Penn State Nittany Lions women's volleyball

The Penn State Nittany Lions women's volleyball program has had a long tradition, founded in 1976 by Tom Tait, long-time coach of the Penn State men's team, who coached the women's team from 1976 to 1979 and was named a USA Volleyball All-Time great coach in 2007.
Russ Rose was the head coach from 1979 to 2021. He led the program to seven NCAA national championships, first in 1999, then in each year from 2007 through 2010, and in both 2013 and 2014. Rose has led the Nittany Lions to appearances in every NCAA Division I women's volleyball tournament, making Penn State the only program in the nation to appear in every NCAA volleyball tournament since its inception in 1981. Rose is the nation's all-time leader in wins, winning percentage and NCAA tournament winning percentage.
Prior to entering the Big Ten Conference in 1991, Penn State experienced unprecedented success in the Atlantic 10 Conference, winning eight straight championships, never losing a conference match in that time.
In 1990, Penn State entered the NCAA tournament undefeated with a 42–0 record. The Nittany Lions swept Purdue and Big Ten champion Wisconsin in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, before losing to Nebraska in the NCAA Regional Final. Of the team's 44 wins, 40 were sweeps, a school and national record.
Penn State finished sixth in the final 1990 Tachikara Coaches Poll, the program's highest final ranking ever at the time. In addition, Rose earned his first AVCA National Coach of the Year honor.
In 1993, the Nittany Lions surged into their third year of Big Ten play and won their second consecutive conference title. At the NCAA tournament, the team strung together four victories and earned the right to play for the National Championship against Long Beach State.
In 1994, Rose coached the Nittany Lions to a second straight NCAA national semifinal appearance and picked up his 500th career win early in the season. Placing second in the Big Ten with a 17–3 conference mark, the Nittany Lions posted a 31–4 ledger on the year and ended the regular-season ranked No. 5, at the time their highest regular-season finish ever. Season highlights included beating eventual national runner-up and perennial powerhouse UCLA at the Volleyball Monthly Invitational and No. 1-ranked and undefeated Nebraska in Lincoln at the NCAA Mideast Regional final to advance to their second straight national semifinal.
In 1997, Rose's Nittany Lions finished as runners-up to Stanford in the NCAA national championship game after defeating Florida, 3–0, in the semifinals. Penn State, favored to win, made their third Final Four appearance in five years. Terri Zemaitis was named the NCAA championship MVP.
After posting a runner-up finish in 1997, the Lions made it back to the NCAA Championship match in 1998. The team cruised through the regular season with a 30–0 mark, with 28 of those coming in three sets. Penn State also became only the second school to close out the Big Ten schedule with a perfect 20–0 mark.
After winning its fifth Big Ten title, Penn State hosted the NCAA First and Second rounds and the Central Regional. They swept past Bucknell, Clemson, Louisville and Brigham Young to earn a spot in the school's fourth national semifinal. Once they reached the NCAA Final Four in Madison, Wisconsin, the season ended much like 1997. Penn State defeated Nebraska, 3–1, to advance to the national championship match. And once again, the Lions had to rally from a 0–2 deficit to force a fifth game, only to come up short against Long Beach State for the NCAA title. Despite losing, Cacciamani was named co-MVP for the tournament.
Rose led Penn State to the program's first NCAA national championship (their third consecutive appearance in the NCAA title match) and their second-consecutive 20–0 record in Big Ten play (and fourth straight conference title), becoming the first team in conference history to pull off the feat. In the national semifinals, they defeated Pacific, 3–2, and in the finals they defeated Stanford, 3–0, with scores of 15–2, 15–10, 15–7, marking the first time all season that Stanford had been swept. Lauren Cacciamani was named the championship MVP for the second consecutive year. Bonnie Bremner and Cacciamani were also named first team All-Americans. Bremner became Penn State's first ever four-time All-American. Cacciamani was named the AVCA National Player of the Year, Big Ten Player of the Year, Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year and the Honda Award winner for volleyball.
In addition, the 1999 Nittany Lions extended their NCAA record home-match winning streak to 80 straight (extended to 87 in 2000), eclipsing the previous standard of 58 set by Florida from 1990 to 1994. The Lions streak was finally put to a halt at 87 matches with a loss to Minnesota on Sept. 29, 2000. Penn State had last dropped a match at Rec Hall on Nov. 24, 1994, when they suffered a 3–2 setback to Illinois, a span of over five seasons. The 87 home-match winning streak was only outranked by the basketball trio of Kentucky, 1943–55 (129); St. Bonaventure, 1948–61 (99) and UCLA, 1970–76 (98). Russ Rose earned his 700th career victory on September 15, 2000, in a sweep of West Virginia.
In 2005, the Nittany Lions claimed their third consecutive Big Ten title with an unblemished 20–0 league record, the sixth time since 1985 that the champion had been perfect, but were upset in the NCAA tournament regional semi-final on their home court. Penn State also picked up the program's first ever AVCA National Freshman of the Year honors, for outside hitter Nicole Fawcett. Fawcett was also named Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Penn State's fourth consecutive. Senior Kaleena Walters was named Penn State's first ever Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and senior Sam Tortorello was named the unanimous Big Ten Player of the Year. Tortorello was also named a first-team All-American and a Honda Award nominee, while Fawcett and sophomore Melissa Walbridge were named second-team All-Americans. Walters and freshman Christa Harmotto were both named to the AVCA Honorable Mention All-America team.
In addition to dropping only three individual games during the conference season, Penn State swept all four major honors, becoming the first school to sweep the honors in the 22 years of Big Ten women's volleyball to that point. Rose also earned his seventh Big Ten Coach of the Year award. The main starting line-up for the season consisted of two seniors, a junior, a sophomore and two freshmen.
In 2006, the Nittany Lions started out the season 21–0, before finishing with a 32–3 record and an appearance in the NCAA Regional Final. The 2006 squad captured Penn State's fourth consecutive outright Big Ten championship, tying the Big Ten record of four straight, set by Penn State from 1996 to 1999.
Freshman Megan Hodge made history as the first freshman to be named Big Ten Player of the Year in the 23-year history of the award to that point. Hodge also was named Penn State's second ever and second consecutive AVCA National Freshman of the Year, thus making Penn State the first school to win the award back-to-back. Hodge became the first ever volleyball player to win Gatorade National Player of the Year honors as a high school senior and then AVCA National Freshman of the Year honors in college. The Number 1 high school recruit also earned first team All-America honors, becoming only the third true freshman in seven years to be named to the first team. Sophomore Nicole Fawcett also picked up first team All-America honors, while sophomore Christa Harmotto earned her place on the second team. Rose earned his eighth Big Ten Coach of the Year award.
Penn State won its second NCAA national championship in 2007, as well as the program's fifth consecutive outright Big Ten championship. The team finished with a 20–0 Big Ten record, the second time in the last three seasons the team accomplished the feat – and finished the season off with a 34–2 overall record. On October 29, Penn State got its first Number 1 ranking since winning the NCAA title in 1999 and became the first Big Ten school since 2004 to hold the top ranking.
In Big Ten awards, the program picked up three of four major honors, with junior Christa Harmotto taking Player of the Year, Arielle Wilson taking Freshman of the Year, and Rose taking Coach of the Year. Harmotto, sophomore Megan Hodge, and junior Nicole Fawcett picked up first-team AVCA All-America honors, while sophomore setter Alisha Glass picked up second-team All-America honors.
In the 2007 NCAA Tournament, the team swept Siena, Albany, Michigan, BYU and California leading into the final. Penn State, the third overall seed in the tournament, defeated Stanford, the first overall seed in the tournament, in the NCAA national championship match that took place on December 15, 2007, at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California. After winning the first two sets, Stanford rallied to push the match to a decisive fifth set, which Penn State won, 15–8. With the win, the Nittany Lions avenged an earlier season loss to Stanford exactly three months before on September 15.
Penn State set two NCAA tournament records and achieved other milestones during the 2007 NCAA tournament:
Russ Rose achieved several top honors, as he was named the AVCA Division I National Coach-of-the-Year, was inducted into the AVCA Hall of Fame, and coached his team to the national championship, all within the same week. His national Coach-of-the-Year honor made him the first Division I coach to win the award three times.
The 2008 team successfully defended their 2007 National College Athletic Association title, while also setting impressive NCAA records. Media coverage considered whether the 2008 Penn State women's volleyball team was perhaps the best team in NCAA history.
The Nittany Lions achieved what no other NCAA Division I, II, or III volleyball program could do – win every individual set of the regular season. Penn State also broke the NCAA record for consecutive matches won (52) with a sweep of Illinois, a mark that was previously held by USC. The 2008 team also broke the NCAA record for consecutive sets won, besting the previous recordholder, Florida, who had 105. The team won 111 straight sets up until the NCAA national semifinals. Penn State set a new rally era record (2001–present) for hitting percentage, finishing the season with a mark of .390, breaking the old mark of .369 set by Florida A&M. That was also the second-highest percentage of all-time for any era.
In Big Ten awards, Penn State placed Nicole Fawcett, Christa Harmotto, Arielle Wilson, Megan Hodge and Alisha Glass on the First Team All-Big Ten, while senior libero Roberta Holehouse earned her place on the Honorable Mention. Fawcett ended her Big Ten play being named unanimous First Team all four years, Big Ten Player-of-the-Week eight times (tying for second most all-time in the conference), the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2005 and the Big Ten Player of the Year in 2008.
In addition to having the Big Ten Player of the Year, Penn State's fourth straight honor in that category, Russ Rose was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year by the coaches and media, the tenth such honor in his career.
A school record six players were placed on the AVCA All-Mideast Region team, with Fawcett, Harmotto, Wilson, Hodge, Glass and Blair Brown being recognized, more than any other program in the nation. Fawcett, Harmotto, Hodge and Glass then earned AVCA First Team All-America honors while Brown and Wilson earned second team honors. Six All-America honors on one team was an AVCA record.
Russ Rose repeated as the AVCA Division I National Coach of the Year, the first time a coach ever repeated the award. It was also the fourth time Rose claimed the top honors – more than any other coach in history. In addition, Fawcett was named the AVCA Division I National Player of the Year, which was Penn State's second ever, as Lauren Cacciamani earned the top award in 1999.
In the 2008 NCAA Tournament, Penn State earned the overall No. 1 seed. They swept Long Island, Yale, Western Michigan and California to advance to the NCAA Final Four, held at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Nebraska. In the national semifinals, they defeated Nebraska, 3–2, in front of an NCAA record 17,430 fans. Nebraska was the only team in 2008 that won a set or more against Penn State. Nebraska's loss was their first loss in the state of Nebraska in 96 matches. In the NCAA national championship match, the Nittany Lions faced Stanford for the second straight year. It was the first time in NCAA history that the same two teams played each other in the NCAA championship in consecutive years. In the rematch, Penn State swept the Cardinal, 3–0, to win their second straight NCAA championship. The match was played in front of 14,299 fans, the third-highest attendance in NCAA history. Hodge was named the Most Outstanding Player for the national championship match for the second straight year. The team joined the 2003 USC team as the only repeat champions to go undefeated, finishing the season with a 38–0 record and a 114–2 record in individual sets. They also joined 2003 USC and 2006 Nebraska as the only teams to go wire-to-wire ranked No. 1 in the coaches poll.
Penn State captured its seventh consecutive and 13th overall Big Ten title after completing the regular season 32–0 (20–0 in the Big Ten) and going 96–5 in sets played. Penn State was led by seniors Megan Hodge and Alisha Glass, as well as juniors Blair Brown and Arielle Wilson.
The Nittany Lions did not lose a set in the NCAA tournament until the national semifinals against Hawaii Rainbow Wahine but won that match, 3–1, to set up a showdown against the No. 2 Texas Longhorns. The match against Hawaii was Coach Rose's 1,000 career win, making him the fifth person to reach that mark, reaching the win by beating another member of the 1,000 Win Club, Hawaii's coach Dave Shoji, who achieved the milestone earlier that season on October 17. In the championship match, Texas grabbed a 2–0 set lead. During its winning streak, Penn State had never been down 0–2. Despite Tournament MVP Destinee Hooker's NCAA finals record 34 kills against Penn State, the Lions clawed their way back and won the match, 3–2. Penn State extended its win streak to 102 games with another perfect season, winning a record third consecutive championship. The team finished 38–0 for the second straight year, going 114–8 in set play, with a two-year record of 76–0 and 228–10 in set play.
In 2010 Penn State won its first seven matches, before having its record win streak snapped at 109 in a match against Stanford on September 11. They went 16–4 in Big Ten play and claimed their eighth consecutive Big Ten Conference championship (14th overall), matching the streak of eight consecutive Atlantic 10 Championships set during all eight years in that conference. Even though they dropped five matches, they won all 20 home matches (including postseason), extending their Rec Hall winning streak to 94 games, an NCAA record for consecutive home wins. This streak ended the following season on August 26, 2011, when the Nittany Lions dropped a 3–1 match to the Oregon Ducks.
The Nittany Lions posted a regular season record of 26–5 and earned the fourth overall seed in the NCAA tournament, keeping alive their streak of appearing in all 30 NCAA Tournaments. The team swept Niagara, Virginia Tech and Oklahoma in the first three rounds and defeated Duke, 3–1, in the Regional Final, advancing to their eighth Final Four. Penn State was the highest seed to advance to the Final Four, as the top three seeds were defeated in earlier rounds. In the national semifinals, the Nittany Lions faced the Texas Longhorns in a rematch of the 2009 NCAA National Championship. The team swept the Longhorns and advanced to their seventh championship match. In the finals the Nittany Lions faced the California Golden Bears, marking the fourth consecutive year Penn State faced Cal in the NCAA Tournament. Penn State won the match, claiming its record fourth consecutive national championship and fifth overall, with a final record of 32–5. The Nittany Lions had to that point won 24 consecutive postseason games, another NCAA record. The standout 6'1" freshman Deja McClendon was named the MVP of the game, and Cal's Carly Lloyd was named NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Player-of-the-Year. The championship was Coach Russ Rose's fifth, the record for a single coach in NCAA history. Seniors Arielle Wilson, Blair Brown, and Alyssa D'Errico all graduated with four national championships, the only class in NCAA history to achieve that feat. Wilson and Brown trained with the United States national team in the summer, seeking roster spots for Team USA.
In its thirty-third consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament, Penn State returned to the podium by winning its sixth national championship and fifth in the previous seven years. The mark tied Stanford for most NCAA Division I national titles and continued one of the greatest dynasties in college volleyball history. The road to the championship included a 25-game win streak and tournament wins over Michigan State in the regional semi-final, perennial powerhouse Stanford in the regional final, Pac-12 champion Washington Huskies in the national semi-final, and University of Wisconsin in the finals. In both the Stanford and Wisconsin matches, the Lions faced significant deficits (trailing 9–6 in the fifth set against Stanford and 23–20 in the fourth set against Wisconsin), but were able to overcome both, largely propelled by the service game of their junior setter, Micha Hancock, who was named Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. The Lions also received significant contributions from All American seniors Deja McClendon, Ariel Scott and Katie Slay, each of whom book-ended their Penn State careers with national titles and were named to the NCAA All-Tournament Team.
During the regular season, Penn State boasted a record of 28–2, only losing in five sets to University of Texas (who would later claim the number one seed in the NCAA tournament but would lose to runner-up Wisconsin in the national semi-finals) and Michigan State (Penn State's only conference loss). Twenty of Penn State's twenty-eight wins were by shutout. The record was sufficient to secure Penn State its sixteenth Big Ten championship (in twenty-three years) and Coach Russ Rose the AVCA Coach of the Year Award, his fifth time receiving the award.
In 2014 Penn State claimed its record seventh NCAA national championship and sixth in the last eight years, continuing one of the greatest dynasties in college sports. Anchored by its First Team All American senior setter and AVCA National Player of the Year, Micha Hancock, First Team All American senior middle hitter Nia Grant and senior libero Dominique Gonzalez, the Nittany Lions ended the 2014 season winning twenty straight matches, seventeen of which, including the championship match against Brigham Young University (BYU), were by shutout.
In addition to beating BYU in the finals, Penn State's path to the championship included straight set victories over Siena, Dayton and number 12 seed UCLA, and 3–1 wins over Big Ten champion and number 4 seed Wisconsin and the tournament number 1 seed, Stanford. Junior outside hitter Megan Courtney was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, hitting a match high 23 kills on .321 hitting and 16 digs in the Stanford match and 11 kills on .269 hitting, 14 digs and 5 blocks against BYU. Courtney single-handedly out-blocked the number 1 and number 2 blockers in the NCAA (Whitney Young and Amy Boswell) in the finals.
In what was seen as a rebuilding year, given the departures of All Americans Deja McClendon, Katie Slay and Ariel Scott, Penn State's success and 36–3 overall record was largely attributed to the performance of its highly touted freshmen, Ali Frantti (AVCA National Freshman of the Year and AVCA Second Team All American), who led the team with 391 kills, Haleigh Washington (Big Ten Freshman of the Year), who paced the team with a .463 hitting percentage, and Simone Lee, who had 135 kills and contributed significantly in Penn State's wins over Wisconsin during the regular season and the NCAA tournament. Aiyana Whitney, the junior outside hitter and AVCA Second Team All American, was also a pivotal piece of Penn State's championship team – accumulating 372 kills on .353 hitting. With Grant, Frantti, Whitney, Washington, Courtney and Lee, Penn State had one of the most balanced attacks in the nation and led the NCAA in hitting.
In addition to being named the AVCA National Player of the Year in 2014, Micha Hancock ended her storied Penn State career with 3 AVCA First Team All American honors, two Big Ten Setter of the Year awards (2012, 2013), the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award (2011), and as the NCAA tournament's Most Outstanding Player (2013). She leaves Penn State atop both the school's and the Big Ten's record books in career service aces and as the NCAA's all-time leader for aces in a single-season during the rally-scoring era (126).
In 2024, Schumacher-Cawley led the team to its best season in seven years, going 29–2 in regular season play and won a share of the Big Ten title after defeating Nebraska in its final conference match. It was the program's 18th Big Ten title overall, and first since 2017. She was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for her efforts. She also coached several players who were recognized with conference awards: Izzy Starck (Freshman of the Year, First Team All-Big Ten, All-Freshman Team), Jess Mruzik (Unanimous First Team All-Big Ten), Camryn Hannah (First Team), Taylor Trammel (First Team), Gillian Grimes (Second Team), Caroline Jurevicius (All-Freshman Team), and Ava Falduto (Sportsmanship Award).
Penn State returned to the NCAA national championship, after defeating Delaware State, North Carolina, Marquette, Creighton, and Nebraska. It was the program's 11th championship appearance in program history, and first since its win in 2014. Penn State won the NCAA national championship, defeating Louisville 3–1 in the championship match.
On November 1, 2008, with a sweep of Iowa, the program reached 1,000 wins, becoming just the sixth NCAA Division I women's volleyball program to reach the milestone.
The program is the only Division I school to make every single NCAA tournament appearance (1981–2021).
Source: NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Records
†The four preceding AIAW seasons were also winning years, although the combination of NCAA and AIAW seasons does not constitute an all-time record.
Penn State has received 14 Player of the Year honors, 14 Freshman of the Year honors, 4 Defensive Player of the Year honors, and 2 Setter of the Year honors. Rose picked up a total of 15 Coach of the Year honors, while Schumacher-Cawley won the award 1 time.
This list includes awards to Penn State women's volleyball players and coaches by the NCAA, American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), and other special awards.
Penn State has a long history of All-Americans. In all but one season under Rose, there has been at least one All-American named from his team.
Penn State has had 36 (third all-time) different AVCA All-Americans earning 78 certificates (third all-time), including 43 First Team selections (third all-time). In 2008, Penn State landed an AVCA-record six All-Americans, four of whom were on First Team.
** Denotes First Team selection