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Nov. 9, 2007

EVANSTON, Ill. - The top-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team swept Northwestern (30-24, 30-20, 30-27) Friday night in Evanston, Ill. The Nittany Lions improve to 23-2 and 15-0 in the Big Ten while the Wildcats fall to 15-11 and 6-9 in conference action.

Junior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) led all players with 17 kills as redshirt freshman opposite Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) notched 14 kills on .450 hitting, sophomore outside hitter Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) posted 11 kills and junior middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) recorded seven kills.

Sophomore setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) dished out 45 assists as junior libero Roberta Holehouse (Joppa, Md.) led all players with 16 digs and senior Kate Price (Fraser, Mich.) notched nine digs. Fawcett and Hodge each tallied eight digs in the match as Glass added in six.

Each team recorded 9.5 team blocks as Harmotto led the Lions with seven stuffs and Glass added in five. Hodge also recorded all three of Penn State's service aces.

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November 9th, 2007

AUSTIN, Texas -- The No. 3 Texas Volleyball team used five double-digit kill efforts to knock off Big 12 Conference rival Texas A&M, 3-1 in the State Farm Lone Star Showdown Friday night at Gregory Gymnasium. Sophomore outside hitter Destinee Hooker fueled the Longhorns’ 30-27, 30-17, 27-30, 30-22 victory with a team-best 22 kills on .432 hitting.

Texas’ victory extended its winning streak to 16 matches and moved the Horns to 20-3 on the year and 15-1 in Big 12 play, while the Aggies fell to 18-9 and 7-9 in league play. The Longhorns’ loss in game three marked the first time that UT has dropped a game since Oct. 6 when it defeated No. 12 Kansas State in five games.

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Nov. 9, 2007

SEATTLE - Behind the play of Christal Morrison and Becky Perry, the fourth-ranked Washington volleyball team defeated No. 7 California, 3-1, on Friday night, avenging an earlier loss to the Golden Bears in Berkeley.

With the win, the Huskies remain in the hunt for the Pac-10 title at 23-2 overall and 12-2 in the Pac-10. Cal falls to 20-6 overall and 10-5 in Pac-10 play. Game scores were 16-30, 30-21, 30-26, 30-22.

Despite being outhit .217 to .174 and losing the first game, the Huskies rebounded to win the final three games in front of 3,768 fans at Bank of America Arena. The win keeps Washington one-half game back of Stanford (13-2 Pac-10) in the Pac-10 championship race.

After having their school-record 39-match home winning streak snapped last night by No. 5 Stanford, the Huskies were looking for a better performance tonight against a Golden Bears team that handed them their first loss of the season back on Oct. 11.

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Nov. 9, 2007

Pullman, Wash. - Coming off of one of its biggest wins of 2007, the Cardinal women's volleyball team came out firing again tonight, completing a sweep of the Washington schools with a 30-22, 30-21, 30-22 rout of the Washington State Cougars at Bohler Gym in Pullman. The win marked the 200th at Stanford for Head Coach John Dunning, and improves the team to 24-2 overall and 13-2 in conference play. Washington State drops to 9-19, 0-14 Pac-10.

Junior middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo was unstoppable at the net, peppering the Cougars with 12 kills in 15 attempts with just one error (.733) as the Cardinal earned its 17th sweep of the year. Akinradewo's hitting percentage was a season-high and her 12 kills led the team. Freshman Alix Klineman registered her second double-double of the weekend, adding 10 kills and 10 digs to the Stanford effort. Erin Waller and Franci Girard tallied eight kills apiece and Bryn Kehoe turned in 38 assists. Adetokunbo Faleti led the Cougars with 13 kills on the night.

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Nov. 9, 2007

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Senior All-America outside hitter Asia Kaczor (Wroclaw, Poland/College of Southern Idaho) recorded 22 kills and tied a school record with eight service aces Friday as the No. 6 USC Trojans swept the Oregon State Beavers, 3-0 (30-27, 30-18, 30-19), in a Pac-10 match.

Kaczor also had three block assists and three digs to tie her personal-best with 31.5 points on the evening. She has recorded 31.5 points three times in her USC career, but both times were accomplished in longer matches (five games at Arizona State on Oct. 6, 2006, and four games vs. Stanford on Oct. 27, 2007).

The eight service aces ties four other players, including three who also did it in three games. The last player to have eight aces was Janice Johnson vs. UC Irvine on Nov. 23, 1982.

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November 9th, 2007

Knoxville, TN

Senior outside hitter Marcie Hampton (Gainesville, Fla.) posted her 13th double-double of the season and senior setter Angie McGinnis (Fraser, Mich.) had a record-setting night to lead the eighth-ranked University of Florida to its 17th-straight Southeastern Conference title on Friday night with a 3-0 (30-20, 30-18, 30-27) win over Tennessee.

By clinching the league crown on Friday night, UF (23-1, 16-1 SEC) tied the Arkansas men’s cross country team for the most consecutive SEC titles in any sport – men’s or women’s. The championship also marked Florida’s second of the fall, joining the SEC regular-season crown that the soccer team captured a week ago.

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November 9th, 2007

EUGENE, Ore. - The University of Oregon volleyball team did it again on Friday night. In front of 1,420 at Mac Court, the 20th-ranked Ducks knocked off their second consecutive top-10 opponent, sweeping ninth-ranked UCLA (30-24, 30-28, 30-24).

The Ducks’ back-to-back victories over No. 6 USC and No. 9 UCLA, marks the first time in the history of the program Oregon has registered consecutive victories over top-10 opponents.

Oregon’s win broke a 40-match losing steak to the Bruins that dated back to Sept. 26, 1987, the program’s only other win (15-11, 12-15, 15-4, 15-6) against UCLA in the history of the series.

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November 9th, 2007

MADISON, Wis.

Scoring the last three points in game five, the 11th-ranked Wisconsin volleyball team (22-3 overall, 14-2 Big Ten) rallied to defeat Michigan in five games on Friday night. The Badgers edged the Wolverines 24-30, 30-27, 30-22 and 16-14 in front of 5,658 fans in the UW Field House. With the win, Wisconsin will finish no worse than second place in the 2007 Big Ten Conference standings.

“This team must like dramatic finishes because they’re turning into the cardiac kids here,” said Coach Pete Waite. “For me a little gray hair, ulcer and heart attack city, but you know, they did a great job.

Brittney Dolgner led the Badgers with her 24 kills and Audra Jeffers compiled a season-high 15 kills on the night. Taylor Reineke added 10 kills for the UW. Wisconsin recorded a team hitting percentage of .262 compared to Michigan’s .254. Michigan’s Katie Brudzinkski led all hitters with 26 kills in the match.

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Nov. 9, 2007

CLEMSON, SC - Danielle Hepburn posted a career-high 24 kills without committing an error and also added seven block assists in leading the Clemson volleyball team to a 3-1 upset of #14 Duke on Friday night. A record-crowd of 2,200 witnessed the Tigers rebound from a loss in game one to complete a season-sweep over the Blue Devils, as Clemson won a five-game thriller in Durham earlier this year.

The Tigers now boast a 24-3 overall record and remain atop the ACC standings with a 17-1 ledger.

"Danielle was the difference tonight," Clemson Head Coach Jolene Jordan Hoover said. "Duke just couldn't defend her."

Hepburn, a junior from Miami, FL, was one of four Clemson hitters in double-figures, while senior Leslie Mansfield recorded a double-double with 13 kills and 14 digs. Meghan Steiner had 16 on the night and Jeannette Abbott also added 13 kills.

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Nov. 9, 2007

Tatyana Kolesnikova had 11 kills, two aces and three blocks to lead the University of Louisville to a sweep of DePaul to extend its winning streak to 17 matches Friday in Chicago.

U of L improves to 20-4 and 13-0 in the league with the 30-8, 30-18, 31-29 win. DePaul falls to 7-20 and 2-11 in the BIG EAST.

Lindsey Mango served for 12 straight points to give U of L 13-1 lead and force DePaul to burn both its timeouts early in the first game. The deficit proved insurmountable as the Blue Demons fell 30-8, the fewest points allowed since the scoring went to 30. U of L hit a torrid .607 to DePaul's -.028. The Cardinals had 17 kills on 28 swings and no errors. DePaul was outblocked 4-0.

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