"This was a very tough match in front of a hostile crowd," Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose said after Saturday night's dismantling of Michigan. "I thought we played well, and again tonight a different cast of characters stepped up. Cassy [Salyer] and Syndie [Nadeau] played outstanding. It was a good win."
Salyer and Nadeau tied for the Lions' lead in kills against the Wolverines, with 12, and Nadeau flew solo against the Spartans the night before with a team-high 14 kills.
At the start of the season, the Lions were pegged as a rebuilding team, a team that lost too many players to graduation, and a team too banged up to compete physically with the rest of the conference.
Dominant players like Cara Smith and Erin Iceman would no longer be on the court in blue and white, and a new cast of characters would have to prove itself to the other conference contenders.
"It's an amazing feeling," junior libero Kaleena Walters said. "Especially to do it two years in a row is really special since a lot of people didn't pick us to win."
This was, by all counts, supposed to be the year of the Gopher in the Big Ten. Minnesota was the preseason Big Ten team at the top of every list and poll, but the Golden Gophers don't have something Penn State has on its side -- eight Big Ten championships in 14 seasons of conference play.
"I said from the beginning that we have the best libero and setter in the conference," Rose said. "But knowing that we had injuries early to Cassy and Melissa [Walbridge], I thought they worked hard together. The development of Katie Price was exceptional; the last month of the season Syndie emerged as our best player. She was spectacular."
With the title under their belts, the Lions can prepare for December's big dance -- the NCAA tournament.
The Lions are the top-seeded team in the Seattle regional bracket, matched up against American University (24-6) in the first round, Friday.
Rec Hall will play host to Penn State's first-round match, in addition to the Maryland-Towson game. The winners of each match will square-off Saturday for the rights to head to the regional round at the University of Washington in Seattle the following weekend.
In an interesting twist of bracketing, Washington (24-2), who is seeded No. 7 in the NCAA tournament, will play in the same region as the Lions, who are seeded five notches higher.
Seven Big Ten teams received tournament berths yesterday, with Minnesota, Ohio State and Wisconsin grabbing No. 4, No. 5 and No. 14 seeds, respectively, and with Illinois, Purdue and Michigan entering the tournament unseeded.
The Lions are the lone Big Ten team in the Seattle regional bracket, with three teams in the Green Bay regional bracket alone.
