SB Nation User Blog: PSUJunny05

Three PSU Players Named to All Tournament Team

PSUJunny05 — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:02:37 -0000

Three PSU Players Named to All Tournament Team

As expected, Megan Hodge, Ari Wilson, and Alisha Glass were named to the 6 (+1) person All Tournament Team. Destinee Hooker, who by all accounts carried the Texas Longhorns on her unbelievably athletic back, was named Tournament MVP.

I'd like to see STL and Rambler argue over THAT.

The View From the Top is Good. Very Good.

PSUJunny05 — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:16:22 -0000

In case you weren't aware, the Penn State women's volleyball team is pretty good. The Team plays Hawaii tonight in the Final Four of the NCAA tournament, with the winner facing the Texas/Minnesota winner in the championship on Saturday night. Both matches will be aired on ESPN2, a rare live national broadcast for women's volleyball. Former recap, thought on Hawaii and Texas/Minnesota, and even more ridiculous accolades after the jump. But first, since this is the end, beautiful friend the end, the Best Player Not Named Megan Hodge will be replaced by a video (or a link thereto, as I cannot figure out how to embed a video)...

Access Granted: Sensation Seniors

Looking Back

In a 12 set run that would make a blind man blush, The Team swept Binghamton, Penn, Florida, and Cal to earn a spot in the Final Four. They are the only team in the tournament not to have lost a set. Ari Wilson, Alisha Glass, and Blair Brown were named to the regional's First Team, while Megan Hodge was named Most Outstanding Player of the Regional.

Coming Up Next

Tonight is a showdown with number 12 Hawaii. Russ Rose will be going for his 1000th career win, currently 18 behind Dave Shoji of, you guessed it, Hawaii. The Wahine are a good team, third in the country in hitting percentage and one of the best coaches in the game. The Team will be the favorite, but watch out for some trouble, as this will be tougher than the four teams on the way to the Final Four. The match will air at 9 pm. We can use this as an open thread, or we can start a new one. Stay tuned.

More Awards

It's already been a banner year for The Five, and the hits keep on coming. First, Wilson, Glass, Hodge (now a four time winner of the honor), and Brown were named to the AVCA All-America team, completing their inside-out sweep of awards (Big Ten, Regional, and now National). Darcy Dorton was given Honorable Mention for the All-America team. The National Player of the Year will be named on Friday night, and Hodge seems to be a shoo-in. Then, Glass and Hodge were named two of four finalists for the Honda Sports Award, essentially another Player of the Year Award. However, the winners of the Honda Sports Award in each sport are then vying for the Honda-Broderick (not Matthew, I looked it up) Cup, given to the best collegiate woman athlete of the year.

Take Me Home Tonight, I Don't Want to Let You Go 'til I See a Win

via www.mcall.com

Hawaii It Is

PSUJunny05 — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:32:54 -0000

Hawaii It Is

PSU (1) vs. Hawaii (12) and Minnesota (11) vs. Texas (2) are YOUR Women's Volleyball Final Four. Knocked out were Illinois and Stanford, in the same Regional, and Florida St. Final Four is Thursday at 7 and 9 pm on ESPN2. Full update coming momentarily...

Sweet 16 with Sweet Pics

PSUJunny05 — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 20:16:45 -0000

The Team is in the Sweet 16, after womanhandling Binghamton and Penn. They will play Florida this evening in Gainesville, a home match for the Gators because that seemed a fair way to level the playing field. Blair Brown says that's OK, she's not afraid to do The Rec Hall Leap in enemy territory...

via seattletimes.nwsource.com

This update was supposed to happen much sooner, but an 1130 "quick" meeting at work lasted 4 hours. Alas, here is your "quick" update. As announced, The Team is headed to Gainesville. Cal will play Baylor (who knocked off No. 8 UCLA) at 330, with The Team taking on Florida at 6. The game will not be on TV, but if you go here you can listen to or watch the game live, streaming from someone, I don't know who. The winners of the two games will meet in the Regional Finals on Saturday at 4 pm on ESPNU (is that a channel or a web thing?). Florida will not be an easy match, and playing the game in Gainesville does not help. The Team will need all of your thoughts and prayers (if that's your thing), so try to think more about hot chicks in tight shorts tonight than you normally would.

Special Errata Edition

As announced last week, The Team cleaned house at the Big Ten Awards. Well, the AVCA released their regional awards, and to no one's surprise, The Team swept again. Alisha Glass, Ari Wilson, Megan Hodge, and Blair Brown were named First Team All Regional, while Russ Rose was Regional Coach of the Year, and Darcy Dorton was Regional Freshman of the Year. The national awards are announced in conjunction with the championship, played next weekend in Tampa.

Photo Update

Since I don't have much, I'll let the ladies do the talking. Or posing.

via www.billcramer.com

via www.leelanau.com

via grfx.cstv.com

via www.whsvolleyball.com

Stay tuned for more updates...

FIRST!

PSUJunny05 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 23:08:01 -0000

FIRST!

Kelly = Heir of Suck

Megan Hodge and the Shrimpshack Shooters, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Russ Rose

PSUJunny05 — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:44:09 -0000

As we go on, we remember, all the times we, had together. As our lives change, come whatever, we will still be, friends forever. So ends the regular season careers for Megan Hodge and Alisha Glass (and Kelsey "Greatest Last Name for a Player on the Hottest Team of the Big Ten" Ream). So without further adieu, I give you the Year in Review, along with a look at the tournament. Oh, and pictures of hot chicks doing stuff. This week's Favorite Player Not Named Megan Hodge actually goes to all the seniors, which includes Megan Hodge, so maybe this week the award will be Favorite Player(s), Some of Which are Named Megan Hodge...

via www.avca.org

via www.leelanau.com

via grfx.cstv.com

The Season in Review
Coming off an undefeated National Championship year in 2008, expectations were high for The Team in 2009. And the ladies did not disappoint, finishing the regular season 32-0, only dropping 5 sets the entire year (5 more than last year's regular season, if you'll recall). Ranked #1 all year, The Team battled some tough teams along the way, but never really faltered, only going to a fifth set once, against a tough Michigan team that will be tough in the tournament. Some may criticize the schedule as soft (where have we heard that before?), but with 4 teams in the Top 16 at season's end, the Big Ten is one of the top conferences (probably second behind the Pac 10), so conference play was no slouch. Overall, The Team proved it can continue its winning ways.

The Stats
Here's where things get amazing:

Team Stats:

Assists per Set - 6th in the country
Blocks per Set - 2nd in the country
Hitting Percentage - 1st in the country
Kills per Set - 6th in the country
Winning Percentage - only undefeated team in the country

Individual Stats (Players making the top 33 in a category):

Aces per Set - Alyssa D'Errico (16th)
Assists per Set - Alisha Glass (4th)
Blocks per Set - Arielle Wilson (2nd), Fatima Balza (13th)
Hitting Percentage - Arielle Wilson (1st), Megan Hodge (10th), Blair Brown (33rd)
Kills per Set - Megan Hodge (8th)
Points per Set - Megan Hodge (9th)

Those are the national stats; it gets even worse (for opposing teams) when only the Big Ten stats are examined. If you look at the Big Ten stats, certain names will stand out. And that is the main reason for...

The Awards
All Big Ten First Team - Megan Hodge, Arielle Wilson, Blair Brown, and Alisha Glass
(If you're keeping track at home, that's four PSU players on the First Team in a sport that fields six players)

Big Ten Coach of the Year - Russ Rose
"Rose earned his 11th overall and fifth consecutive Big Ten Coach of the Year award. He also picked up the honor in 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. He holds a career record of 995-159 in his 31 seasons for a nation-leading winning percentage of .862. Rose guided the Nittany Lions to their seventh straight and 13th overall Big Ten title in 2009 after finished the Big Ten slate undefeated at 20-0. He has captured 21 conference titles during his career, including eight straight Atlantic 10 title from 1983-1990. Penn State is currently in the midst of a 96-match winning streak. The Nittany Lions are one of just two teams to appear in every postseason event since its inception in 1981. Rose has also coached at least one All-American in 29 of his 30 seasons, including 19 conference players of the year in the last 25 years."

Big Ten Player of the Year - Megan Hodge
"Hodge is the 11th overall and fifth straight Nittany Lion to earn Player of the Year honors and is only the fifth player in league history to win the award more than once. In 2006, Hodge became the first Big Ten player to be named Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year in the same season. Hodge is also only the fifth Penn State player to pick up four First Team selections. Hodge, who was this week's Co-Big Ten Player of the Week, has a team-best 472 kills in 2009 and recently surpassed the 2,000 career kills milestone. She heads into the postseason with 2,054, which ranks second on PSU's all-time career kills list. She leads the squad and the Big Ten averaging 4.77 kills per set, good enough for eighth in the nation. The senior also ranks third in the league with a .399 hitting percentage and her 5.25 points per set is first in the Big Ten."

Big Ten Freshman of the Year - Darcy Dorton.
"Dorton became Penn State's eighth Freshman of the Year in program history and is the third Freshman of the Year on this year's squad, as Hodge earned the honor in 2006 and Wilson in 2007. A five-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week, Dorton is fourth on the team with 232 kills and 2.42 kills per set. She has also totaled 42 digs and 53 total blocks heading into NCAA postseason play"

Looking Forward - The Tournament
The Team earned a #1 seed and will play Friday night at Rec Hall against the mighty Binghamton Bearcats, winners of the America East Championship. If history is any guide, this should be a good match to watch, if you like floorboard crushing spikes, stop on a dime sets, and super sexy women in short shorts. Also, the Bearcats are a short team, making things that much more fun for Hodge, Wilson, Brown and the girls. Following this match is Army vs. Penn, also at Rec Hall. The winners of the two matches will meet Saturday night for a trip to the Sweet 16. I expect nothing less than a 6 set sweep over the weekend. Please try and attend if you are in State College.

Going forward, a couple things of note stand out. If The Team makes it to the Sweet 16, they could potentially face Florida, and the game would be played in Gainesville. Six Big Ten teams made the tournament (Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State). Penn State has gone through Cal and Stanford in each of the last two tournaments, and could play them back-to-back this year if the cards play out.

Conclusion
It's been a hell of a year for The Team. They dominated all opponents, dominated the Big Ten in conference play, and took home all the major awards given by the Big Ten. A long, fruitful run through the Tournament is expected. IF a national championship stays in-house, it will be the first ever threepeat in women's volleyball history, and the championship will be Russ Rose's 1001 win.

Finally, the team will say goodbye to the unbelievable tandem of Megan Hodge and Alisha Glass, and middle hitter Kelsey Ream. We wish them well as they go forward, Megan and Alisha undoubtedly to London in 2.5 years. However, as noted before, the team saw a boon of recruits coming in next year, including 5 scholarship players and 4 walk-ons. To show just how good this group is, the fourteenth best player in the country is Erica Denney, from Colorado. She is one of the walk-ons (but will receive a scholarship starting 2011). This is what you've won...

via www.frvbc.com

Stay tuned for updates as they happen during the Tournament. Also in the coming weeks will be a preview of the men's season, which officially kicks off January 7 in Hawaii. Lucky punk college kids.

Irish Eyes are Swollen AND Crying

PSUJunny05 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 21:55:47 -0000

Irish Eyes are Swollen AND Crying

With no intended offense to the plus size BSDers, Big Fat Charlie is fin.

Floyd officially out

PSUJunny05 — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:00:20 -0000

Floyd officially out

Meh.

TALL HOT WOMEN WITH BALLS CLICK NOW!

PSUJunny05 — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 12:38:03 -0000

Thanks Rambler for the title, unless of course a mod has edited it, then thanks Buzz Killington. Here is your final regular season women's volleyball update, Thanksgiving/Consumerism Friday edition! Since it is 730 in the morning on a Saturday and twin two year old nieces will soon be running around narrowly missing brick fireplaces, this will be short and to the point. As always, your Favorite Player Not Named Megan Hodge, this week's award goes to...Darcy Dorton, mostly because she's hot, but also because she's a freshman and will be crushing for 3 more years. Go get 'em Darce!

via a.espncdn.com

Last Weekend

The Team beat Purdue on Friday, and actually dropped a set. The Team then clinched the Big Ten title with a win over Indiana on Saturday. The crown is their seventh straight and 13th in the Big Ten.

This Weekend

The regular season concludes tonight, and not in easy fashion. Last night, The Team swept Michigan State to set up a regular season finale against No. 12 Michigan. Hopefully you saved some Hate.

Awards and Accolades

Megan Hodge named ESPN The Magazine Academic All American of the Year. Baller.

Conclusion

And now the babies are here; sorry for the brief update. There will be a better, more in depth analysis next week for the tournament preview.

Earvin Myer. First Floyd, now...

PSUJunny05 — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:38:12 -0000

Earvin Myer. First Floyd, now...

Content is premium, and I don't have a subscription, but word on the street is that it's not good. I would never presume to ask someone with a subscription to relay info, but for everyone else, get ready for the sky to fall.