PENN STATE DEFEATS STANFORD IN FIVE TO WIN THE NCAA WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
12/15/2007
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player Megan Hodge had a match-high 26 kills to lead Penn State to a thrilling five-game victory of top-seeded Stanford 3-2 (30-25, 30-26, 23-30, 19-30, 15-8) on Saturday night at Arco Arena to notch the Nittany Lions’ second Div. I women’s volleyball national championship.
With the victory, Penn State (34-2) avenged an early-season five-game loss to the Cardinal (32-3) in New Haven, Conn., at the Yale Classic on Sept. 15. Saturday was the Nittany Lions’ first appearance in the national championship match in eight years and fifth overall.
Stanford was appearing in its second straight final – and 13th overall – after dropping a four-game contest to championship host Nebraska last year.
Penn State again had a balanced attack – as it did throughout the tournament – with four players in double figures in kills as Hodge was joined by junior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (19), junior middle Christa Harmotto (13) and freshman middle Arielle Wilson (12). Sophomore setter Alisha Glass dished out a match-high 65 assists while junior libero Roberta Holehouse led all players in digs with 17.
Stanford junior middle hitter and AVCA National Player of the Year Foluke Akinradewo and freshman outside hitter Alix Klineman led the Cardinal with 18 kills apiece. Akinradewo hit .425 and finished the season as the nation’s leader with a .499 mark in that category. That is the second highest since the 30-point rally scoring format was implemented in 2001.
Senior setter Bryn Kehoe had 62 assists and had five aces while senior middle hitter Franci Girard added 10 kills and hit .400 – both were playing in the third national championship match of their four-year careers. Junior outside hitter Cynthia Barboza notched her 20th double-double of the season, finishing with 16 kills and 12 digs. Klineman chipped in with 15 digs for her 11th double-double of the season.
Game five was tied at 4-4 before Hodge, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, served out a six-point run. Harmotto and Glass each had two kills in the run, Fawcett notched a kill off a Hodge bump set and Klineman committed an attack error. Hodge scored championship point, ripping a kill right in the middle of the court to secure the title.
Nerves appeared to be a factor in the first game as the teams combined to miss nine serves and committed 15 errors. Game two was much cleaner as just two points did not end in either a kill, block or service ace. Stanford did not commit an attack error in game four.
Penn State hit .317 for the match and finished the tournament hitting .422 as a team which shattered the previous tournament record of .369 set by Long Beach State in 1995. That year, the 49ers only played in two tournament matches. Stanford hit .291 and was outhit for just the second time all season.
The championship match was witnessed by 13,631 fans at Arco Arena, the second largest crowd ever to witness an NCAA Women’s Volleyball Championship match. The 26,679 two-day total attendance for the championship also ranks second all-time.
Penn State and Stanford are the only two teams to have reached every NCAA Div. I Women’s Volleyball Tournament since its inception in 1981. Combined, the two have appeared in the final 16 times in 27 years and have faced each other twice.
Both of Penn State’s national championships have come at the expense of Stanford. The Nittany Lions won their lone title in 1999 in a sweep of the Cardinal in Hawaii, while Stanford won its fourth championship two years earlier in a five-game victory over Penn State at Washington State.
