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Penn State Volleyball
Just eight years after joining the Big Ten Conference in 1991, Penn State brought the league's third-ever national championship to University Park in 1999 after defeating Stanford in the NCAA Championship match. The title was a culmination of several years of dominance by the Lady Lions in the Big Ten, as they have never finished worse than third in the conference and won four-straight titles from 1996 to 1999. Under legendary head coach Russ Rose, who over 27 years at Penn State has compiled a record of 859-154, the Blue and White did not lose a single home match, losing only a total of nine games on their home court over those four years. Penn State had amazing 137-5 overall record and a 77-3 mark in conference play from 1996-99. In 1997, Rose was honored by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as the National Coach of the Year, an award he also won in 1990. Rose is also ranked second nationally among active Division I coaches with a career winning percentage of .848. In 1996, Rose welcomed freshmen Lauren Cacciamani and Bonnie Bremner, who would combine to earn seven All-America honors during their careers. Terri Zemaitis, who won a pair of All-America awards herself, would lead the team to its second league crown during the year, setting off a string that would see Cacciamani and Bremner win the title every season of their careers. Zemaitis is 10th in conference history with 1,842 kills, and second to Cacciamani in blocks with 736. During the 1997 and 1998 seasons, Penn State advanced all the way to the NCAA Championship matches, falling in five games to Stanford and Long Beach State, respectively. Entering the 1999 Championship against Stanford, the Lady Lions hoped that their experience would pay off, and the third time proved to be the charm. Ending their season with a 36-match win streak after dropping the opening bout, Penn State posted the Big Ten's first-ever 20-0 season before entering NCAA Tournament play. The championship match against Stanford took just three games for the Lady Lions to seal their first national title.
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