Just as it did for much of the rest of the Big Ten season, the Penn State women's volleyball team shattered its opposition on Saturday night, sweeping Illinois (30-12, 30-11, 30-15 Big Ten). With some help from Minnesota's defeat of Wisconsin, the No. 3 Nittany Lions (25-2, 16-0) secured their third consecutive outright Big Ten championship.

After a close win on Friday in the opening game at Purdue, the Lions were not about to let anyone stand in the way of another conference crown and their goal of a 20-0 Big Ten run.

"After we got by that first game against Purdue, we were in total control in the second and third game," Penn State women's volleyball coach Russ Rose said.

That control carried over into the match against the Illini, in which Penn State hit .424 with just nine errors. Freshman Christa Harmotto tallied 11 kills on .474 hitting against Illinois, while contributing to the Illini's
dismal attack percentage of -.020 with her nine blocks on the evening. Harmotto was a considerable factor in Penn State out blocking Illinois 14-3.

"Christa was nearly unstoppable [against Illinois]," Rose said. "There were some rotations where it seemed like we had no difficulty at all with siding out and doing the things that we wanted to do on our side of the net."

Fellow freshman Nicole Fawcett helped lead the juniors and seniors to championship number three with her 12 kills on 21 errorless attempts.

"Everyone played amazing [Saturday], and the score showed that," Fawcett said. "We didn't have many chances to make errors because we were forcing them to make errors before us. We blocked well, and that allowed us to play defense around that, and then that enabled us to hit well. Everyone played well and put it together and stopped them completely."

Rose cited excellent passing as a reason for the team's dominance over the weekend, saying that when the team passes well, it allows All-America setter Sam Tortorello to do what she does best.

Penn State has dropped a total of three games thus far in conference play, but the Lions are still focused on winning out and playing well against the four remaining teams on the Big Ten schedule.

"Conference play isn't over yet, so if we do end up with our goal -- going 20-0 -- it'll be the most rewarding [of the three Big Ten titles] because Penn State hasn't done that in a while," Tortorello said.

The last time the Lions finished undefeated in the Big Ten was in 1999, the same year Rose led his squad to the program's only national championship.

With the win alone on Saturday, the Lions clinched only a share of the conference title. When the Golden Gophers beat Wisconsin, who had previously been trailing Penn State in the standings by four contests, that secured an outright Big Ten championship for the Lions, their ninth in 15 years.