University Park, Pa., Dec. 14, 2005 ¨C Penn State women¡¯s volleyball freshman outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) has been named the 2005 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Division I National Freshman of the Year, it was announced today. In addition, senior setter Sam Tortorello (Shorewood, Ill.) earned First Team AVCA All-America honors, Fawcett and sophomore middle hitter Melissa Walbridge (Yardley, Pa.) picked up Second Team AVCA All-America accolades and senior libero Kaleena Walters (Mt. Lebanon, Pa.) and freshman middle hitter Christa Harmotto (Aliquippa, Pa.) collected Honorable Mention AVCA All-America recognition.

The honor marks the third All-America award for Tortorello as she was awarded second team accolades in 2003 and first team honors last season. It is the first such award for Fawcett, Walbridge, Harmotto and Walbridge. The five selections bring Penn State¡¯s total number of All-America selections to 45 since 1979 and head coach Russ Rose has now coached at least one All-America selection in 26 of his 27 seasons at Penn State.

Fawcett¡¯s Division I National Freshman of the Year honor is the first ever received by a Penn State player and the second ever by a Big Ten student-athlete, as Ohio State¡¯s Stacey Gordon earned the award in its initial season in 2001. Also named the AVCA Mideast Region and unanimous Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Fawcett set a new NCAA Tournament record for attack percentage, hitting .889 with 16 kills against Long Island in the second round. For the year, Fawcett averaged 4.51 kills on .309 hitting and led the team in kills on 28 occasions. She was also one of four Penn State freshmen ever to be named to the All-Big Ten Team, joining Harmotto along with Bremner and Lauren Cacciamani, who earned the honor in 1996. The first Lion freshman to be awarded with Big Ten Player of the Week honors, she earned the accolade three times this season after leading the team and ranking fourth in the Big Ten with 4.43 kills per game, including 4.53 kpg in conference-only matches, good for second in the league. Fawcett has tallied 10 or more kills in 31 matches, including 16 matches with 15 or more kills. She has hit .300 or better with 11 kills on 22 occasions and ranked fifth in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.341) in league-only matches. A member of the Hawaiian Airlines Classic, Nebraska Players Challenge and Penn State Classic All-Tournament Teams, Fawcett ranked fifth on the team in digs per game with 1.80, picking up five or more digs in 23 matches. An all-around player, she also had 24 multiple-block contests. Fawcett recorded her first career double-double in her first collegiate match against Stanford with 12 kills and 12 digs at the AVCA/NACWAA Showcase.

Earning her third consecutive AVCA All-America honor and her second straight First Team AVCA All-America accolade, Tortorello was also named the Big Ten Player of the Year and became the Big Ten career assists leader. In her last weekend of Big Ten play, Tortorello passed four-time All-American Bonnie Bremner to move into second on Penn State¡¯s career assist list and ended her career with 6,085, also becoming only the second Penn State player in history to record more than 6,000 career assists. She led the conference with 13.28 assists per game and directed the Penn State offense to a .307 hitting percentage. She had five hitters averaging more than 2.50 kills per game and was an offensive option herself, recording at least one kill in every match of the year, including three or more kills on 21 occasions. She ranked second on the team in aces with 28 and digs with an average of 2.48. An all-around player, Tortorello had 23 multiple-block contests this year. She led the team with nine double-doubles and was named to the All-Tournament teams at the AVCA/NACWAA Showcase, the Nebraska Players Challenge and the Penn State Classic, earning Most Outstanding Player accolades at the Hawaiian Airlines Classic.

Walbridge picks up her first career All-America honor after being named First Team All-Big Ten and leading the team and the Big Ten and ranking sixth in the nation in hitting percentage (.413). Named to the State College Regional All-Tournament Team, she also ranked second on the team with 1.48 blocks per game for the year. In conference-only matches, Walbridge averaged 2.65 kills per game while hitting .449, more than 50 percentage points higher than the next competitor, also posting a league-leading 1.63 blocks per game in Big Ten-only contests. She ranked fourth on the team in kills per game with 2.64 and recorded five or more kills 29 times, including 12 double-digit kill contests. Against Pacific on Sept. 9, Walbridge connected on 12 of her 14 attempts to hit .857, marking the first time since 2003 that a Penn State player has hit above .800 with more than 12 kills. She recorded at least one block in every match of the season, including 26 matches of three or more blocks and 14 matches of five or more blocks. She also led the team with 29 service aces and had a career-high seven digs twice, recording at least one dig in 33 matches.

Walters earns her first career honorable mention All-America honor after being tabbed a First Team AVCA All-Mideast Region honoree earlier this year. The 2005 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, Walters earned her second consecutive All-Big Ten award after receiving four Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors this season. Her honors make her only the fourth player in Big Ten history to pick up four weekly honors in one season, joining Ohio State¡¯s Stacey Gordon (2002, 2003) and Vanessa Wouters (1996) and Illinois¡¯ Mary Eggers (1986) as the only players ever to accomplish the feat. Penn State¡¯s career digs leader (1,957), Walters led the squad with 4.90 digs per game on a team that led the conference and ranked sixth in the nation in blocks per game with 3.58. She had 30 multiple-dig contests this season, including 21 matches with 15 or more digs. The owner of Penn State¡¯s three-, four- and five game digs records, her defense aided the Nittany Lions to holding opponents to a combined .109 hitting percentage. An ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District selection, Walters led the team in digs in 28 matches this year.

Harmotto also earns her first career AVCA honor after joining Fawcett as one of four freshmen ever to be named to the All-Big Ten team. Harmotto became only the second Penn State rookie in school history to earn Big Ten Player of the Week honors and earlier this year set the Lion record for blocks in a four-game match with 13 versus Southern California. She led the team in blocking with 1.50 blocks per game, recording 25 matches with three or more blocks, including 14 matches with five or more blocks. Named to the AVCA/NACWAA Showcase and Hawaiian Airlines Classic All-Tournament teams, Harmotto ranked second on the team and third in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.356), including hitting .378 for third in conference-only matches. She ranked second on the team in kills per game with 2.96 and she recorded at least six kills in 28 of 29 matches she played this year. Harmotto had 14 multiple-kill matches this season, including a career-high 14 versus Stanford, and she recorded her first career double-double with 12 kills on .571 hitting with 13 blocks against USC.

Penn State ended its season with a 31-3 record after winning its third consecutive Big Ten title with a perfect 20-0 record.

For more information on the Penn State women¡¯s volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.