It is known that defense wins championships, but in this case, it was pure hustle.

The No. 2 Penn State women's club volleyball team won its fourth consecutive Northeast Women's Volleyball Club League championship on Saturday at Rutgers University.

In the finals, the team defeated the University of Pennsylvania in two games, winning 25-15 and 25-18.

"It all came down to hustle," middle blocker Leslie Slowikowski said.

Slowikowski has been a member of the team for the past three years and says this year is different from the past because of the close-knit team. She said the players work hard and consistently help each other out.

Several team members won awards for their play on Saturday. Michelle Merryman, Joana Fratini and Leah Critchley all won all-tournament team honors while Tara Caresani was the league MVP.

Caresani credited the hustle as well as the long break between pool play and playoffs, which gave the players a chance to rest and focus on the coming games, for the championship.

Although the competition was decent, Penn State moved through pool play with few problems. The Nittany Lions didn't lose a single match against Pool D opponents Delaware, Colgate and Syracuse.

"We switched players around a lot to give the other players time to rest," team member Lisa Harrison said.

Penn State played Rutgers in the semifinals and lost the first game 25-20, but won the second 25-18 and the third 15-11.

"We knew we made mistakes and we knew we had to clean up our play," Slowikowski said.

She said if Penn State began to play better and still lost, it would be because the other team was simply better.

Penn State did turn things around in the next game and convincingly beat Rutgers with two straight wins to take the match.

This is exactly what has made the team unique this year. The players felt they have proven themselves in the past and have the ability and motivation to come from behind in any situation.

The NWVCL championship trophy will be on display in the White Building.

Penn State will travel to the Columbus Convention Center in Ohio on Thursday for nationals. It is still undetermined whether the Lions will keep their No. 2 ranking. That will depend on how the other club teams in the country fared in their recent tournaments.