Sept. 14, 2007

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NEW HAVEN, Conn.--The Yale volleyball team found out something on Friday night that a lot of teams already knew. Penn State is THAT good. The Bulldogs (3-1) put up a valiant effort before falling 30-14, 30-14, 30-20 to the No. 3 Nittany Lions (7-1) in front of a boisterous, near-capacity crowd of 1,609 at the John J. Lee Amphitheater in the first match of the Yale Volleyball Classic.

"This was a great step for our program," head coach Erin Appleman, who was an assistant on Penn State's 1999 National Championship team, said. "This could've been a blowout, but our players made it exciting. And the crowd was marvelous."

"We decided to be composed and take it one point at a time," Ally Mendenhall said. "We always go out there to get better as a team, and we just had a great time tonight."

The Bulldogs weren't intimidated by the Nittany Lions and raced out to an early 3-1 lead to start game one. Penn State went on a series of four-point runs to open up a 12-6 advantage. On the next point, Julia Mailander made a sensational dig on what looked like a certain kill, and Yale won the point when Megan Hodge smacked it long. The Bulldogs won the next two points to pull within 12-9, but Penn State went on a 6-0 rally to pull away. Penn State scored 16 of the last 21 points to seal the game, 30-14.

Yale hung around early in game two before Penn State's Christa Harmotto took over. Harmotto had nine kills in the game, including three on three successive points. The Nittany Lions ended game two on a 17-5 clip to notch a 30-14 win and take a 2-0 lead in the match. Penn State hit an outstanding .629 in the game, smashing 23 kills and committing just one error in 35 swings.

Leading 17-11 in game three, three successive Penn State hitting errors contributed to a 5-0 Yale run that forced the Nittany Lions to take a timeout. Alexis Crusey pounded a kill out of the timeout to make it 17-16, but the Bulldogs could pull no closer. Leading 21-19, Penn State scored nine of the final 10 points of the match to take game three 30-20 and seal a 3-0 victory.

"I was really thrilled with our performance tonight," Appleman said. "I was very pleased with our passing."

Laurel Johnson led the Bulldogs with eight kills and added three digs. Crusey had seven kills and a team-high seven digs. Mendenhall tallied 26 assists. She added five digs and two blocks.

All-Americans Harmotto, Hodge and Nicole Fawcett were brilliant for the Nittany Lions. Harmotto had 15 kills, hit .737 and added three blocks. Hodge tallied 13 kills and seven digs, and Fawcett hit .600 with 14 kills, three aces and three blocks. Roberta Holehouse posted a match-high 13 digs and Jessica Yanz dished out 42 assists for Penn State.

Penn State hit an impressive .523 (57 kills, 11 errors, 88 attacks) as a team and out-dug the Bulldogs 40-17. The Nittany Lions tallied 10 team blocks to Yale's four.

Things don't get any easier for the Bulldogs on day two of the tournament. Yale hosts No. 2 Stanford, an easy 3-0 winner over Delaware State, at 10 a.m. on Saturday before taking on Delaware State at 5 p.m. Stanford and Penn State will square off at 7 p.m. to conclude the tournament. Both Yale matches, as well as the Stanford-Penn State showdown will be webcast live for free as a part of Yale All-Access on www.yalebulldogs.com. Yale assistant coach Kevin Laseau will be providing color commentary of the Stanford-Penn State match.

Report filed by Joe Clifford, Yale Sports Publicity