Just want to send my congratulations out to Penn State, the 2009 NCAA women's volleyball champions. It was an incredible season capped off by a completely unreal championship match. Also congratulations to Texas - who put on quite a show tonight (and throughout the season).
Here are some links to coverage of the match:
• Recap
• Box Score
• Video Highlights
• NCAA Photo Gallery (Images Available for Purchase)
• AP Photo Gallery
• Penn State Postmatch Press Conference
• Texas Postmatch Press Conference
• Quotes
• Notes
Plus, Penn State's official athletic site, gopsusports.com, has some nice coverage of the Nittany Lions' championship. You can check that out here.
While I'm thiking about it, it's never too early to look forward to next season. One thing I noticed today is that, although the four 2009 first-team All-Americans that we enjoyed seeing tonight (Hodge, Glass, Hooker and Engle) all graduate, nine of the 14 players on that first team will be back next season (which is exciting, in itself). Interestingly, out of those nine, six are in the Big Ten - so look for Penn State to be thoroughly challenged in its quest for a fourth straight championship. There are five schools that will return a pair of players who were AVCA All-Americans this year: Michigan, Nebraska, Penn State, Stanford and Washington. So maybe they'll be among the favorites next season. But there's still a lot of time for things to change between now and then.
Anyway, thanks to everyone who has made this women's volleyball season beyond enjoyable - particularly all the fans and readers of this blog. It certainly ended in a special way. Happy holidays and enjoy the offseason!
Erasing a two-set deficit, the Penn State University Nittany Lions came from behind in dramatic fashion to win the 2009 NCAA Division 1 women's volleyball championship over the University of Texas Longhorns, held Dec. 19 in Tampa, Florida.
Members of the 2007 Penn State national champion team with U.S. President George W. Bush in 2008.
Down 2-0, Penn State won the next three sets to extend their winning streak to 102 matches and in the process earning their third consecutive volleyball title.

Texas' Destinee Hooker led all players with 34 kills, .316 hitting percentage and collected 17 digs. National volleyball Player of the Year Megan Hodges led the Nittany Lions with 21 kills, 13 digs and 5 blocks.

The set scores were 22-25, 20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 15-13.

Penn State, the top-ranked team in the country, had a fairly easy route to the title game, beating all but of their opponents in straight sets. In the first and second rounds, they defeated Binghamton and the University of Pennsylvania in straight sets, before sweeping Florida and California in regional action. In the semi finals, they dropped their only set of the playoffs in a 3-1 victory over Hawaii.

No. 2 Texas' route to the championship game was as easy, defeating Texas St. (3-0) and Texas Christian (3-0) in the first two rounds. In regional action, the Longhorns defeated Texas A&M (3-0) and Nebraska (3-1) to reach the semi final, where they swept Minnesota (3-0).

The win was also number 1,001 for Penn State coach Russ Rose.