page_title: Penn State Nittany Lions women's volleyball
section_title: 2008
hierarchical_section_title: Penn State Nittany Lions women's volleyball / Notable seasons / 2008
caption_attribution_description: The 2008 NCAA Champion Penn State volleyball team posing with the trophy
context_page_description: The Penn State Nittany Lions women's volleyball program has had a long tradition. It was founded in 1976 by Tom Tait, long-time coach of the men's team, who coached the women's team from 1976–79 and was named a USA Volleyball All-Time great coach in 2007.
  Russ Rose has been the head coach since 1979. He has led the program to seven NCAA National Championships, in 1999, each year from 2007 through 2010, and in 2013 and 2014. After the 2015 season he has an overall record of 1189–186; in NCAA games his .871 percentage ranked as the highest winning percentage in NCAA history. On September 21, 2007, Rose earned his 900th career victory with a win over Michigan State, becoming only the third Division I coach to reach the milestone. On December 17, 2009 Rose notched his 1,000th career win with a victory over Hawaii in four sets to advance to his third consecutive national championship game with the Nittany Lions. Two nights later, on December 19, his team earned their third consecutive national championship with a come-from-behind, 3 sets to 2 victory over Texas to run their consecutive match win streak to 102.
context_section_description: 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.
  (2008 Schedule)
  (2008 Statistics)
  (2008 Roster)
caption: The Penn State volleyball team poses with the 2008 NCAA championship trophy after defeating Stanford University in the final.
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