Lady spikers stay No. 1 by beating Stanford

When the Penn State women's volleyball team was officially ranked No. 1 in the Sept. 1 poll, apparently there was some denial this team was the nation's best.

- Terri Zemaitis, Penn State middle hitter

But Sunday at the Ikon Husky Invitational at the University of Connecticut, the No. 1 Lady Lions (6-0) proved they were indeed the top team in the country, dumping the No. 3 Cardinal (5-2) once again, this time in four games (14-16, 15-6, 15-12, 15-7).

But before the rematch took place, the Lady Lions first banged out consecutive three-game sweeps over Missouri (15-3, 15-7, 15-6) and Connecticut (15-5, 15-2 and 15-4).

"I'm pleased with the results, but we have a lot more to work on," Lady Lion coach Russ Rose said. "It was not a good match throughout. We lost some confidence, but some of our players came back and racked up some big numbers."

Rose was referring to the play of senior middle hitter and tournament MVP Terri Zemaitis who led the Lady Lions with a career high 24 kills. As in any match against one of the nation's best, however, a victory is a team effort, and Zemaitis had plenty of help.

Sophomore outside hitter Carrie Schonveld added 21 kills and Junior outside hitter Christy Cochran also notched a career high with 20 kills, and both recorded 12 digs. Junior opposite hitter Lindsay Anderson accounted for a career-high 18 digs in leading all players. Both Zemaitis and Cochran were named to the all-tournament team, causing Rose to label the duo as two of the top players in the country.

"Bonnie Bremner deserves all the credit for that," Cochran said about the Lady Lion sophomore setter, who tallied 70 assists in the match. "We had three players in the 20's for kills because she did a prefect job."

There was skepticism surrounding the previous Lady Lion triumph over the Cardinal due to the absence of Stanford's sophomore middle hitter Kerri Walsh. However, the 1996 All-American and National Freshman of the Year, was held to just five kills in the rematch. The Cardinal were instead led by senior outside hitter Kristin Folkl, who registered a match-high 29 kills.

"Now people know we're for real, the people who doubted us before," Zemaitis said. "It's still early. We have to go through a really long Big Ten season."

That will give the Lady Lions a chance to work on the aspects of their game that Rose thinks need to improve -- parts of their game that caused Rose to feel disappointed with his team's overall performance. The details include the team's passing on long rallies and the defensive play against touch kills.

He and the Lady Lions have a week to improve those parts of the game, as the Lady Lions are not in action again until Friday at Rec Hall on opening night of the Penn State Classic, a tournament in which Rose thinks his team should not lose a match.

"Tuesday and Wednesday, we'll practice hard to prepare for these teams," Rose said. "I don't think anyone should come into Rec Hall and beat us."