Glass, Penn St. celebrate NCAA title.

"I am so happy (her mother Laurie) was able to be there, to get to share that moment with her. Plus, I’ve heard a lot from people back in Leland. That has been pretty awesome, too."
– Alisha Glass

Winning a college national championship in women’s volleyball didn’t become a reality for Alisha Glass until sometime Sunday night – nearly 24 hours after she helped lead her team to the title.

Glass, the starting setter for the Penn State volleyball team, was in her Penn State dorm room with roommates and friends Sunday night. She said when someone offered her congratulations, the magnitude of what the team accomplished started to sink in. It is believed that Glass became the first county resident to ever be part of an NCAA championship team.

“We’re the national champions. It was an indescribable feeling,” Glass said Tuesday night of Penn State’s thrilling five-game match with Stanford. Penn State won the first two games, 30-25 and 30-26, and dropped the next two, 30-23 and 30-19. That set the stage for the decisive tiebreaker, which Penn State won, 15-8.

During the match, Glass had 65 assists, 7 kills, 11 digs and 3 blocks in the match. It was the second national title for Penn State in women’s volleyball since the program began in the 1960s. The Nittany Lions advanced to the national title match by beating California, 30-28, 30-25, 30-16, last Thursday night in the semifinals.

Alisha Glass celebrates a point with teammates
junior Roberta Holehouse and senior Kate Price, of
Fraser, Michigan, during Penn States' win over
Stanford in the NCAA women's volleyball
championship match Saturday

Glass has won volleyball championships before. In 2005, she and her Leland High School teammates won the Class D state title after having reached the state finals the previous two years but not winning. Glass said it was her experience in winning the title as a senior in high school that helped her stay focused in the final match.

“We won the first two games, but then we let up and Stanford came back to take the next two. As we got ready for the tiebreaker, I understood the magnitude of winning the title. We had a feeling of, ‘we have to win this, there is no tomorrow,’” she said.

Stanford went up 4-3 on the Lions in the tiebreaker. Sparked in part by two kills from Glass and junior middle hitter Christina Harmotto, Penn State scored six straight points to take a 10-6 lead. The Cardinal scored two more points to make it close, but the Nittany Lions went on to get the win and the national title.

Watching from the stands was her mother and high school coach, Laurie Glass. She said she was reasonably confident Penn State would win, even after they let Stanford back into the match. “Their passing and serving left them for two games and Stanford had an incredible run to win those two games. When they got up 4-3 in the tie-breaker, I got a little nervous,” Glass said.

Penn State called a timeout and when the Nittany Lions came back on the floor, Laurie Glass said she saw a familiar gleam in the eyes of the players. “They were focused and you could see they weren’t going to let this go,” she said.

Laurie Glass said he favorite moment of the match came in the tiebreaker when Alisha went up for what looked like a set, but instead hammered the ball over the net to an unguarded spot for a point.  “She sent that ball hard to the back of the court and no one could touch it. It just caught them off guard, it was spectacular,” she said.

After the match, the players posed for a trophy picture with their national champions T-shirts and hats, and then the players went up into the crowd to thank the 150 or so parents and supporters who traveled across country to watch the match.

“I am so proud of her and the whole team. I know how much they all put in practice, conditioning, training both in and out of season. They sacrifice a lot to be where they are and it shows,” said Glass.

For Alisha, having her mother in the stands helped add to the championship euphoria.
“I am so happy she was able to be there, to get to share that moment with her. Plus, I’ve heard a lot from people back in Leland. That has been pretty awesome, too,” she said.

Glass received more recognition last week for her play at Penn State when she was chosen as a second team All-American player by the American Volleyball Coaches Association. She has previously earn all Big-Ten honors as well this season.