Sept. 26, 2008
University Park, Pa. - The top-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team opened up the Big Ten season with a win, defeating No. 19 Purdue in three games (25-12, 25-15, 25-21) Friday night at Rec Hall in front of a season-high 5,800 fans. The Nittany Lions improve to 13-0 on the season and remain undefeated in individual sets (39-0). They also increase their Big Ten winning streak to 26 matches and their overall winning streak to 39 contests dating back to a five-game loss to Stanford in New Haven, Conn., on Sept. 15, 2007.
"I don't think in this match we necessarily played very well," said head coach Russ Rose. "I thought Christa (Harmotto) was the only person who came to play tonight. I'm not excited that we played that way tonight but it's always good to win, especially in the Big Ten. It was a great crowd and hopefully it's a great start to a big Penn State weekend."
Junior outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) led all players with 12 kills on .308 hitting as senior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) contributed nine kills on .429 hitting. Senior middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) posted seven kills on an errorless 12 attacks to hit .583 while sophomore opposite Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) notched seven kills on .308 hitting. As a team, Penn State recorded 41 kills on .354 hitting while Purdue tallied 18 kills on .000 hitting.
Junior setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) directed the Lion offense with 34 assists and Fawcett led the defense with seven digs. Senior libero Roberta Holehouse (Joppa, Md.) picked up five digs as Glass and sophomore defensive specialist Alyssa D'Errico (Byron, N.Y.) both contributed four digs. Fawcett also led the serving game with three aces as Hodge chipped in one.
Penn State outblocked Purdue, 9.0 to 6.0, led by sophomore middle hitter Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) with five stuffs, Fawcett and Brown with three blocks apiece and Harmotto and Glass with two blocks each.
Stephanie Lynch led Purdue with seven kills and Carrie Gurnell contributed four. Jaclyn Hart dished out 14 assists as Kelli Miller posted six digs. Kristen Arthurs led the blocking front with three stuffs.
Prior to the contest, the 2007 NCAA National Championship banner was raised to the Rec Hall ceiling in a short ceremony, which also replayed the final point of the match to the cheering Rec Hall crowd.
Penn State opened up an 11-6 lead on a Fawcett solo block in the first game before kills from Wilson and Brown and a Fawcett and Wilson block pushed the Lion lead to 17-9. Another Brown put-away and consecutive Fawcett service aces made it 20-10 and a Harmotto and Hodge stuff extended the score to 23-11 before two Purdue errors gave the Lions the stanza, 25-12. Fawcett, Wilson, Hodge and Brown all recorded three kills for Penn State as four Nittany Lion blocks helped hold Purdue to two kills on -.286 hitting in the first game.
The Nittany Lions jumped out to the 7-3 advantage in the second game on a Boilermaker service error before a Brown and Wilson block put Penn State ahead 16-7. A Fawcett ace extended the lead to 19-9 and kills by Hodge and Harmotto made it 22-13 before a Boilermaker service error ended the game, 25-15. Four kills each by Fawcett and Harmotto on an errorless five swings aided the Lions in attacking at a .417 clip in the second game.
The third set remained close throughout, with Purdue going up 12-10 on consecutive Lynch kills. The Boilermakers remained in the slight lead at 16-14 on a Gurnell kill but a Purdue service error and a Hodge ace knotted the game at 16-16. The teams traded points twice before back to back Hodge put-aways pushed the Lions up 20-18. Out of a Purdue timeout, the squads exchanged kills and service errors to give Penn State the 22-20 lead. Hodge followed up a Boilermaker kill to put the Lions up 23-21 and two more kills by Hodge and Fawcett ended the game, 25-21. Hodge collected six kills in the set to lead the squad.
The Nittany Lions remain in action at Rec Hall this weekend, hosting No. 20 Illinois on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 3:00 p.m., prior to the 8:00 p.m. football game across campus between the Nittany Lions and Fighting Illini.
Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for youth and $2 per person for groups of 10 or more. Penn State students are free with their PSU ID.
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.