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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, December 17, 2009

No. 1 Penn State (36-0)


Advertiser Staff

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Penn State's Megan Hodge splits the defense.

Associated Press

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Coach: Russ Rose, 999-159 in 31st year, third in career victories

Numbers: Ranked first all season ... NCAA-record 100-match winning streak, breaking USC's mark of 52 ... attempting first NCAA women's volleyball three-peat ... lost five sets all season, with Michigan only opponent to extend PSU to five ... won first national title in 1999 in Hawai'i ... played in every NCAA Tournament, going 64-25 including last 16, which ties another record ... hit .402 in Gainesville Regional ... won last seven Big Ten titles. ... 4-0 against Hawai'i.
Faces: All-American Megan Hodge (6-3 Sr.) was MOP at last week's regional, where she averaged 5.67 kills, and at last two final fours ... Big Ten Player of the Year for second time — first was as freshman ... second in career kills ... All-American Arielle Wilson (6-3 Jr.) leads country in hitting .559 ... All-American setter Alisha Glass (6-0 Sr.) has Nittany Lions hitting national-best .394 ... Blair Brown (6-5 Jr.) bumped up to first-team All-American this season.
Top 50 nationally: Wilson leads country in hitting (.559) and is fourth in blocks (1.55), Glass is fourth in assists (12.02), Hodge eighth in hitting (.399) and kills (4.75), Alyssa D'Errico (5-9 Jr.) 12th in aces (0.51), Fatima Balza (6-3 Jr.) 13th in blocks (1.43) and Brown 34th in hitting (.357). As a team, PSU leads the country in hitting (.394), is second in blocks (3.23), fifth in kills (14.77) and seventh in assists (13.78).
Rose on Rainbows: "When I was a young coach I loved the way those (Hawai'i) teams played back in the '70s and I think that this (Hawai'i) team has a lot of those same similarities. They're small in height but they play hard and hit the ball hard and they have a great connection amongst themselves. Those are things hopefully other coaches pick up when they see the body of work that has encompassed Dave's career.

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