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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Nov. 2, 2007 - The top-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team downed Purdue in three games (30-24, 30-14, 30-28) Friday night at Rec Hall in front of 3,672 fans. The Nittany Lions improve to 21-2 overall and 13-0 in the Big Ten while the Boilermakers fall to 13-11 and 6-7 in the conference.

Junior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) and sophomore outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) both pounded 13 kills as freshman middle hitter Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) posted 10 kills on .421 hitting. Redshirt freshman opposite Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) notched nine kills on .467 attacking while junior middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) notched eight kills on .500 hitting. As a team, Penn State attacked at a .319 clip while holding Purdue to hitting .111.

Sophomore setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) dished out 49 assists and added three kills and eight digs as junior libero Roberta Holehouse (Joppa, Md.) led all players with 12 digs. Both Hodge and senior Kate Price (Fraser, Mich.) recorded seven digs as Fawcett and Harmotto each provided five, a career-high-tying mark for Harmotto.


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Nov. 2, 2007



TEMPE, Ariz. - Christal Morrison and Becky Perry combined for 31 kills to lead the No. 4 Washington Huskies to a sweep of Arizona State on Friday night in Pac-10 volleyball action. The Huskies (22-1, 11-1 Pac-10) swept their 19th match of the season, winning by scores of 30-20, 30-22, 30-25.

Morrison led all players with 17 kills, hit .500 and had eight digs, while Perry chipped in 14 kills, hit .545 and led the UW with six total blocks. Jessica Swarbrick added 10 kills and hit .353 for the Huskies.

Huskies head coach Jim McLaughlin praised the play of both Morrison and freshman setter Jenna Hagglund.

"She [Morrison] had a great night and had some great swings. To hit over .500 against a good team - a team that's been hot - and to do it on the road, it just shows that she is one of the best, if not the best, outside hitter in the country."

Hagglund finished the night with 51 assists and led the Huskies in digs with a season-high 14. It was the third time in the past four matches that she has tallied double-figures in digs.

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Nov. 2, 2007

Stanford, Calif. - Senior middle blocker Franci Girard recorded one of her best offensive nights of the season, pounding 11 kills in 19 tries (.526), and the Stanford women's volleyball team swept the Oregon State Beavers tonight, 30-18, 30-19, 30-20 in Maples Pavilion. The sweep was Stanford's 16th of the year, and improves the team to 22-2 overall and 11-2 in Pac-10 play. The Beavers fall to 10-15, 3-10 Pac-10.

Freshman Alix Klineman paced the Cardinal with 15 kills, 10 digs and three blocks, marking her fifth career double-double. Klineman hit .458, and was among six Cardinal players who finished the night above .400. Girard's 11 kills marked the third time in four matches that the senior has been in double-figures, while freshman Cassidy Lichtman's three service aces were a career high. Stanford hit .435, one of its best clips of the year, and held the Beavers to just .173. Jill Sawatzky led OSU with 12 kills.

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LOS ANGELES - Senior All-America outside hitter Asia Kaczor (Wroclaw, Poland/College of Southern Idaho) had a team-high 21 kills along with 10 digs as the No. 6 USC Trojans defeated the No. 9 UCLA Bruins, 3-1 (24-30, 30-27, 30-26, 30-24), in a Pac-10 Conference match at the Galen Center. USC snapped a three-match losing streak to UCLA as the Trojans extended their winning streak in the Galen Center to 21 matches.

Kaczor registered 20 kills in a match for the fourth time in her last five matches as USC improve to 20-3 on the season, 9-3 in the Pac-10. UCLA fell to 16-7 overall and 6-6 in conference.

USC earned five points in the Lexus Gauntlet standings with the series now tied at 12.5-12.5

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Nov. 3, 2007

Madison, Wis. - The Michigan State University volleyball team knocked off No. 7 Wisconsin tonight, 3-1 (30-21, 25-30, 30-26, 30-28) in front of 5,092 fans at the University of Wisconsin Field House. The Spartans improve to 15-10 overall and 6-7 in the Big Ten Conference, while the Badgers drop only their third match of the season (19-3. 11-2). This was MSU's first over Wisconsin since 2003 and only their fourth-ever in 26 meetings in Madison.

"This was our biggest win in my three years here at Michigan State," said Head Coach Cathy George. "We played a great all-around game. We were able to come up with big plays at crucial moments tonight, allowing us to keep the momentum on our side."

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Nov. 2, 2007

BERKELEY - The No. 8 California volleyball team (19-5, 9-4 Pac-10) matched its Pac-10 record in wins from a year ago with a 3-0 sweep (30-23, 30-28, 30-23) of No. 19 Oregon (16-9, 5-8) tonight at Haas Pavilion. The Bears still have five matches on the schedule with the opportunity for post-season play.

Pulling off a second-straight sweep and extending their winning streak to three matches, the Bears completed the night hitting .321 with 51 kills (17e, 106att). Cal was led by senior outside hitter Angie Pressey's 15 kills (4e, 22att, .500) who posted the matches only double-double line by adding 11 digs to her effort. The Bears put up 11.5 total team blocks with all but two players getting at least one block assist in the match.

The Bears closed out the match with a strong effort, fending off a short-lived Oregon run when freshman setter Carli Lloyd put a ball right in the middle for senior middle hitter Ellen Orchard, who put the last kill down off two Duck blockers. The Bears put up their best hitting of the three games in game three by notching 19 kills on only 34 attempts with a match-low four errors (.441).

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Nov 2nd

FRESNO, Calif. - With Head Coach Dave Shoji missing the match with a stomach flu, the No. 11 University of Hawai`i Rainbow Wahine (20-4, 14-0 WAC) swept the Fresno State Bulldogs (5-21, 3-11) 30-26, 30-25 and 30-23, clinching their 12th-straight Western Athletic Conference title, at the Save Mart Center Friday.

Many of UH's players had contracted the same stomach flu that kept Shoji in Reno. The team was also delayed for two hours on the flight from Reno to San Francisco, before flying over to Fresno for the match. The team finally got into their hotel just three hours before match time.

Aneli Cubi-Otineru played through, hitting .385 with 14 kills and 13 digs. Jamie Houston added 17 kills and 15 digs while Elizabeth Ka`aihue led all players with 16 digs. Juliana Sanders put up nine kills and six blocks while Tara Hittle had six kills, 11 digs and three blocks.

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Nov 2nd, 2007

DURHAM, N.C. – Rachael Moss had 13 kills and 14 digs to lead the Duke volleyball team in a 3-0 (30-20, 30-22, 30-20) sweep of the Miami Hurricanes 3-0 Friday night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. With the win, Duke improves to 19-4 overall and 14-1 in the ACC while the Hurricanes fall to 10-14 and 4-11, respectively.

Carrie DeMange added 12 kills for Duke and finished with nine digs and five blocks defensively. Sue Carls hit an impressive .600 with nine kills and zero attack errors. Ali Hausfeld kept on her average with 42 assists with six Blue Devils recording kills and Duke hitting .264 in the match.

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Nov. 2, 2007

Svetlana Dukule had 14 kills and a block to lead the University of Louisville to a sweep of WVU and extend the Cardinal winning streak to 15 straight and stay unbeaten in the BIG EAST.

U of L moves to 18-4 with a perfect 11-0 league mark. West Virginia evens its record at 13, dropping to 4-8 in the BIG EAST. The Cardinals hit .371 and outblocked the Mountaineers 11-4. U of L notched seven service aces led by Rui Liu's three.

"We are playing with confidence now," said U of L head coach Leonid Yelin. "Every team comes to Cardinal Arena fired up and we have learned to play through their big pushes and stay steady."

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Nov 2nd, 2007

CHAROTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia volleyball team (15-9, 10-5 ACC) swept 24th-ranked and conference leader Clemson in impressive fashion Friday in Memorial Gymnasium. Each game was a hard-fought battle between the two teams, with Virginia coming out on top. Game scores were 30-23, 32-30, and 32-30.

The Tigers entered the match with a 21-2 overall record and had yet to be defeated (14-0) in league play. The match was played before a capacity crowd at Mem Gym with 916 in attendance, believed to be a Virginia record.

The last time the Cavaliers knocked off a ranked opponent was back on Oct. 5, 1996, a 3-1 win at home against No. 22 Georgia Tech.

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