The Penn State women’s volleyball team (36-3) topped BYU (30-5) by a final score of 3-0 to capture its seventh national championship.
This is the team’s sixth national championship in eight years; with this win, the Nittany Lions have set an NCAA record for most overall championships in women’s volleyball history. This is the team’s first back-to-back title since the 2009-2010 season.
In their tenth appearance in a national title game, fifth-ranked Penn State took on the unseeded Brigham Young University for the championship. BYU, predicted to be eliminated long before the final round, made an impressive run through the bracket, but the Cougars ultimately presented little challenge for the perennial Penn State powerhouse, who handily took all three sets. (25-21, 26-24, and 25-14).
Penn State toppled top-ranked Stanford in the NCAA championship semifinals on Thursday night to advance to the final round.
Head coach Russ Rose met with media after the game and praised his team.
“I thought we had a great game plan. I think the players worked really hard at executing it, and we feel great about tonight’s result.”
Making the win even sweeter was the December 19 announcement of the 2014 AVCA D1 Player of the Year – senior Micha Hancock, a four-year starter, ended her illustrious Penn State career with 36 assists and five digs. She is the fourth Nittany Lion to receive the award.
Photo credit: USA Today
