After failing to win a championship in three previous attempts, the Penn State Nittany Lions finally claimed their first Division I women's volleyball title December 18.

The Nittany Lions swept favored Stanford, 15-2, 15-10, 15-7, before a sellout crowd at Hawaii's Stan Sheriff Center, extending their winning streak to 36 matches.

Penn State's Lauren Cacciamani, the co-Division I player of the year, was named the most outstanding player of the championship after pounding out 20 kills in the title match. Setter Bonnie Bremner quarterbacked the offense with 37 assists.

The expected one-two punch of Stanford's co-Division I player of the year Kerri Walsh and all-American freshman Logan Tom never materialized. The Nittany Lions minimized the Cardinal attack with strong defensive play both at the net (15 team blocks) and on the court (46 digs).

ÒIt was obvious we were out of it,Ó Walsh said. ÒWe've played like this at times, but we've always been able to snap out of it. I just kept thinking we were going to do that.Ó

ÒAll teams start the season with the same dreams and the same goals,Ó said Penn State coach Russ Rose. ÒAnd this game is about going out and getting a group of people together to follow those dreams and grasp it. We were able to do that this year.Ó

In 1997 and 1998, Penn State lost consecutive 3-2 matches to Stanford and Long Beach State, respectively. Instead of feeling the weight of the two losses, Cacciamani said, ÒI never let those two years get me down. I'm not the kind of player to hold a loss inside. I learned from it and went ahead.Ó

En route to the finals, Penn State defeated Pacific (California) in a marathon, 14-16, 15-5, 15-6, 7-15, 15-12. Pacific's Elsa Stegemenn finished the tournament with 138 kills in five matches, an NCAA record. Stanford swept Long Beach State, 15-10, 15-10, 15-3, in the tournament's other semifinal.

Penn State's title is the first Division I volleyball championship for a team east of Texas and just the third for a school not in California.

All-tournament team members were Cacciamani, Bremner and Carrie Schonveld of Penn State, Stanford's Walsh and Tom and Stegemenn of Pacific (California).

CHAMPIONSHIP

Penn St. 15 15 15

Stanford 2 10 7

Penn St. K E TA Pct. SA DG BS

Lauren

Cacciamani 20 6 44 .318 0 5 3

Bonnie Bremner 4 1 9 .333 0 6 0

Mishka Levy 3 0 5 .600 0 2 1

Carrie Schonveld 9 2 19 .368 0 10 1

Katie

Schumacher 9 5 26 .154 0 5 1

Amanda Rome 3 5 17 .000 0 9 0

Leilani

Schlottfeldt 0 0 0 .000 0 4 0

Kalna Miller 0 0 1 .000 1 5 0

Totals 48 19 121 .240 1 46 6

Stanford K E TA Pct. SA DG BS

Kerri Walsh 11 11 33 .000 1 9 2

Tara Conrad 4 1 13 .231 0 5 0

Lindsey

Yamasaki 6 5 18 .056 0 6 0

Logan Tom 7 10 31 .000 0 15 4

Jaimi Gregory 0 2 2 .000 0 8 0

Lindsay Kagawa 0 2 3 .000 0 3 0

Emily Lawrence 0 0 0 .000 0 1 0

Sarah Clark 1 2 5 .000 0 2 0

Sara Sandrik 3 3 8 .000 0 0 0

Robyn Lewis 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0

Jennifer Detmer 7 4 18 .167 0 0 0

Totals 39 40 131 .000 1 49 6