Not the school but the state.
Penn State hosts BYU tonight in a regional women’s volleyball final with the winner advancing to the Final Four next weekend in Sacramento. The #17 ranked Cougars (24-7) will be looking to pull off a huge upset over #1 ranked Penn State (31-2).
Penn State has now won 33 consecutive matches on their home floor and look to be prohibitive favorites to make it the the NCAA championship semifinals for the fifth time in the last 15 years. Penn State is one of only two schools to play every NCAA tournament in the 24 years the NCAA has been hosting the VB championship. Stanford is the other and looks to be one of two schools with a chance to derail the Lions championship express (Nebraska is the other – Neb and Stan are the two schools the own a victory over PSU this season).
As good as Penn State is, they actually look to be a year away from putting their best team on the floor. They lose only one player who is a factor on this time, part-time starter and defensive player Kate Price, and have a very capable back-up already in place.
Hall of Fame coach Russ Rose has been building an incredible juggernaut here at PSU. He’s upgraded the talent on the team every year for the last five years (while winning the B10 title every year too). Penn State has now claimed the freshman of the year in the B10 for six years running. The absurd thing about it is that many of these freshman award winners have found themselves on the bench the following year because the incoming freshman have been even better. For example, the aforementioned senior Kate Price was named the B10 freshman of the year as a front row blocker in 2004. She was out of the starting lineup the next year and didn’t work her way back to the starting lineup until the second half of this season (and she’s only starting because she changed positions to a defensive specialist – she couldn’t break into the front row).
PSU’s starting line-up is now:
6’2″ Sr Kate Price – B10 Freshman of the Year (2004)
6’4″ Jr Nicolle Fawcett – National Freshman of Year (2005), 1st team All American (2005), Big Ten Freshman of the Year (2006), 1st team All Big Ten (2006, 2007)
6’2″ Jr Christa Harmotto – B10 Player of the Year (2007), 1st Team All B10 (2006, 2007)
6’3″ So Megan Hodge – National Freshman of the Year (2006), 1st team All American (2006), B10 Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year (2006), 1st team All B10 (2006, 2007)
6’0″ So Alicia Glass – 1st Team All B10 (2007)
6’2″ Fr Arielle Wilson – B10 Freshman of the Year (2007)
Coming off the bench is Sr Mellisa Walbridge who was 1st team All B10 and a 2nd team All American in 2005 but cannot break into the starting lineup now.
These girls have a good shot at a national crown this year and, barring injuries, should be an odd on favorite to win it all next year.
I’m looking forward to running between Rec Hall where the volleyball battle starts at 6:30 (ESPNU coverage for those who would like to watch) and the Bryce Jordan Center where the basketball team takes on Seton Hall at 8:00 PM (coverage on the Big Ten Network for those who might get the channel).