Aug. 13, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The back-to-back national champion Penn State women's volleyball team has been voted as the preseason favorite for the fifth consecutive year by the league coaches, conference officials announced Thursday. Four members of the Nittany Lion squad have earned Preseason All-Big Ten honors from the coaches, the most of any Big Ten school.
Junior middle hitter Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.), senior setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.), junior middle hitter Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) and senior outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) all earned preseason accolades. Both Glass and Hodge were unanimous selections. It is Hodge's third career honor, the second for both Wilson and Glass and the first for Brown.
The six-time defending Big Ten champions top the preseason poll for the sixth time since 2001. Minnesota was picked second in the preseason poll and Illinois was chosen third. Michigan was slated fourth, Wisconsin was tabbed fifth and Purdue rounded out the poll at sixth.
Penn State is one of seven schools with student-athletes selected to the Preseason All-Big Ten team and one of three schools to have multiple student-athletes chosen. Overall, 14 student-athletes were selected to the preseason squad. Joining Brown, Glass, Wilson and Hodge are Illinois' Michelle Bartsch (So., OH) and Laura DeBruler (Jr., OH), Indiana's Ashley Benson (Jr., MB), Michigan's Lexi Zimmerman (Jr., S) and Michigan State's Vanessa King (Sr., MB). Also making the list were Minnesota's Brook Dieter (Jr., OH), Lauren Gibbemeyer (Jr., MB) and Christine Tan (Sr., L), Purdue's Kristen Arthurs (Jr., MB) and Wisconsin's Brittney Dolgner (Sr., OH). DeBruler, King and Dieter were all unanimous selections.
Brown, a 2008 AVCA Second Team All-American, played in all 38 matches starting 22 last season. She was named to the NCAA Regional Championship All-Tournament Team and earned First Team AVCA All-Mideast Region accolades. Brown finished the season ranked fourth on the team with 217 kills to average 1.90 kills per set and her .426 hitting percentage ranked third on the team and in the Big Ten. Her 94 total blocks was good enough for fourth on the team. In the national championship match against Stanford, Brown tallied nine kills on .333 hitting and was second on the team with five block assists.
Glass directed the Penn State offense to a recording setting and nation-leading .390 hitting percentage in 2008 to top their own record of .350 set in 2007. The two-time AVCA All-American helped former Nittany Lion and now U.S. Women's National Team member Christa Harmotto to a nation-leading .486 attack percentage and none of her primary attackers hit below .349 for the season. While tallying 1,450 assists for the season, Glass led the nation with a 12.50 assists per set average and heads into her season season with a career average of 12.67 assists per set to rank third on PSU's all-time list. Glass started all 38 matches and played all 116 sets. She totaled 64 kills for the season, tallying at least one kill in all but six matches. She also ranked third on the team 212 digs and notched 114 total blocks.
A 2008 AVCA Second Team All-American, Wilson heads into her junior season with an ever-growing list of honors. She earned Academic All-Big Ten honors, was a First Team All-Big Ten selection and a First Team AVCA All-Mideast Region selection in 2008. Wilson played every set last season and ranked second on the team and in the league with a .458 hitting percentage. As one of the team's top blockers, Wilson was second on the team with 159 total blocks and tied with Harmotto for first on the team with 145 block assists. Her 159 total blocks ranked fifth in the Big Ten.
A three-time AVCA First Team All-American, Hodge was named the Most Outstanding Player at both the NCAA Regional Championship and the NCAA National Championship. She was a Unanimous First Team All-Big Ten selection, earned Academic All-Big Ten Honors and was an ESPN The Magazine Second Team Academic All-American. Hodge started all 38 matches and led the Nittany Lions with 470 kills for a 4.09 kills per set average. She attacked at a .349 clip for the season to rank fifth on the team and seventh in the league. Hodge heads into her senior season with 1,582 career kills, which ranks fifth on Penn State's all-time list, and her 4.51 kills per set career average ranks second. Hodge has proven to be a versatile player posting 242 digs in 2008, behind only former teammate Roberta Holehouse.
The Nittany Lions open the 2009 season at the Active Ankle Challenge on Aug. 28-29 hosted by Saint Louis University. Penn State faces Miami University (Ohio) at 5 p.m. CT on Friday. The home opener is scheduled for Sept. 4 with Buffalo in the Nittany Lion Invitational. Action with the Bulls is set for 7 p.m. The Nittany Lions open the Big Ten slate at Northwestern on Sept. 25.