Nov. 17, 2008
University Park, Pa. - Penn State women's volleyball junior setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) has been named the Big Ten Player of the Week, conference officials announced.
The honor is the third of Glass' career and brings Penn State's total Big Ten Player of the Week citations to 64 since joining the conference for the 1991 season. It is the sixth honor of the season for the top-ranked Nittany Lions, as senior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) has captured the award three times and sophomore middle hitter Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) has earned the recognition twice.
Behind Glass' play, Penn State (28-0, 16-0 Big Ten) picked up a pair of road sweeps over top-20 opponents as the Lions set a new NCAA record for consecutive matches won and also clinched at least a share of its sixth consecutive Big Ten title. At No. 17 Illinois on Friday, Glass dished out 40 assists and directed the offense to a .400 hitting percentage while also tallying two kills, three blocks and a match-high nine digs. At No. 18 Purdue on Saturday, Glass led the offense to a .412 hitting percentage while recording 41 assists and 10 digs for her first double-double of the season.
For the weekend, Glass averaged 13.50 assists per game while leading the offense to a combined .406 clip. All five of her hitters reached double-digit kills and none hit lower than .218 for the weekend. Individually she led the squad with 19 digs and chipped in five blocks and three kills on an errorless six swings to hit .500.
Penn State returns home to host its final regular-season weekend on Nov. 21 and 22 when it welcomes Northwestern and Wisconsin to Rec Hall. On Friday the Nittany Lions and Wildcats face off at 7:00 p.m. ET before the Lions and Badgers meet on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET in a contest that will be tape-delay broadcast on the Big Ten Network. Saturday night will also be Senior Night, honoring Nicole Fawcett, Christa Harmotto and Roberta Holehouse for their contributions to Penn State and the women's volleyball program.
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.