Universty Park, Pa. — The Penn State women’s volleyball team was honored by the Big Ten Network as the Big Ten’s 2010-11 Women’s Team of the Year during the fourth annual BTN Awards Monday (June 20) night. The Nittany Lion women were also named the league’s Team of the Year in 2009-10.
The women’s volleyball team made history once again during the 2010 season winning a fourth consecutive national championship with a 3-0 sweep of California on Dec. 18. The squad became the first Division I women’s volleyball team to win four NCAA titles in a row. With the six postseason wins, the Nittany Lions have 72 NCAA Tournament wins, which is fourth-best in Division I history, and have won 24 straight postseason matches to set an NCAA Division I volleyball record.
The squad, which finished with an overall record of 32-5, continued its dominance in the Big Ten last season winning its 14th overall and eighth straight Big Ten title. The team’s streak of eight consecutive titles is a conference record. Despite starting out Big Ten play going 3-3, the Nittany Lions finished 16-4 in conference action to take the crown.
Penn State’s record-breaking 109-match winning streak came to an end last season almost three years to the day it began with a 3-0 loss to Stanford. The streak is the longest Division I women’s streak in history and second overall only to the Miami men’s tennis team’s streak of 137 straight matches. During the unprecedented streak, the Nittany Lions lost only 19 sets and won a record-breaking 111 straight sets.
The Nittany Lions open the 2011 season on Aug. 26 when they host the AVCA Showcase at Rec Hall. Penn State faces Oregon at 7 p.m. Big Ten play begins on Sept. 21 at Nebraska. Head coach
