Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

It’s Two For The Show Penn State Holds Back Feisty Gators Ncaa Women’s Volleyball Championship

So much for doing the Gator chomp from Spokane all the way back to Gainesville, Fla.

The University of Flordia volleyball team, familiar with the Final Four setting, has yet to win just that - a set. In its four NCAA Tournament appearances, the Gators have been skunked each time in three games. Top-seeded Penn State was the latest to take them out, winning 15-11, 15-12, 15-13 in Thursday night’s first of two semifinal matches before 10,284 spectators at the Arena.

“It was not a masterpiece of volleyball out there. But the match needed to be played and it was played,” said Nittany Lions coach Russ Rose, whose 34-1 team advanced to the championship game for the first time since 1993. Penn State has never won the title.

Each game was tight and fifth-seeded Florida (34-4) had its chances in the second game.

Florida led as late as 12-11, but when Penn State’s Lauren Cacciamani landed a kill for a sideout, the Gators never scored again. The game was stuck on 14-12 for eight sideouts before Penn State closed it out on a Carrie Schonveld kill. It was Schonveld’s night as the left-side hitter - who usually averages 2.74 kills per game - finished with 17 kills on .344 hitting. She outhit Penn State’s biggest gun Terri Zemaitis. The All-American middle blocker had 14 kills on .341 hitting.

Penn State hit .254 in the match, its fifth-lowest hitting average of the season. The Gators finished at .220 and were led by Jenny Manz’ 17 kills on .250.

It was Manz who got the Gators back into the opening game, after they had fallen behind 11-3. Manz was hitting -.111 at the time, but the sophomore right-side hitter scored four of the next six points on kills.

She also teamed with Heather Wright to block a Zemaitis shot. The Nittany Lions committed an error during the lapse and the Gators pulled within 11-8.

Manz, who finished Game 1 with 12 kills and 11 digs, closed the gap to 11-9 and Aurymar Rodriguez followed with another point, but that was as close as the Gators got. It was that kind of match for Florida. It would creep back into every set, only to have the quicker team with more offensive weapons come back on them.

“To beat Penn State, we’d have to outblock them, and we did that,” said Florida coach Mary Wise, whose team outblocked the Nittany Lions 14-6. “The second thing we’d have to do was eliminate unforced hitting errors, and that’s where we lost the match.”

Florida had 30 errors on 173 total attacks to Penn State’s 26 errors on 169 attempts. Florida also had to have a big night from its first-team All-American Nina Foster. However, Penn State keyed on the senior middle blocker all night, allowing her just 13 kills on .207 hitting. Zemaitis had three solo kills on her alone.

In the deciding game, Penn State built a 9-3 lead, but once again, the Gators chipped away. They got as close as 14-13 when Cacciamani committed an attack error. However, Florida failed to score on its next service rotation and Penn State closed out the match on an attack error by Rodriguez.

“The match was played at such a slow tempo, there was no momentum,” said Rose, named AVCA national coach of the year this week. “There was no momentum to build on.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 color photos