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Dec. 11, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Fifth-seeded Penn State women's volleyball (32-3) is set to make its 12th consecutive regional semifinal appearance, traveling to Louisville to take on No. 12 UCLA (22-11) Friday, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. in the KFC Yum! Center.
The matchup will broadcast live on ESPN3 with Melissa Lee and Missy Whittemore on the call. Fans can also listen live on WRSC 103. 1 FM in the State College and surrounding areas.
The winner of Friday's match will move on to the regional finals Saturday, Dec. 13, taking on the winner of No. 4 Wisconsin and Ohio State, which begins at 5 p.m. Friday evening.
The Nittany Lions advanced to the round of 16 with a pair of straight set victories against Siena and Dayton in the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournament last weekend. PSU's streak of 12 straight regional semifinal appearances is the longest stretch in DI.
The Bruins are a familiar foe for the Nittany Lions as Penn State claimed a 3-0 win against UCLA in the final match of the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge earlier this season on the road in Palo Alto, Calif.
QUICK HITS
* The win against Dayton stretched the current Penn State winning streak to 16 consecutive matches. Having earned its last 15 straight by way of a three-set decision, PSU has also won its last 47 consecutive sets.
* Making their 34th appearance in the NCAA tournament, Penn State is one of just two programs, with Stanford being the other, to participate in every postseason event since 1981. The Nittany Lions hold an 86-26 all-time record in NCAA tournament action.
* Totaling 10 aces against Siena and Dayton, senior Micha Hancock served her way to the top of the Big Ten & the NCAA single-season record books with 119 aces on the year.
* Four Nittany Lions earned spots on the AVCA All-Northeast Region team including Micha Hancock, Nia Grant, Aiyana Whitney and Ali Frantti. Additionally, Frantti was tabbed the AVCA Northeast Region Freshman of the Year, making her the eighth Nittany Lion in program history to earn AVCA regional Freshman of the Year honors.
* Six Nittany Lions earned nine Big Ten postseason awards. Seniors Micha Hancock and Nia Grant earned unanimous All-Big Ten honors, while freshman Haleigh Washington picked up All-Big Ten, All-Freshman and Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. Redshirt junior Aiyana Whitney and freshman Ali Frantti also earned All-Big Ten Honorable Mention honors.
* Penn State capped off the regular season win a dominant straight set victory against then-No. 10 Nebraska to move to 8-3 against teams ranked in the AVCA Top 25 this season.
* Averaging 1.05 aces per set, senior Micha Hancock has once again secured herself as the nation's leader in the category for the 13th consecutive week. With more aces than anyone in the NCAA standings (119) in 2014, her career total (373) ranks first all-time in both the Big Ten and Penn State record books.
* As a team, Penn State is averaging 2.00 aces per set, which ranks first nationally and leads the conference.
* Penn State's .355 hitting clip ranks first in the nation, while also leading the Big Ten. Han¬cock's also paced a trio of top Nittany Lion attackers to .365 or better hitting, led by senior Nia Grant's .453 hitting clip, which ranks second nationally and in the conference. Haleigh Washington's .492 hitting percentage leads the Big Ten, while redshirt junior Aiyana Whitney rounds out the group with a .362 hitting percentage, which is slotted third in the Big Ten standings.
* This year, PSU has matched up against 10 different teams that made this year's 64-team NCAA tournament bracket. In 12 outings, the Nittany Lions are 9-3 against the field of regular season NCAA tournament team opponents.
* With 1,157 wins, head coach Russ Rose is presently in sole possession of first place on the DI NCAA all-time wins list ahead of current Hawaii head coach Dave Shoji (1,151). The two active head coaches have traded the top spot throughout the season. Both Rose and Shoji are the only two NCAA DI head coaches to have more than 1,000 career wins.
NITTANY LIONS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
With an 86-26 all-time record in the NCAA tournament, Penn State has totaled 10 national final appearances ('93, '97, '98, '99, '07, '08, '09, '10, '12 '13), 11 trips to the national semi¬finals ('93, '94, '97, '98, '99, '07, '08, '09, '10, '12, `13) and six national championships ('99, '07, '08, '09, '10, '13).
REGIONAL SEMIFINAL SNIPPETS
Making their 12th consecutive trip the NCAA regional semifinals this weekend, the Nittany Lions' streak of appearances in the round of 16 is the longest active DI stretch. Last year, Penn State pushed past Michigan State in four sets in the Lexington Regional semifinals.
SUCCESS IN THE SECOND ROUND
Penn State improved to 20-5 all-time in round two of the NCAA tournament after posting a 3-0 win against Dayton. The win against the Flyers also marked Penn State's 12th consecutive second-round victory, since 2002, when Temple knocked PSU out of the tourney.
FIRST ROUND FACTS
PSU hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament for the 28th time since 1981, welcoming a trio of tournament teams to Rec Hall last week for the 24th consecutive year. With the win against Siena, Penn State improved to 29-5 all-time in opening matches of the tourney, stretching its streak of 3-0 victories in the first round to 25 straight.
RE-WRITING THE RECORD BOOK
With seven aces in the win against Siena, senior Micha Hancock served her way to the top of the Big Ten single-season record book with 116 aces on the year to break the previous conference mark which was set by Minnesota's Sharon Oesterling in 1989. With three aces the next evening, Hancock moved into sole possession of first place on the NCAA single-season 25-point scoring format aces list with 119 aces, which passes the record (118) originally set by Christine Edwards (Jackson State) in 2012.
SIX NITTANY LIONS EARN NINE BIG TEN POSTSEASON AWARDS
Six Nittany Lions earned nine Big Ten postseason awards. The Nittany Lions were well represented on all three conference teams, while freshman Haleigh Washington has earned Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors.
Seniors Micha Hancock and Nia Grant earned unanimous selections to the All-Big Ten team while freshman Haleigh Washington joined the duo on the All-Big Ten squad. Redshirt junior Aiyana Whitney and freshman Ali Frantti picked up All-Big Ten honorable mention accolades. Frantti and Washington also earned unanimous spots on the All-Freshman team. Senior Lacey Fuller rounded out the group as Penn State's sportsmanship honoree.
Washington is Penn State's 12th Nittany Lion in program history to garner Freshman of the Year honors. PSU has claimed the individual honor in four of the last five years with current Nittany Lions Hancock and Courtney each earning the laurel in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Hancock earned her fourth consecutive postseason honor, as she's earned a spot on either the All-Big Ten team or the Big Ten All-Freshman squad each year. Grant, Whitney, Frantti and Washington all picked up their first career conference postseason accolades.
THAT'S SOME HEAVY HITTING
Senior Setter Micha Hancock has directed the Nittany Lions to a .355 hitting clip, which ranks first in the nation, while also leading the Big Ten. Hancock's also paced a trio of top Nittany Lion attackers to .365 or better hitting, led by senior Nia Grant's .453 hitting clip, which ranks second nationally and second in the conference. Haleigh Washington's .492 hitting percent¬age leads the Big Ten, while redshirt junior Aiyana Whitney rounds out the pair with a .362 hitting percentage, which is slotted fourth in the Big Ten standings.
PROTECTING THE HOUSE
Including an 18-1 mark in 2014, Penn State owns a 564-33 (.945) all-time record at home in Rec Hall. Following a dominant straight set victory in the regular season finale against No.10 Nebraska, the Nittany Lions improved to 257-18 (.935) all-time in Big Ten matches on the court in Rec Hall.
Only Ohio State has defeated the Nittany Lions on their home court more than three times, having topped PSU five times. Penn State has posted unblemished records in Big Ten play at home in seven of the last 10 years, winning 186 of 200 matches in the 10-year stretch. In the past five seasons, PSU has captured 90 wins in 100 total conference tilts with fewer than five league losses each year.
STRAIGHT SET SUCCESS
Penn State has earned 29 of its 32 (91%) victories this season in straight sets. Within those 29 sweeps, PSU has held seven teams (Iona, William & Mary, Eastern Illinois, DePaul, East Carolina, Rutgers and Siena) to less than 40 total points scored in a single match. Last sea¬son, the Nittany Lions earned 23 of their 34 victories in 3-0 sweeps. Additionally, Penn State has earned its last 15 consecutive wins by way of a straight-set decision, having won the last 47 straight sets since dropping two on the road in a thrilling five-set win at then-No. 14 Purdue, Oct. 17.
SSSS...BOOM!
Establishing herself as one of the top servers in the nation, senior Micha Hancock is presently averaging 1.05 aces per set, which ranks first nationally for the 13th consecutive week, while also ranking atop the Big Ten conference standings. Hancock closed out the last two weeks of the non-conference slate with back-to-back weeks featuring at least 21 aces.
Building on her PSU career record throughout the 2013 season, she moved into sole possession of first place on the Penn State all-time list with 254 aces on the year to surpass Ellen Hensler, who previously set the record in 1986. Since reaching the mark last year, Hancock has improved her total to 373, which also ranks first on the Big Ten all-time record list.
In the Big Ten standings, her 119 aces this year puts her into sole possession of first place on the Big Ten all-time single season record list, as she broke the record originally set by Minnesota's Sharon Oesterliong in 1989. With one ace against Michigan earlier this season she earned her 92nd ace to reset the PSU all-time single-season record that she previously set in 2011.
DOM CAN DIG IT!
Leading the team in digs in 29 of 35 matches this season, senior libero Dominique Gonzalez highlighted the 2014 conference season opener with her third 20-dig performance of the season against then-No. 5 Wisconsin, before following with a season-high mark of 26 digs in a 3-1 win at No. 17 Minnesota. Having broken into the conference standings early in the Big Ten portion of the schedule, her 3.62 digs per frame ranks 11th in the Big Ten.
ROSE ON TOP OF NCAA DI ALL-TIME WINS LIST
With 1,157 wins, head coach Russ Rose remains atop the NCAA DI all-time wins list with six¬ more victories than current Hawaii head coach Dave Shoji (1,151). The two active head coach¬es have traded the top spot throughout the season. Both Rose and Shoji are the only two NCAA DI head coaches with more than 1,000 career wins. The two are also one of three active NCAA head coaches across all three divisions to have more than 1,100 career wins. Additionally, Rose owns the all-time record for NCAA DI career winning percentage, having posted a career clip of .864 in the past 35 seasons.
TOUGH DEFENSE
Penn State has limited its opponents to .140 hitting this season, which ranks first in the Big Ten standings and fourth nationally. PSU has held 26 teams to .200 or lower hitting on 27 occasions in 2014. The Nittany Lions have limited seven squads to hitting clips between .201- .250. Only one team (Illinois/.315) has posted a .300 or better hitting percentage. The Nittany Lions held their first five consecutive Big Ten opponents to less than .200 hitting, while also limiting Rutgers to a Big Ten-match low -.039 attacking percentage. In 20 conference matches, only the Illini were able to hit higher than .250 against Penn State.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Should the Nittany Lions defeat UCLA, Penn State will advance to the Louisville regional finals Saturday, Dec. 13th, taking on the winner of the Ohio State-No. 4 Wisconsin match, which begins at 5 p.m. ET in the KFC Yum! Center. A regional final appearance for the Nittany Lions would mark the seventh showing for PSU in the round of eight in the last eight years. Last year, Penn State outlasted Stanford in the Lexington regional finals to move on to the national semifinals.