2015 Penn State Nittany Lions women's volleyball team

2015 Penn State Nittany Lions women's volleyball
2015 Penn State Nittany Lions women's volleyball
NCAA regional semifinal, L vs. Hawaii; 0-3 (22-25, 25-27, 16-25)
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 8
Record	28-6 (15-5 (4th) Big Ten)
Head coach	Russ Rose (36th season);
Associate head coach	Salima Rockwell (5th season)
Home arena	Rec Hall (Capacity: 6,502)
	Seasons

In 2015, Penn State finished 4th in the Big Ten and advanced only to the NCAA Region Semifinal where they were swept by Hawaii.^[1] Penn State began the year ranked #1^[2] after having won the national championship the previous two seasons.

Roster[edit]

Penn State lost 4 important players from the previous year's championship team. Setter Micha Hancock, middle blocker Nia Grant, libero Dominique Gonzalez and defensive specialist Lacey Fuller all graduated. The four returning starters were Megan Courtney, Ali Frantti, Haleigh Washington and Aiyana Whitney. While Whitney was a returning starter, she played much of the season at middle blocker which was a new position for her in 2015.^[3]

Prior to the 2015 season, Whitney was selected to represent Penn State on the Big Ten Volleyball Foreign Tour, where a team composed of players from each conference school competed in Slovenia, Croatia and Italy over the summer.^[4]

Number	Player	Position	Year	Height
2	Lara Caraway	DS	SR	5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
3	Kendall Pierce	Libero	SR	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
4	Wilma Rivera	Setter/DS	FR	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
5	Ali Frantti	OH	SO	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
6	Nia Reed	OH	RS FR	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
8	Lainy Pierce	DS	SO	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
10	Carley Muller	DS	JR	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
11	Tori Gorrell	MB	FR	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
12	Keeton Holcomb	Libero	FR	5 ft 5 in (1.65 m)
13	Taylor Krause	DS	JR	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
14	Aiyana Whitney	OH/MB	RS SR	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
15	Haleigh Washington	MB	SO	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
16	Jelena Novakovic	OPP	FR	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
17	Megan Courtney	OH	SR	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
19	Heidi Thelen	MB	SO	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
21	Bryanna Weiskircher	Setter	RS FR	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
22	Simone Lee	OH	SO	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
24	Laura Broerman	DS	JR	5 ft 3 in (1.60 m)