What piece of history did the Penn State Volleyball team win in 2009?”
Penn State women’s volleyball has followed a mantra this season: One game at a time. Despite the numbers, streaks and records the Nittany Lions have carried on their backs, they refused to focus beyond what lay immediately in front of them. They entered the season’s final match Saturday night as the NCAA tournament’s No. 1 seed against 2-seeded Texas with much at stake: a 101-game win streak, an undefeated season, an elusive third consecutive national championship and a record 18 consecutive NCAA tournament victories. And for a while before a crowd of 12,087 inside the St. Pete Times Forum, it looked as though that all might end.
Erasing a two-set deficit, the Penn State University Nittany Lions came from behind in dramatic fashion to win the 2009 NCAA Division 1 women’s volleyball championship over the University of Texas Longhorns, held Dec. 19 in Tampa, Florida. Members of the 2007 Penn State national champion team with U.S. President George W. Bush in 2008. Down 2-0, Penn State won the next three sets to extend their winning streak to 102 matches and in the process earning their third consecutive volleyball title. Texas’ Destinee Hooker led all players with 34 kills, .316 hitting percentage and collected 17 digs. National volleyball Player of the Year Megan Hodges led the Nittany Lions with 21 kills, 13 digs and 5 blocks. The set scores were 22-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-13. Penn State, the top-ranked team in the country, had a fairly easy route to the title game, beating all but of their opponents in straight sets. In the first and second rounds, they defeated Binghamton and the University of Pennsylvania
Penn State players scurried for scissors to cut down the nets, ran for volleyballs left behind and moved quickly to secure pieces of banners around the arena. Everyone wanted a piece of history. They were the only ones who got it. Penn State became the first team to win three straight volleyball titles Saturday night, overcoming a two-set deficit to beat Texas and extend its record winning streak to 102 straight games. The winning streak is second in Division I team sports behind the Miami men’s tennis program’s 137 straight victories from 1957-64. “Not a lot of people have done stuff like that,” Penn State coach Russ Rose said. “I got a cigar with my name on it tonight.” Penn State hasn’t lost since falling to Stanford in September 2007. This one, the Nittany Lions will always remember. “It was the hardest fight we’ve had in our lives,” Hodge said.
