UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Jan. 14, 2005 - Junior women¡¯s volleyball player Sam Tortorello (Shorewood, Ill.) was one of four women¡¯s volleyball players in the nation nominated for the Volleyball Honda Award, given to the top female collegiate athlete in the country in each sport. Tortorello joined Southern California¡¯s Emily Adams, Ohio State¡¯s Stacey Gordon and Stanford¡¯s Ogonna Nnamani, the eventual winner, as the nominees.

In addition to the honor of the selection, American Honda will donate $1,000 to the women¡¯s athletic fund of each nominee¡¯s university.

Tortorello, a 2004 First Team AVCA All-American, directed the Penn State offense to a .282 season hitting percentage and averaged 14.00 assists per game, good for second on the Penn State single-season list. Tortorello was honored with her second first-team AVCA All-Mideast Region honor in as many seasons and picked up her third first team All-Big Ten honor this season as she was voted unanimously to the 2004 team. Also a unanimous selection to the preseason All-Big Ten squad, the junior setter earned her second career Big Ten Player of the Week honors on Sept. 20 and was named the Most Valuable Player of the Penn State Classic. With her 91 combined assists versus Indiana and Purdue on Oct. 29-30, Tortorello became only the fifth Nittany Lion in history to surpass 4,000 career assists and currently is fifth on the all-time chart with 4,603 and counting. Her 1,526 assists during the 2004 campaign ranks eighth on the Penn State single-season charts. A 2003 AVCA Second Team All-American, Tortorello recorded her first career triple-double against Maryland in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, posting a career-high 10 kills along with 52 assists and 15 digs. She recorded 15 double-doubles during the 2004 season, including a career-high 74 assists vs. Ohio State (Oct. 20) and a season-high 18 digs at Stanford (Sept. 10). She fell one block shy of her career-high with eight at Minnesota (Nov. 5).

Penn State ended the 2004 season with a 29-3 record after falling to UCLA in the NCAA Regional Semifinals. The Nittany Lions claimed their eighth Big Ten title in the 14 years since joining the conference and advanced to their 17 NCAA Regional match after becoming one of only four schools to reach all 24 NCAA Tournaments.

Please visit www.GoPSUsports.com for more information on the Penn State women¡¯s volleyball team.