UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Dec. 7, 2004 - Four members of the Penn State women's volleyball team earned All-Mideast Region honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), officials announced. Senior right side hitter Syndie Nadeau (St. Georges, Quebec) and junior setter Sam Tortorello (Shorewood, Ill.) were named first team AVCA All-Mideast Region while junior libero Kaleena Walters (Mt. Lebanon, Pa.) and freshman outside hitter Kate Price (Fraser, Mich.) picked up honorable mention AVCA All-Mideast Region. All four are now eligible for AVCA All-America awards.

Nadeau earns her first career AVCA honor as she was twice named Big Ten Player of the Week (Nov. 8 & 29). A first team All-Big Ten pick, Nadeau made Penn State history on Nov. 8 as she was the first-ever Nittany Lion to be awarded with Sports Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week honors. She ranks third on the team with 3.14 kills per game and ranks second with 3.25 digs per game, the only player on the squad to average more than 3.00 kills per game and 3.00 digs per game. The Penn State Invitational Most Valuable Player, Nadeau has posted 17 double-doubles for the season, including 13 of the last 15 matches. She notched a career-high 17 digs twice during the season, including during the Big Ten title-clinching match at Michigan (Nov. 27) and posted a season-high 19 kills at No. 5 Minnesota (Nov. 5) while recording a career-high seven blocks vs. No. 7 Ohio State (Oct. 20).

Tortorello earns her second first team All-Mideast Region honor in as many seasons. She 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 4,548 and counting. A 2003 AVCA Second Team All-American, Tortorello is currently second on the single-season assists per game list with 14.01 and 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 has recorded 14 double-doubles this 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) and balances the offense in a way that not one of her five hitters is averaging less than 4.22 attacks per game or more than 10.82 attacks per game.

Price, also named to the 2004 Big Ten All-Freshman team, leads the team with 3.94 kills per game. She is the only non-junior or senior to rank among the top 10 in the Big Ten in kills per game (3.94) while ranking fifth in the league in conference-only matches with 4.07 kpg. The freshman outside hitter recorded a career-high 28 kills in the five-game win over then-No. 12 Stanford on the road on Sept. 10, surpassing her previous career high of 10 kills in the first game alone en route to being named the Most Valuable Player of the Stanford Invitational. It marked the first time since the 2002 season that a Penn State player had recorded 28 or more kills, and only the third time in Penn State rally-scoring-era history that the mark had been reached. Also named to the Penn State Invitational All-Tournament team, she has six double-doubles for the season, including a career-high 18 digs vs. then-No. 1 Minnesota (Oct. 2). She has posted double-digit kill figures in 25 matches, including 24 of the last 27 outings and has tied her career high with three blocks on four different occasions.

Walters earns her first ever AVCA All-Region award after also picking her first career first team All-Big Ten accolade. This season she set a new Penn State single-season record for digs with 600 and counting, which breaks her own record of 554 set last season. The junior libero became one of only three players in Big Ten history to record 44 or more digs in a match vs. then-No. 1 Minnesota (Oct. 2) and she is also just 292 digs shy of becoming Penn State's all-time career digs leader. Walters set a new record for digs in a three-game match with 27 against Purdue (Oct. 30) and also set a new record for digs in a five-game match with 44 against No. 1 Minnesota (Oct. 2), the highest dig total ever recorded by a Nittany Lion. Named the Penn State Invitational Defensive Most Valuable Player, Walters currently holds the Penn State single-season record for digs per game with 5.71 and is currently the all-time career digs per game leader with a career average of 4.09. Chosen to the Stanford Invitational and Penn State Classic All-Tournament teams, Walters ranks second on the team in service aces with 21, including a career-high four vs. Northwestern (Nov. 13).

The third-ranked and No. 2 seed Penn State women's volleyball team will take on No. 13 UCLA on Friday, Dec. 10 at 5:00 p.m. PT (8:00 p.m. ET) in the NCAA Tournament Regional Semifinal match in Seattle, Wash. No. 5 and host Washington will play No. 12 St. Mary's (Calif.) in the 7:30 p.m. PT match that will be televised live on Fox Sports Northwest. There will be no television for the Penn State-UCLA match and all matches will be played at the Bank of America Arena.

The winners of each Friday night match will square off in the NCAA Regional Final match on Saturday, Dec. 11 at 7:00 p.m. PT (10:00 p.m. ET) in a contest that will be televised live by CSTV. The winner of that match will advance to the NCAA National Semifinals, which are slated for Thursday, Dec. 16 in Long Beach, Calif. The winners advance to the NCAA National Championship match on Saturday, Dec. 18 in a match that will be shown live on ESPN2 at 1:00 p.m. PT. (4:00 p.m. ET).

Radio will be available for the Penn State-UCLA match live on ESPN Radio 1450 AM WMAJ or on www.GoPSUsports.com.

For more information on the NCAA Tournament Regional matches in Seattle, please visit http://gohuskies.collegesports.com/ot/2005-w-volley-ncaa.html.