Five Behrend Lions Earn Volleyball All-Conference Honors

The Penn State Behrend volleyball squad picked up a number of honors as the 2008 AMCC Volleyball All-Conference awards were announced on Tuesday. 

Behrend Lions junior setter Brooke Gallentine (Mt. Pleasant/Southmoreland) and junior middle hitter Sheila Ogden (Grove City/Grove City) were both selected to the All-AMCC First Team.  Gallentine has posted 936 assists this season (8.91 apg) to bring her career total to 3,019 good for third place in school history.  She has also tallied 278 digs, 66 kills, and 31 aces this fall.  Ogden has produced 284 kills and 64 blocks this season.  She has 843 kills for her career which ranks eighth all-time and has also totaled 223 blocks which ranks fifth all-time.  This is the third straight selection to the all-conference team for both Gallentine and Ogden.

Junior outside hitter Carissa Johnston (Cambridge Springs/Cambridge Springs) and freshman outside hitter Lauren Dalton (Cochranton/Cochranton) were each selected to the All-AMCC Second Team, and Dalton was also named AMCC Co-Newcomer of the Year.  Johnston has played in only 40 sets this season due to injury, but has made her time count.  This is the second season of all-conference honors for Johnston, who has smacked 84 killls with a team-high .247 hitting percentage.  She has also tallied 31 digs, 15 blocks, and 13 assists.  Dalton burst onto the scene to rack up 266 kills, second most on the team, in her first season of competition.  She also is credited with 163 digs and 22 aces this fall.

Senior defensive specialist Brittany Hennessy (Hopewell/Hopewell) was named All-AMCC Honorable Mention, her fourth straight season receiving AMCC honors.  Hennessy has collected 319 digs this season to push her school record to 2,091 career digs.  She also ranks third all-time in school history in aces with 197 after serving up 29 this season.  Head coach Phil Pisano was also named AMCC Coach of the Year for the third time in four seasons.

The Behrend Lions were selected to participate in the ECAC South Region Tournament.  The blue and white enter the eight-team tournament as a three seed and will host the six seed Washington and Jefferson Presidents on Wednesday, November 12, at 7:00 p.m. in the Junker Center.

The Behrend Lions enter the match at 22-9 on the year and the 2008 AMCC regular season champions.  Behrend fell in the conference championship finals to Frostburg State.  Washington and Jefferson comes into the contest at 17-14 overall.  In their last match the Presidents fell by a 3-1 score to eventual runner up Thomas More College in the PAC semifinals.  The winner of the first-round matches on Wednesday will move on to the semifinals and finals on November 15 and 16 hosted by the highest remaining seed excluding Behrend and Cabrini.