Volleyball Magazine’s September issue profiles Megan Hodge, Penn State’s three-time First Team AVCA All-American outside hitter.
“Megan Hodge: Leader of the Pride”
Volleyball Magazine, September 2009. By John Ackerman.
“Russ Rose knew full well that he was about to court one of the nation’s most-prized high school volleyball recruits. He understood she had a slew of suitors, and she’d be listening to pitches from a handful of the country’s elite college programs, all on this very same day. But while it was cold in Pennsylvania, it was a nice spring day in North Carolina. ‘Instead of wearing my nice clothes,’ said Rose, the renowned women’s volleyball coach at Penn State, ‘I wore shorts and a polo because, boy, I enjoyed sitting out in the sun.’ And when it was his turn to woo senior-to-be Megan Hodge—whose father, Michael, had arranged for his daughter’s top choices to gather on one afternoon at her school, Riverside High in Durham, N.C—Rose wasn’t exactly flattering. ‘He was like, “Come here if you want to come here,” Hodge says. ‘If you don’t want to come here, then don’t come here.’”
It’s a nice piece (thanks to MTC for the heads-up), and worth the read. More from Volleyball Magazine.
NCAA-on-Demand Ignores Classic 2008 PSU-Nebraska Semi-Final Match
One more thing: the article includes this passage, which highlights a question we’ve had for a long time: “Last year’s Penn State squad lost just two sets all season, and both came in an instant-classic national semifinal match with Nebraska.”
The NCAA has a website — NCAA on Demand — that offers DVDs of televised games in various sports that are of interest to fans. The site includes DVDs of regional, semi-final, and final matches for NCAA Women’s Volleyball. But there’s no DVD of that match from NCAA-on-Demand.
So, let us get this straight. The Penn State-Nebraska Semi-Final match is a classic! Largest crowd in NCAA Women’s Volleyball history! Loudest crowd in NCAA Women’s Volleyball history! (OK, that’s unofficial, but we’ll go out on a limb for this one). Included the only two sets lost by the PSU Women all season, plus the most TV shots of a camo-jacket waving player in NCAA history! But no DVD available from NCAA on Demand?
Hello, NCAA-on-Demand, anyone home? This seems strange. There must be as many fans out there who would shell out for this classic match as shelled out for the 2006 2nd Round PSU v. Hofstra match, no? Feel free to Contact NCAA-on-Demand to request the PSU-Nebraska DVD or for further explanation.