Jan. 3, 2009
University Park, Pa. - Penn State senior women's volleyball student-athletes Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) and Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) have been selected as two of four women's volleyball nominees for the 2008-2009 Honda Sports Award to determine the top woman collegiate athlete in the sport. Fawcett and Harmotto join Stanford's Foluke Akinradewo and Texas' Destinee Hooker as the finalists.
The winner after nationwide balloting will become a nominee for the Honda-Broderick Cup, awarded annually to the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. In addition to the honor of the selection, American Honda will donate $1,000 to the women's athletic fund of each nominee's university, with the winner's program receiving $5,000.
Fawcett, the 2008 AVCA National and Big Ten Player of the Year, helped the Nittany Lions to an undefeated record (38-0) and their second straight NCAA title. She averaged 3.78 kills per game on .358 hitting for the year, with her kills per game average ranking second on the team. Fawcett, a Human Development and Family Studies major, led the Penn State squad with 40 service aces and also added in 219 total blocks for the year.
Harmotto, a 2008 AVCA First Team All-American and a unanimous First Team All-Big Ten pick, led the team and the nation with a .486 hitting percentage. She aided Penn State in claiming its sixth consecutive Big Ten Championship as the Lions finished the 2008 campaign with a 114-2 individual game mark. Named the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American of the Year and an ESPN The Magazine First Team Academic All-American in 2008, Harmotto averaged 1.47 blocks per game for the year, good for third in the country, while also adding in 2.43 kills per game. An Elementary Education major, Harmotto will spend this semester student-teaching in England.
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.