Dec. 1, 2008
University Park, Pa. - Following its sixth consecutive outright conference title, the top-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team (32-0, 20-0) added seven more names into its record books. Senior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) was named the Big Ten Player of the Year, the fourth consecutive year the league's top player has been a Nittany Lion. Also garnering recognition, Penn State head coach Russ Rose was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year, by both the coaches and the media, for the 10th time in his career.
In addition to Fawcett, senior middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.), junior setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.), junior outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) and sophomore middle hitter Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) all earned First Team All-Big Ten honors, with Fawcett, Harmotto, Glass and Hodge picking up the unanimous nod. Senior libero Roberta Holehouse (Joppa, Md.) was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten and junior middle hitter Kelsey Ream (State College, Pa.) was selected as Penn State's Sportsmanship honoree.
Fawcett becomes the third different Big Ten Player of the Year on the 2008 Penn State squad, as Harmotto earned the honors last year and Hodge picked up the recognition in 2006. Fawcett and Harmotto are only the eighth and ninth four-time First Team All-Big Ten selections in conference history, and just the third and the fourth in Penn State history, as they join Bonnie Bremner (1996-99) and Lauren Cacciamani (1996-99).
Rose picks up his 10th conference Coach of the Year accolade while the Lions' five All-Big Ten honors bring Penn State's total number of All-Big Ten selections to 73 since joining the league for the 1991 season.
Nicole Fawcett, a three-time AVCA All-American, earns her fourth consecutive unanimous First Team All-Big Ten nod and her first Big Ten Player of the Year honor. A member of the 2008 NCAA Championship All-Tournament team, Fawcett ranks second on the team in kills (367) while hitting .395, good for fourth on the team and fifth in the Big Ten. She ranks second all-time in career kills (1,879) and has led the team in kills 15 times this season. A three-time Big Ten Player of the Week this year, Fawcett has 24 double-digit kill matches and has 23 contests of hitting .300 or better, and also leads the team and the Big Ten with 35 service aces, good for 0.37 aces per game. An all-around player, Fawcett has at least two digs in 31 of 32 matches, including 21 matches of five or more digs on a team that is leading the nation in both hitting percentage (.404) and blocking (3.19 bpg) while holding its opponents to hitting .080 for the season.
Rose earns his 10th Big Ten Coach of the Year honor, also picking up the award in 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2007. Holding a career record of 957-159 in his 30 seasons for a nation-leading winning percentage of .858, Rose guided the Nittany Lions to their 12th Big Ten title in 18 seasons since joining the Big Ten in 1991, and his 2008 team became the eighth squad since double-round robin play began in 1985 to finish the Big Ten schedule with an undefeated 20-0 conference record. His team became the first squad in NCAA history - in any division - to complete the regular season without dropping an individual game, and the Lions are currently in the midst of an NCAA-record 58-match winning streak. He has led his teams to 28 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, one of only two schools to appear in every postseason event, while collecting his 20th conference title this season after winning eight straight Atlantic 10 titles from 1983-1990. He has coached at least one All-American in 28 of his 29 seasons, including 18 conference Players of the Year in the last 24 years. Off the court, his players have earned 115 Academic All-Big Ten honors in the last 17 years.
Christa Harmotto is also a four-time First Team All-Big Ten selection. Recently named the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American of the Year, Harmotto is a three-time AVCA All-American and leads the country with a .515 hitting percentage, which is just shy of the overall NCAA record. She has at least five kills in 28 matches, including a season-high 13 kills on .706 hitting against Illinois-Chicago, also hitting .500 or better in 19 contests. Harmotto leads the team and ranks third in the Big Ten with 1.42 blocks per game and earlier this season became only fourth Nittany Lion player in history to record more than 1,000 career kills and 600 career blocks. She has at least one block in every match of the season, including 29 multiple-block matches.
Alisha Glass earns her second straight First Team All-Big Ten nod. A 2007 AVCA All-American and a three-time Sports Imports/AVCA National and Big Ten Player of the Week, Glass has directed the Penn State offense to a nation-leading .404 hitting percentage, which is currently a rally-scoring-era record and falls just shy of the all-time record of .406, and all five of her primary hitters are hitting .335 or better with no lower than 1.82 kills per game. Individually, Glass leads the Big Ten and nation with 12.54 assists per game and ranks third on the team with 1.76 digs per game. She has at least one dig in every match of the year, including a season-high 10 at Purdue and ranks third on the team in blocking with 0.98 blocks per game. Glass has 24 multiple-block matches, including nine at Minnesota and also has 60 kills on .358 hitting for the year.
Megan Hodge picks up her third consecutive unanimous First Team All-Big Ten honor. Last year's NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player, Hodge was also recently named an ESPN The Magazine Second Team Academic All-American. She is a two-time First Team AVCA All-American and ranks first on the team and third in the Big Ten with 4.00 kills per game while also sitting eighth in the conference with a .335 hitting percentage. Hodge has double-digit kills in 24 matches, including a season-high 18 kills on .536 hitting at Michigan to end the regular season, and in the last four matches has recorded 56 kills on 95 swings with only eight errors to average 4.67 kills per game on .505 hitting. Hodge ranks second on the team in digs with 196 and has four multiple dig matches on a team that ranks first in the nation in hitting percentage (.404) and blocks per game (3.19), while also producing 39 total blocks for the season.
Arielle Wilson earns her first career First Team All-Big Ten nod. Last season's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Wilson ranks second on the team and in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.482). She has at least five kills in 25 matches, including six double-digit kill matches, and has hit .500 or better in 17 matches. Wilson leads the team in total blocks (134) while ranking second on the squad and fifth in the Big Ten in blocks per game (1.40). She has at least one block in every match of the season, including 30 multiple-block matches, while recording five or more blocks 12 times. In the last five matches of the year, Wilson has 43 kills on 59 swings with only three errors to hit .678.
Roberta Holehouse picks up her first career All-Big Ten recognition. The defensive leader for the Nittany Lions, Holehouse has posted 288 digs for the season, good for an average of 3.31 digs per game, on a team who leads the country in hitting percentage (.404) and blocks per game (3.19) and ranks second in kills per game (15.17). Holehouse has led the squad in digs on 18 occasions and earlier this season reached the 1,000 dig plateau, currently sitting seventh all-time with 1,230 career digs. Possessing a tough jump-serve, Holehouse ranks second on the team and third in the Big Ten with 27 service aces, good for 0.31 aces per game.
Kelsey Ream earned Penn State's Sportsmanship recognition for her actions on and off the court. Ream is primarily a serving specialist, but has also seen time as a middle hitter with six kills and 12 aces for the year.
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.
A complete listing of the 2008 All-Big Ten Team and individual honors follows:
All-Big Ten Team*
LAURA DEBRULER, So., OH, ILL
Ashley Benson, So., OH, IND
LEXI ZIMMERMAN, So., S, MICH
Vanessa King, Jr., MB, MSU
Brook Dieter, So., OH, MINN
LAUREN GIBBEMEYER, So., MB, MINN
Christine Tan, Jr., LIB, MINN
NICOLE FAWCETT, Sr., OH, PSU (4th selection)
ALISHA GLASS, Jr., S, PSU (2)
MEGAN HODGE, Jr., OH, PSU (3)
CHRISTA HARMOTTO, Sr., MH, PSU (4)
Arielle Wilson, So., MH, PSU
STEPHANIE LYNCH, Sr., MB, PUR (3)
Honorable Mention All-Big Ten
Johannah Bangert, So., MB, ILL
Erica Short, Sr., OH, IND
Beth Karpiak, Sr., MB, MICH
Katie Dull, So., OH, OSU
Roberta Holehouse, Sr., LIB, PSU
All-Big Ten Freshman Team
Michelle Bartsch, OH, ILL
Caitlin Cox, LIB, IND
Alex Hunt, MB, MICH
Natalie Emro, S, MSU
Janelle Gabrielsen, S/OH, WIS
Elle Ohlander, MB, WIS
Big Ten Player of the Year
Nicole Fawcett, PSU
Defensive Player of the Year
Christine Tan, MINN
Freshman of the Year
Michelle Bartsch, ILL
Coach of the Year
Russ Rose, PSU (Coaches & Media)
Unanimous selections in ALL CAPS
*Additional honoree due to ties