Opposing teams know about Nicole Fawcett and Megan Hodge. They know it is necessary to limit the scoring opportunities the outside hitting duo gets if they want a chance to defeat the Penn State women's volleyball team.
After the Nittany Lions beat Ohio State to open the Big Ten season, Buckeyes head coach Jim Stone said, "If you're going to beat Penn State, you either have to have your outsides be as good as theirs or somehow put the game in the hands of other people."
The game plan of opposing coaches is no secret to the No. 2 Lions. Fawcett, last year's National Freshman of the Year, and Hodge, the top freshman recruit in the country, garner a lot of attention as a potent left-side hitting pair.
"Most people look at our team and say, 'They have big left sides, and if we can stop them we can stop their team,' " freshman setter Alisha Glass said.
But so far this season, no opponent has been able to contain the two enough to earn a win. Fawcett and Hodge have led Penn State (15-0, 4-0 Big Ten) in kills in 13 of the 15 matches the Lions have played this season. Still, that hasn't stopped the Penn State coaching staff from exploring Plan B.
With the bulk of the offense coming from two players, coaches have looked to get those "other people" -- especially sophomore middle hitter Christa Harmotto -- more involved offensively in the event that Plan A (Fawcett and Hodge) goes awry.
"We've been trying to get everyone involved, a little bit more distribution among everyone if we can," Penn State assistant coach Dennis Hohenshelt said. "Probably starting with Christa."
Before practices last week leading up to matches against Indiana and No. 9 Purdue, Harmotto and the rest of the middle hitters went through extra drills with Glass, the player responsible for directing the ball to all of the hitters.
Harmotto, a co-captain, said she and Glass developed a good "connection" through the additional work, and it showed this weekend.
Harmotto received more passes from Glass, and had a career-high 16 kills against the Hoosiers on Friday night. The next night versus Purdue, Harmotto finished with a career-high .812 hitting percentage. As a result, she was named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week.
Glass and Harmotto said that to have further success it helps to have multiple offensive threats to prevent teams from game planning only for Fawcett and Hodge.
"We focused really hard in practice to get our middle's going and always being available so that [opponents] can't just take two blocks or three blocks and go triple block on the outside," Glass said. "It keeps teams honest."
Fawcett and Hodge still led the way in kills this weekend. Hodge had 17 against Purdue and 16 versus Indiana, and Fawcett had 19 against the Boilermakers. But as Harmotto made evident, there were still enough hitting opportunities to go around for everyone.
"That's one of the main benefits of this team," Harmotto said. "You've got a bunch of girls who can pound the ball. That's a very important aspect as far the blockers on the other team not knowing who to block."
