In just one hour and 20 minutes, the top-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team erased memories of five-game losses in the previous two title matches by sweeping Stanford for the first NCAA volleyball national championship in school history. The Nittany Lions defeated the Cardinal (15-2, 15-10, 15-7) in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,252 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center at the University of Hawaii.

It was a perfect ending for the three seniors who had started in the previous two title matches. Each of the trio played one of their best matches of the year, including senior Lauren Cacciamani, who was named the Most Outstanding Player after pounding out a match-high 20 kills with eight blocks.  Along with Cacciamani, the 1999 National Co-Player of the Year, seniors Bonnie Bremner and Carrie Schonveld were also named to the NCAA Championship All-Tournament team. Bremner dished out 37 assists with four kills of her own. She also hit .333 with six digs and a pair of blocks. Schonveld had nine kills to go with her team-high 10 digs. The outside hitter notched a .368 on the night and also aided at the net with three blocks (1 BS, 2 BA).
 
The Penn State blockers created a wall that the Stanford hitters could not avoid. Fueled by Cacciamani's eight blocks, the Lions held the Cardinal to a season-low -.008 hitting percentage as 1999 National Co-Player of the Year Kerri Walsh zeroed out (11k-11e-33ta). They also held 1999 National Freshman of the Year Logan Tom to negative numbers (7k-10e-31ta, -.097)

The Lions ended the season, 36-1, with the only loss coming in the season opener to Florida on Aug. 27.  The class of 1999 - Bonnie Bremner, Lauren Cacciamani, Kalna Miller and Carrie Schonveld - helped Penn State to an amazing 137-5 record with a share of two Big Ten championships (1996, 1997) before winning it outright in 1998 and 1999.  The quartet also compiled a 77-3 mark (.963) in Big Ten matches, including consecutive 20-0 seasons over the 1998 and 1999 seasons.  They made Penn State the first school in Big Ten history to win four-consecutive crowns and never once lost a match at home.

THEY SAID IT
Penn State Head Coach Russ Rose
"I think we set the stage for the win in the first game when we had 10 blocks.  We had a great game plan and the players played with passion and enthusiasm right out of the chute. I believe the players are the ones that placed themselves in a position to get into this situation and I thought they handled all the distractions that normally come in a match like this as well as they possible could."

Nittany Lion senior and Most Outstanding Player Lauren Cacciamani
"We didn't peak at the beginning of the season, obviously.  We lost our first match, so we knew we wouldn't go undefeated. We did a good job playing as a team. We progressed and got better as the season wore on. The younger people improved and the older people became better leaders and kept it together as well. So it was an uphill progression leading towards the end."

Big Ten 25 Years of Women's Championships

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