Sept. 13, 2008
CHICAGO, Ill. - Aided by 17 kills on .519 hitting by senior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio), the top-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team grounded Illinois State in three games (25-12, 25-17, 25-22) Saturday afternoon. The Nittany Lions improve to 8-0 while the Redbirds fall to 5-4.
In addition to Fawcett, junior outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) contributed 13 kills and senior middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) posted six kills on .455 hitting. Sophomore middle hitter Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) notched four kills on an errorless five swings to hit. 800 while junior setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) was perfect on all four of her attacks. As a team, Penn State hit .446.
Glass dished out 38 assists and posted seven digs as senior libero Roberta Holehouse (Joppa, Md.) picked up 10 digs.
Penn State outblocked Illinois State, 7.0 to 4.0, led by Glass with four, Harmotto with three and Fawcett with three solo efforts.
A Fawcett ace gave Penn State the 5-3 lead to start the match and a Holehouse ace extended the advantage to 10-4. Illinois State scored the next three points to pull within three at 10-7 but two Redbird errors aided the Lions in taking the 12-7 lead. Three Penn State kills - one each from Glass, Harmotto and Fawcett - kept the Nittany Lions ahead, 15-10, and a Hodge kill made it 19-11. Consecutive put-aways from Glass and Wilson pushed the Penn State lead to 21-12 before two Wilson kills ended the game, 25-12. Fawcett, Harmotto, Glass, Wilson and Brown all had two kills as the Lions hit .500 in the game.
Illinois State took the early advantage in the second game, going up 6-3 aided by three kills, an ace and a block. A Redbird service error along with back to back Fawcett service aces brought the Lions to within one at 6-5 and the game remained even before a Harmotto kill and a Hodge ace knotted the game at 10-10. Two ties ensued before a Glass kill, a solo Fawcett block and a Fawcett put-away gave Penn State the 15-12 lead. Illinois State scored three of the next four points to pull within one at 16-15 but back to back Hodge kills, a Harmotto slide put-away and a Holehouse ace off the tape pushed the score to 20-15. The teams traded points and two kills from Hodge and Fawcett made it 22-16 before consecutive Harmotto and Glass blocks put Penn State ahead 24-16. A Harmotto kill ended the game, 25-17. Fawcett led the teams with five kills in the set as Harmotto was perfect on all four of her attempts and Hodge connected on four of her five attacks to hit .600. The Lions also recorded four aces and three blocks.
The Redbirds went up 6-2 in the third game before kills from Hodge and Fawcett chipped away at the margin. Illinois State remained on top, however, going ahead 13-10 on a block before a Brown kill trimmed the lead to two at 14-12. The teams traded points twice and a Wilson and Glass block coupled with a Fawcett kill knotted the game at 16-16. Following a Redbird block, the Nittany Lions claimed the next three points on two Fawcett kills and a solo block to take the 19-17 lead and force and Illinois State timeout. The teams traded points twice out of the break before two Redbird kills tied the game at 21-21 and forced a Penn State timeout. After the break, the squads exchanged kills before a Hodge kill to the deep corner, a Glass and Harmotto block and a Fawcett kill ended the game, 25-22.
Penn State closes out action in the Chicago Classic tonight with Louisville at 7:30 p.m. CT. The Nittany Lions host the Penn State Classic on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 19-20 with Yale, New Hampshire and Saint Louis at Rec Hall.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com. The Penn State women's volleyball 2008 season is presented by Rockvale Outlets and The Outlets At Hershey.