TRAVERSE CITY -- Who says you never get a second chance to make the first reception?
Academic requirements prevented Leland graduate Alisha Glass from attending a reception at the White House to honor the 2007 national champion Penn State volleyball team. But just like no team could stand in the way of the undefeated Nittany Lions, Glass plans to make the trip this time.
"I'll be going this year, definitely," Glass said after leading Penn State to back-to-back national titles. "I will be there no matter what."
A junior setter for the Lions, Glass helped Penn State go a perfect 38-0 in 2008, only the fourth team ever in Division I to finish the season without a loss. PSU was the sixth team in NCAA history to win consecutive championships.
To take it a step further, Penn State didn't lose a set all season until gutting out a 3-2 victory over Nebraska in the national semifinals. The Lions came back two days later to stop Stanford 25-20, 26-24, 25-23 in the final match to keep the crown.
"It's awesome," said Glass, a first team All-American. "It's something you can't think about without smiling. Very few people get to do it once. The fact that I got to do it twice was incredible."
In addition to the undefeated season Penn State put up, the way the Nittany Lions did it was just as remarkable.
As a team, PSU posted a .390 hitting percentage. That mark tops the 2004 Florida A&M squad (.369) as the best in the rally-scoring era and is close to the overall Division I record for hitting percentage set in 1983 by Hofstra (.406).
A lot of that statistical success is due to Glass, who led Division I in assists per set (12.5). Glass had a season-high 60 assists in the semifinals and came back to post 40 in the final.
"We had a lot of people step up at a lot of different positions," Glass said. "I did my best to mix up the offense, having hitters hit from different positions that they're used to hitting from and trying to vary the tempo of the sets.
"The combination of all of that added up to hitting .400 or almost .400."
Laurie Glass, Alisha's mother, said witnessing the historic season was amazing. Laurie Glass, Alisha's former high school coach, said watching the Penn State offense diversify was even more fun.
"I'm always in awe of the achievements that she's made," Laurie Glass said. "This season has been pretty remarkable from start to finish. I tend to focus on the girls and what they've been doing differently from last year and what they've added to their arsenal."
Penn State, which came into the season with every starter returning, knew it was the favorite to win the title again. That's why coach Russ Rose challenged the Nittany Lions in an unusual way before the season started.
"At the beginning of the year coach said, 'You're coming off a great year, but this isn't the same team. The potential we have on this team, you have a chance to win every game,' " Alisha Glass recalled. "Coach is usually the most pessimistic guy, he doesn't say it unless he thinks it could happen."
And it did.
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