June 21, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's volleyball was honored by the Big Ten Conference as the Big Ten's 2010-11 Women's Team of the Year. The Nittany Lion women were also named the league's Team of the Year in 2009-10.
The PSU women's volleyball team made history once again during the 2010 season winning a fourth consecutive national championship with a 3-0 sweep of California on Dec. 18. The squad became the first Division I women's volleyball team to win four NCAA titles in a row. With the six postseason wins, the Nittany Lions have 72 NCAA Tournament wins, which is fourth-best in Division I history, and have won 24 straight postseason matches to set an NCAA Division I volleyball record.
The squad, which finished with an overall record of 32-5, continued its dominance in the Big Ten last season winning its 14th overall and eighth straight Big Ten title. The team's streak of eight consecutive titles is a conference record. Despite starting out Big Ten play going 3-3, the Nittany Lions finished 16-4 in conference action to take the crown.
Penn State's record-breaking 109-match winning streak came to an end last season almost three years to the day it began with a 3-0 loss to Stanford. The streak is the longest Division I women's streak in history and second overall only to the Miami men's tennis team's streak of 137 straight matches. During the unprecedented streak, the Nittany Lions lost only 19 sets and won a record-breaking 111 straight sets.
The Nittany Lions open the 2011 season on Aug. 26 when they host the AVCA Showcase at Rec Hall. Penn State faces Oregon at 7 p.m. Big Ten play begins on Sept. 21 at Nebraska. Head coach Russ Rose, in his 33rd season at the helm of the Penn State program, welcomes the return of four starters from the 2010 National Championship team, including AVCA Division I National Freshman of the Year and Second Team All-American Deja McClendon (Louisville, Ky.) and NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team member Kristin Carpenter (Mechanicsville, Va.). Rose also welcomes back 11 letterwinners and welcomes the addition of five freshmen.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit GoPSUsports.com. The Penn State women's volleyball 2011 season is presented by Rockvale Outlets and The Outlets at Hershey.