Just days after being named Big Ten Player of the Year, freshman outside hitter Megan Hodge tallied 18 kills with a .382 hitting percentage in Penn State's 3-0 (30-16, 30-27, 30-15) win over Long Island University tonight in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, held in Rec Hall.

Penn State (30-2) was also helped by sophomore outside hitter Nicole Fawcett, who had 13 kills at a .333 clip. Long Island (25-11) was stymied offensively, only managing a .094 hitting percentage. Junior outside hitter Shelby Heggie led the Blackbirds with eight kills.

The Nittany Lions hit .381 for the match under the direction of freshman setter Alisha Glass and jumped out early. They pulled away at the midpoint of the opening game and hit .680 with only one hitting error.

Sophomore middle hitter Christa Harmotto had five blocks. As a team Penn State had tallied nine.

The Lions will meet Hofstra at 7 p.m. tomorrow night at Rec Hall. Hofstra (24-6) knocked off Cornell in five games to advance to the second round.