Dec. 18, 2010
KANSAS CITY, Mo. --The seventh-seeded California volleyball team (30-4) fell in threesets (25-20, 27-25, 25- 20) to fourth-seeded Penn State (32-5) in thechampionship final of the 2010 NCAA Division I Womens VolleyballChampionship at the Sprint Center on Saturday, Dec. 18. The NittanyLions secured their fourth consecutive NCAA title led by senior BlairBrown, who had 18 kills (6e, 38att, .316) and 10 digs. As 2010 Pac-10champions, the Golden Bears posted the most wins in a single season bya Cal squad and will finished with the highest single hittingpercentage (.308) in program history.This team has been so special. They are the most cohesive andhard-working team Ive had, said head coach Rich Feller. I couldntbe more proud.The Bears maintained a steady threat as senior setter Carli Lloydnotched her 13th double-double of the season on 33 assists and 11 digs.Lloyd completed her career at Cal ranked second for career assists with5,697 and is only the third setter in program history to log more than1,000 digs.Lloyd went to her magnetjunior outside hitter Tarah Murreyearly andoften and found her for a team-high 16 kills (8e, 56att, .143).Freshman outside Adrienne Gehan added seven kills (2e, 18att, .278)while sophomore middle hitter Shannon Hawari put in six kills (0e,16att, .375) to go with six blocks. Hawaris blocking total gave her131 on the season for sixth most in Cal history. Sophomore middlehitter Kat Brown had five blocks to put her final season tally at 151;fourth most in program history. The Bears out-blocked the Lions, 11-8,in the match. Sophomore libero Robin Rostratter put up 16 digs tofinish the season with 495; third most at Cal in a single year.The Lions found offense from everywhere on the court, led by Brown, butfreshman outside hitter Deja McClendon earned Most Outstanding Playerhonors with 16 kills (6e, 40att, .250). Penn State senior middle hitterArielle Wilson tacked on 12 kills (3e, 23att, .391) while freshmanmiddle Ariel Scott put up seven kills (3e, 17att, .235). Senior liberoAlyssa DErrico led the Lions with 13 digs.The Bears snatched the first point of the match, but Penn State broke afour-all tie as Scott recorded two straight kills and never trailed therest of the way. Hawaris kill pulled Cal within a point at 12-11, andMurreys cross-court kill kept the Bears within one at 13-12, but theLions went up by four, 16-12, on an ace by DErrico. Cal made one moreshort run to get within three points at 22-19, on a tip-kill by Murrey,but Penn State got a tip-kill of its own by Brown to put the first setaway, 25-20. The Bears struggled on the attack in the opening frame tolog a .143 rate (11k, 6e) on 35 swings and couldnt keep pace with theLions .324 hitting percentage (17k, 6e, 34att).The teams traded barbs to open the second set to the tune of nine tiescores. The Bears led each time and went ahead by three points, 13-10,as Johnson went down the line for a kill. Cal continued to lead bythree, 17-14, when Lloyd dumped her pass to the Penn State baseline fora kill, but the Lions fought back and tied the set at 17-all onMcClendons 11th kill of the night. The Lions pushed, and got atwo-point lead, 20-18, before the Bears tied the set for the 11th timeon a block by Murrey and Hawari. Penn State broke the 16th tie of theset as Brown went down the line, and stayed on top, 27-25. The Bearsstarted out hot, but concluded the second set with a .250 hittingpercentage (18k, 7e) on 44 attacks as the Lions put up a strong block.Penn State took 47 swings and got 19 kills (5e) for a .298 rate.Cal separated itself from Penn State in the third set when Rostratterserved up one of her two aces to grab a 7-4 lead for the Bears. Lloydand Brown met at the net to reject an attack by McClendon to put Cal upby four points, 10-6. McClendon went wide on an attack to give theBears a 12-9 lead, but turned around to get a kill on the next rally tospark an 8-0 Penn State run. Murreys shot off the Lion block snappedCals drought and helped the Bears move to within three points at 19-16on a kill by Gehan, but the Lions were too much as Wilsons slide-playkill gave them championship-point at 24-17. The Bears stayed alive forthree more points, but Penn State freshman middle hitter Katie Slay gother only kill of the night on an overplayed dig to give the NittanyLions a 25-20 win and their fourth straight NCAA title. Penn State had 18 kills (8e, 46att,.217) in the final set and out-paced the Cal attacks eight kills (2e,42att, .143).
Courtesy Cal media services
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