Sept. 7, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Freshman outside hitter Darcy Dorton (Muncie, Ind.) was named Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Week, conference officials announced Monday. It is Dorton's second honor of the season after she was named Freshman of the Week on August 31. Dorton shares this week's honor with outside hitter Tabitha Love of Minnesota.
Dorton helped guide the Nittany Lions to sweeps of Buffalo, Robert Morris and Pittsburgh this past weekend in the Nittany Lion Invitational. In her Rec Hall debut, Dorton played in all three matches starting in two. She finished third on the team with 24 kills, averaging 2.67 kills per set on .386 hitting. Against intra-state rival Pittsburgh, Dorton was one of three players with double-digit kills finishing second on the team with 11. On defense, Dorton averaged 1.2 digs per set, including recording eight against Robert Morris. In the home opener against Buffalo on Friday, Sept. 4, Dorton tallied four kills on six errorless swings as part of the Penn State offense that set a Big Ten record with a .702 team attack percentage.
Other Big Ten honorees in addition to Dorton and Love include, Christina Meister of Iowa as Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and Michigan's Lexi Zimmerman as the conference Player of the Week.
Penn State (6-0) is back on the road on Sept. 11-12 for the Duke Invitational in Durham, N.C. The Nittany Lions open the tournament against Loyola (Md.) at 5 p.m. on Sept. 11 and take on Charleston (12 p.m.) and Duke (7 p.m.) on Saturday, Sept. 12. All matches will be played at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium.