http://www.ncaa.com/volleyball-womens/article.aspx?id=307012
Expectations Weigh Heavy On Penn State
The West Coast's dominance on the hardwood took a backseat in 2007, thanks to Penn State's national championship. Can they repeat? The Nittany Lions have all the talent to do it again.
August 14, 2008
By Anthony Oliva III
NCAA.com
Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
Nobody will understand that better this year than Penn State – which returns all of its heavy hitters from last year’s national championship team that went 34-2 and 20-0 in the Big Ten.
Not a single starter graduated, and among the plethora of returning talent is three first-team All- Americans, a second-team All-American and 2007’s Big Ten Freshman of the Year
Sounds like the Nittany Lions will cruise to back-to-back championships right? Not so fast.
Penn State in 2008 is eerily similar to last year’s Nebraska squad that everyone predicted to win it all after returning five All-Americans from a 2006 championship team.
“Everyone would have thought last year Nebraska was in a good position,” Penn State head coach Russ Rose said. “People were going to hand them the championship based on the talent they had returning and all the All-Americans, so I’m certainly not going to think that everything is wrapped up.”
And they shouldn’t. No team has repeated since USC did it in 2002 and 2003, and only twice in the last 15 years has a team repeated.
Still though, if anybody can do it, it’s this Penn State squad. Penn State led the nation in hitting percentage and was second in the nation in blocks per game last year, and its trio of first-team All Americans - middle blocker Christa Harmotto, and outside hitters Nicole Fawcett and Meghan Hodge - all return. Harmotto was second in the nation in hitting percentage and sixth in blocks, as Hodge and Fawcett combined for just over nine kills a game as a deadly left-side tandem. Arielle Wilson added a defensive presence and was second in the nation in blocks. Orchestrating the high-powered offense is second team All-American setter Alisha Glass, the leader of the team.
Despite the seemingly absurd amount of the returning talent, the Nittany Lions know the journey to repeating will not be an easy one, especially since they did lose seven letterwinners, including Katie Price and Melissa Walbridge, who were key contributors on the championship team
“We stress a lot that this isn’t last year’s team and that we are a totally new team even though we do have a lot of starters returning,” said Hodge, a two-time first-team All-American. “There were still a lot of seniors and leadership lost, so people are going to have to step up in those roles.”
Regardless, people will be expecting this year’s Penn State to be just as dominant as last year, but having the title of defending national champs on their back, brings a lot of pressure and a lot of expectations. Just ask their top competitors.
“Penn State knows they have a target on their back because they’re national champions,” Stanford head coach John Dunning said. “Teams are going to be gunning for them. We just really want to play them.”
The Nittany Lions are doing their best to not buy into the hype, and some actually see last year’s success as a way to relieve pressure.
“We’ve had pressure on us all the time,” Hodge said. “I just think getting there and knowing we can do it is all we need to know. I don’t think anyone is looking at it as a pressure situation.”
In fact, some of the players think that last year could result in the team being more focused as they begin the uphill journey to repeat.
“I think it’s a huge motivation factor,” Harmotto said of the prospect of repeating as national champions. “We can have all the talent in the world, but if we don’t use it efficiently and really build as a team, and on the team chemistry we have, and have determination, it certainly won’t happen.”
One of the big challenges for Penn State will be putting last year’s success, and the pressure associated with it, behind them.
“I think every single one of us knows that it’s a new year,” Fawcett said. “We have some new girls and last year was last year, and you can’t relive in the past. We’ve always had very high expectations and it’s just a matter of getting there and making the goals that we set.”
The Nittany Lions have high hopes for their five newcomers. Katie Kabbes, 6-foot-5, will compete for time at outside hitter, but Boston College transfer Cathy Ouilico, and freshmen Meghan Shifflett, Kimi Hohl and Heather Tice will fill the holes in the back row created by graduation. The newcomers bring athleticism and speed to Happy Valley, which will certainly mesh well with the tall, powerful hitters in the front row.
“I think definitely the new girls coming in, the transfers and the freshman, are really good, and I think they’ll make our team so much better,” Hodge said.
The Nittany Lions improving is a scary thought for the rest of the country, but they know as well as anybody else that they’ll need to play their best and get better in all facets of the game if they wish to fight off the hungry challengers trying to dethrone them.
They know it won’t be easy, but their sights are set.
“It’s definitely in the back of everyone’s mind,” said Harmotto about repeating.
How could it not be?
They’ll be carrying the weight of the crown all season.
--
Jen Armson-Dyer
Assistant Athletic Communications Director
Penn State University
101 Bryce Jordan Center • University Park, PA 16802
Phone: 814-865-1757 ~ Fax: 814-863-3165
jma19@...
Www.GoPSUsports.com
"It's amazing what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit." -- Dean Smith
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