No. 1 Penn State Earns a Ticket to Final

Penn State defeated Pacific, 14-16, 15-5, 15-6, 7-15, 15-12, Thursday night and advanced to its third consecutive appearance in the championship match.

Lauren Cacciamani had 26 kills to lead the No. 1-ranked Nittany Lions, who will play in Saturday’s title match against Stanford, which beat defending champion Long Beach State, 15-10, 15-10, 15-3.

It was only the second time this season that the Nittany Lions (35-1) have been forced to five games. Penn State has won 35 consecutive matches since losing its opener to Florida.

Carrie Schonveld added 19 kills, and Katie Schumaker had 15. Elsa Stegemann led Pacific (32-2) with 31 kills.

“I thought it was a great match that you would expect to see in the final four between two evenly matched opponents,” Penn State Coach Russ Rose said. “We could have just as easily lost that match.”

Perhaps the biggest play came in the fifth game when setter Bonnie Bremner, who finished with 63 assists, came up with her lone block assist. Bremner stuffed the powerful Stegemann and gave Penn State its first lead of game five, 13-12.

“It was hit and miss,” Rose said. “She’s blocking the hardest hitter in the tournament and we were able to get the lead.”

Behind the power of seven Stegemann kills, Pacific won game four. Stegemann established a record for kills in the NCAA tournament with 138.

Penn State is 4-1 in national semifinal matches. This is its fourth appearance in the final.

In the last two seasons, Penn State has lost the title match. In 1997, Stanford beat the Nittany Lions. In 1998, Long Beach State defeated Penn State in five games.