Dec. 1, 2008
University Park, Pa. - Penn State women's volleyball outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) has been named the Big Ten Player of the Week, conference officials announced.
The honor is the fifth of Hodge's career and brings Penn State's total Big Ten Player of the Week citations to 65 since joining the conference for the 1991 season. It is the seventh honor of the season for the top-ranked Nittany Lions, as senior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) has captured the award three times, sophomore middle hitter Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) has earned the recognition twice and junior setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) has picked up the accolade once.
Hodge was a driving force behind Penn State's two road wins to finish out the Big Ten slate undefeated for the second consecutive season and also cap a historic regular-season in which the squad remained undefeated in individual games - a feat that has never before been done in any division in NCAA collegiate women's volleyball. At Ohio State on Friday, Hodge led the Lions with 12 kills on .333 hitting, including putting down Penn State's final three kills in the third game to break the 28-28 tie and give the Lions the come-from-behind victory. She also added in seven digs and two blocks in the contest. Saturday at No. 20 Michigan, Hodge recorded a season-high 18 kills on .536 hitting, including eight kills in the final set, while also providing five digs and a block.
For the weekend, Hodge led the team with 30 kills, an average of 5.00 kills per game, on .436 hitting with 12 digs (2.0 digs per game) and three blocks.
Penn State (32-0, 20-0 Big Ten) earned the No. 1 overall seed in the 2008 NCAA Tournament and opens play on Friday, Dec. 5 at Rec Hall against Long Island at 6:00 p.m. ET. The NCAA Second Round match is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 6 at 4:00 p.m. at Rec Hall and features the winner of the Penn State/Long Island match against the winner of the Yale/Ohio match.
The winner of the Penn State first and second round NCAA site will remain at Rec Hall for the NCAA Regional Championship on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 12-13. The Penn State site winner will play the site winner from Dayton, Ohio, which features Western Michigan, Dayton, Tennessee Tech and No. 16 seed Tulane. The other Regional Semifinal match will feature the Champaign, Ill., site winner (No. 9 seed Illinois, UW Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Western Kentucky) and the Berkeley, Calif., site winner (New Mexico State, St. Mary's, Siena, No. 8 seed Cal).
The winners from each of the four Regional sites (University Park, Pa., Austin, Texas, Fort Collins, Colo., Seattle, Wash.) will advance to the NCAA National Semifinal, to be held on Thursday, Dec. 18 at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb., with the National Championship match slated for Saturday, Dec. 20.
ALL SESSION tickets for the First and Second rounds MUST be purchased at the Bryce Jordan Center Ticket office or by calling 814-865-555 beginning on Monday, Dec. 1 up until 2:00 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 5. All session tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for youth and students with a valid college or university ID. SINGLE SESSION tickets WILL ONLY be available at Rec Hall on Friday and Saturday and are $7 for adults and $5 for youth and students.
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.