With its 109-match winning streak snapped in September, Penn State had only one streak left to worry about: its consecutive national championship streak.
The Lions kept it going for a fourth straight year in dominant fashion on Saturday night with a 3-0 win (25-20, 27-25, 25-20) over California in the national title game at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri.
Senior Blair Brown led the Nittany Lions with 18 kills, including eight of the team's 18 in the final set. Brown and her fellow seniors Alyssa D'Errico, who served up an ace in her final match in a Penn State uniform, and Arielle Wilson, who chipped in 12 kills on .391 hitting, leave Happy Valley as the only players in the history of the sport with four championship rings.
For all their heroics, however, the underclassmen were big for Penn State as well. Freshman Deja McClendon had 16 kills in the match and fellow frosh Ariel Scott added seven. Katie Slay led Penn State with six blocks, and spiked home the championship winning kill in the third set.
Coach Russ Rose now stands alone with five national championships, the most by any coach in the history of the sport.