UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Dec. 15, 2004 - Junior women¡¯s volleyball player Sam Tortorello (Shorewood, Ill.) earned first team All-America honors from the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA), officials announced today. Senior Syndie Nadeau (St. Georges, Quebec) was tabbed as a second team AVCA All-America selection.

The honor marks the second All-America award for Tortorello as she was awarded second team accolades last season and it is the first such award for Nadeau. The two selections bring Penn State¡¯s total number of All-America selections to 40 since 1979 and head coach Russ Rose has now coached at least one All-America selection in 24 of his 26 seasons at Penn State.

Tortorello 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).

Nadeau earns her first career AVCA honor as she picked up first team AVCA All-Mideast Region accolades and 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 ranked third on the team with 3.09 kills per game and ranks second with 3.24 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 posted 17 double-doubles for the season, including 13 of the last 16 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).

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.

Freshman Melissa Walbridge (Yardley, Pa.) was named to the Washington Regional NCAA All-Tournament team as she tied her career high with 15 kills against the Bruins.

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