis in 1996. Harmotto enters this season with 516 career total blocks, good for sixth in the Penn State annals and the mark makes her only the sixth player in Lion history to record more than 500 career blocks.
Glass, a 2007 AVCA Second Team All-America selection, directed the Penn State offense to a nation-leading .350 hitting percentage in 2007. Under her guidance, the Lions shattered the NCAA Tournament record for team hitting percentage (besting the previous mark of .369 set by the 1995 Long Beach State team), attacking at a combined .424 clip while averaging 16.75 kills per game through six matches in 2007. In Glass' two years at the helm of the Penn State offense, the Nittany Lions are attacking at a combined .336 clip with an average of 16.94 kills per game. She enters her junior season with 2,897 career assists, good for sixth on the all-time career assists chart, while her career 12.76 assists per game average places her second all-time behind Sam Tortorello. A versatile player, Glass produced 91 kills for the season, including a season-high seven on .400 hitting in the national championship match against Stanford (12/15), and also ranked fourth on the team in digs with 198 and tallied 108 total blocks.
A two-time First Team AVCA All-America selection, Hodge was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2007 NCAA Championship. She ranked first on the team and third in the Big Ten with 4.60 kills per game last season with a total of 561 total kills. Hodge enters her junior year with 1,112 career kills, good for 17th on the all-time Nittany Lion record chart. Last season she had double-digit kills in 35 of 36 matches and has 66 career double-digit kill contests heading into 2008. Hodge also led the team with 13 double-doubles (kills-digs) last year and ranked second on the team with 35 service aces. She provided 310 total digs, good for second on the squad, and also had 24 multiple-block matches a year ago.
Wilson was last season's Big Ten Freshman of the Year and was also named the NCAA University Park Regional Most Outstanding Player. She ranked second on the team and in the Big Ten and fifth in the country with a .446 hitting percentage while recording 2.39 kills per game and seven double-digit kill matches. Wilson provided 12 kills on .500 hitting in the national championship match versus Stanford and fell just shy of the NCAA Tournament hitting percentage record with 68 attacks (minimum is 75 total attacks, record is .564), hitting .618 with 2.56 kills per game in 18 games. In all matches, she led the team and the Big Ten and ranked third in the country with an average of 1.80 blocks per game, a mark that places her second all-time on Penn State's single-season blocks per game list, and recorded 149 total blocks for the season.
The Nittany Lions open up the 2008 slate at the Hawaiian Airlines Classic on Aug. 29-31, taking on the host Wahine, UCLA and Ohio in Honolulu. Penn State returns to Rec Hall the following weekend to host the Nittany Lion Invitational on Sept. 5-6. The Nittany Lions open up the Big Ten slate with Purdue and Illinois at home on Sept. 26 and 28.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com .