Dec. 18, 2017
AVCA RELEASE
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's volleyball team picked up the No. 3 ranking in the final American Volleyball Coaches Association Poll of 2017, as released by the organization's office on Monday afternoon.
The Nittany Lions finished with a 33-2 record, and a nation-leading 94.3-winning percentage, after reaching the NCAA Semifinals for the 13th time in program history.
As a team, Penn State finished 2017 with a national-best .339 hitting percentage and finished fourth in the nation with 3.05 blocks per set. Haleigh Washington (Colorado Springs, Co.) highlighted both of those categories for the Nittany Lions as Washington finished with the top hitting percentage in 2017 at .492 while finishing ninth in blocks per set at 1.50.
Simone Lee, Penn State's lone representative on the NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team, finished 2017 with a Big Ten-best 547.5 points, for 4.45 points per set. She also finished with a career-high .317 hitting percentage for the season.
Washington and Lee were both 2017 AVCA First Team All-Americans.
Kendall White, a Second Team All-American who started every match at libero, will one of three returning starters for Penn State for 2018, as she joins middle blocker Tori Gorrell, 110 of 123 sets played, and setter Bryanna Weiskircher, who played in all 123 set.
Penn State finished the season with six American Volleyball Coaches Association All-America honorees, a Big Ten Championship, nine Academic All-Big Ten selections, and eight Penn State graduates.