Dec. 21, 2014
By Tony Mancuso
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The celebration images from inside Chesapeake Energy Arena will never get old for Nittany Lion fans across the country.
As senior Dominique Gonzalez's service ace dropped to the floor on match point, Penn State cemented its place atop the college volleyball world with an unprecedented seventh national championship.
The Nittany Lions (36-3) won going away in Saturday's title tilt with a truly dominant third-set in a 3-0 sweep of BYU.
Six national championships in an eight-year span is a remarkable feat for a program that has set the benchmark for success.
The list of accomplishments for five-time AVCA Head Coach of the Year Russ Rose and the program is astonishing. In addition to six national titles in the past eight seasons, the Nittany Lions have gone 42-2 in the postseason since the 2007 season. The program's cumulative record since the start of 2007 is 270-23, which includes a string of 109-straight match wins from September of 2007 to September of 2010.
All six national championships in the past eight years have a unique story and transpired under unique circumstances. The first came in Sacramento after a five-set battle with Stanford in 2007. The '08 title run featured an epic semifinal clash with Nebraska in Omaha during an undefeated season in which Penn State lost just two individual sets.
The 2009 season's national title match victory over Texas may go down as the single greatest match in Penn State history, which also capped off an undefeated season. The '10 title came with a senior class - Blair Brown, Alyssa D'Errico and Arielle Wilson - that graduated with four national championship rings. The '13 championship came behind a stellar group of seniors who combined for 10 years worth of All-America honors.
That brings us to 2014.
Having graduated a 2013 senior class that featured All-Americans Deja McClendon, Ariel Scott and Katie Slay, the Nittany Lions entered the season with big shoes to fill. Penn State signed a standout recruiting class, but counting on rookies to step in and produce immediately is never sure recipe for success.
Led by AVCA National Player of the Year Micha Hancock, the Lions opened the season with a 16-2 mark. Still learning and growing with each passing set, the turning point of the season came on Oct. 11 when the Lions suffered a 3-1 setback to Illinois at home.
Five days later, the Lions battled past Purdue in five sets. They never looked back from there.
Penn State rattled off 16-consecutive victories in straight sets en route to the NCAA regional final match against fourth-seeded Wisconsin (3-1). The freshman duo of AVCA Freshman of the Year Ali Frantti and Big Ten Freshman of the Year Haleigh Washington complemented an upperclassman rotation of Hancock, Nia Grant, Gonzalez, Lacey Fuller, Megan Courtney and Aiyana Whitney.
The Lions ousted Wisconsin in a four-set match to punch a ticket to the national semifinals for the 12th time in program history. In a clash of volleyball powers in Oklahoma City, the Nittany Lions rose to the occasion in the semifinals. Behind a dominant effort from Courtney, the Lions marched past No. 1 Stanford for a date with unseeded BYU in the national championship match.
Leading 1-0 on Saturday night in the national championship match, the Nittany Lions weathered a charge from the Cougars in set two. Penn State outlasted BYU for a 26-24 win in the second frame before turning up the wick in a dominant third set.
"I thought we had a great game plan," Rose said. "I thought the players worked really hard at executing it, and we feel great about tonight's result."
In six NCAA Tournament matches this season, the Nittany Lions dropped just two total sets. And the end result sent the team to a late-night charter flight home on Saturday with a championship trophy bound for Rec Hall.
"It's pretty cool," Hancock said. "What's hitting me now is I'm not coming back to play with my girls. I've been around it for a long time. They're like a family to me."
NCAA women's volleyball is an ultra-competitive sport with 334 teams at the Division I level. Winning one national championship is a remarkable accomplishment, let alone six in eight seasons.
With that in mind, the 2014 senior class will leave Happy Valley with back-to-back national titles.
The string of success Penn State Women's Volleyball has achieved since 2007 has raised the bar. Everyone in the volleyball world expects the Nittany Lions to win. But that's what makes Rose such a masterful motivator.
The outside world expects Penn State to compete for the national title every season. But Rose just works to get the most out of his players so that they are at their best in December. Sure, there is a bit of fortune involved in a national title run in any sport, but it is no coincidence the Nittany Lions win on the biggest stage.
"Nothing is easy. It would be naive to think it's easy," Rose said. "But, I don't know, I just don't know how you would compare something like this. I think you embrace it for what it is. Just because I don't jump around and get all excited doesn't mean I'm not thrilled. But every day it's my job to try to make these sort of things happen."
Rose never compares national titles or thinks about past results. He looks at each team as a unique group. But in his eyes, the titles are not about him, they are about the players on the floor.
"It's about the kids tonight," Rose said. "Dom Gonzalez could easily have been the MVP in my opinion for the two matches she played here. Nia Grant was fabulous tonight. And it's a team victory. That's one of the things that we've been really good throughout the year. It's been a good team. I wouldn't say it's been great fun all the time. But we were good at the things we were good at. We were in a great conference. "
Yes, Penn State will need to replace a stellar group of leaders in Fuller, Gonzalez, Grant and Hancock for 2015, but the pool of returning talent is deep. The future continues to shine bright for a program that has set the standard for excellence.
For now, though, the Lions will celebrate a seventh national championship.