Alisha Glass 6 |
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Pronounced: Ah-LEE-sha • Glass
Lion Career
2008 (Junior): AVCA First Team All-America ... NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team ... AVCA First Team All-Mideast Region ... Unanimous First Team All-Big Ten ... AVCA National Player of the Week (Nov. 18) ... Big Ten Player of the Week (Nov. 17) ... Penn State Classic All-Tournament Team ... Chicago Classic All-Tournament Team ... Preseason All-Big Ten ... started all 38 matches and all 116 sets ... directed the Penn State offense to a record setting and nation-leading .390 hitting percentage ...the Nittany Lions bested their own record of .350 set in 2007 ... helped former Nittany Lion Christa Harmotto to a nation-leadung .486 attack percentage and none of her primary attackers hit below .349 ... led the team, Big Ten and nation with 12.50 assists per set average ... tallied 1,450 total assists ... ended her junior season with 4,347 career assists (sixth on the all-time career assists list) ... her 12.67 career assists per game ranks third on Penn State's all-time list ... had at least one kill in 32 matches and totaled 64 for the season ...ranked third on the team with 212 digs averaging 1.83 digs per set ... notched 114 total blocks, good enough for third on the team ... had 30 multiple-block matches ... registered two double-doubles ... collected 48 assists with five kills at Indiana (10/1) ... recorded a season-high nine blocks at Minnesota (10/11) ... had 48 assists and was a perfect 4-for-4 in kills at Ohio State (11/28) ... totaled 48 helpers against Western Michigan (12/12), while going 3-for-4 in attacks ... had a season-high 60 assists against Nebraska in the NCAA Semifinal.
2007 (Sophomore): AVCA Second Team All-America ... NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team ... AVCA First Team All-Mideast Region ... First Team All-Big Ten ... Sports Imports/AVCA National and Big Ten Player of the Week (11/19) ... started 35 of 36 matches and played in 114 of 122 games ... directed the Penn State offense to a nation-leading .350 hitting percentage ... under her guidance, the Lions shattered the NCAA Tournament record for team hitting percentage (besting the previous mark of .369 set by the 1995 Long Beach State team), attacking at a combined .424 clip while averaging 16.75 kills per game through six matches ... in her two years at the helm of the Penn State offense, the Nittany Lions are attacking at a combined .336 clip with an average of 16.94 kills per game ... had two attackers ranked in the top five in the nation in hitting percentage (Christa Harmotto, second, .492; Arielle Wilson, fifth, .446) ... led the team, ranked fourth in the Big Ten and 24th in the country with an average of 13.02 assists per game ... dished out 1,484 total assists, a mark that ties her for 10th on the single-season record list with Sam Tortorello in 2005 ... ends her sophomore season with 2,897 career assists, good for sixth on the all-time career assists chart, while her career 12.76 assists per game average places her second all-time behind Tortorello ... recorded 60 or more assists on five occasions, including a career-high 69 in the five game loss to Stanford at the Yale Classic (9/15) ... produced 91 kills for the season, including a season-high seven on .400 hitting in the national championship match against Stanford (12/15) ... had at least one kill in 32 matches ... ranked fourth on the team in digs with 198 for an average of 1.74 digs per game ... set a new personal best with 16 digs against Stanford (9/15) ... had five double-digit dig matches ... tallied 108 total blocks to sit fourth on the squad, the highest total by a non-middle attacker ... recorded a career high 14 stuffs at Illinois (10/19), a mark that set a new five-game rally-scoring-era record and fell just one block shy of the all-time five-game match record of 15 set by middle hitter Robyn Goukas at Michigan on Oct. 7, 2000 ... had 26 multiple-block matches ... also tallied 12 service aces.
2006 (Freshman): Big Ten All-Freshmen Team ... Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week (9/11) ... Big Ten Player of the Week (9/11) ... Texas Invitational All-Tournament Team ... Penn State Classic Most Valuable Player ... started all 35 matches and played in 113 of 114 games ... spent most of the season as a 5-1 setter, but also saw time as a 6-2 setter/hitter, attacking primarily on the right side ... led the team and finished seventh in the Big Ten with 12.50 assists per game ... also ranked third on the squad with 1.14 blocks per game and fourth with 21 service aces and 2.04 digs per game ... also chipped in 1.16 kills per game ... set the team to a Big Ten- and nation-best .323 hitting percentage, the only team in the country to finish the season hitting higher than .300 ... earned National Player of the Week honors after averaging 13.38 assists per game while leading the team to a .327 hitting percentage against Missouri and Texas at the Texas Invitational (9/7-8) ... dished out at least 17 assists in every match of the year, including a career-high 63 in the five-game thriller at Texas (9/8) ... recorded a personal-best nine kills in the season-opener against Nicholls State (8/25) while playing a 6-2 ... tallied eight kills in the 5-1 at Texas (9/8) ... hit for a career-high .714 percentage (5-0-7) against Lehigh (9/16) ... posted five double-doubles for the season ... recorded a career-high 17 digs at LSU (8/26) to go along with her 37 assists for her first career double-double ... had at least one dig in every match of the year and had five or more digs on 25 occasions ... recorded 129 total blocks for the year ... posted a career-best seven blocks three times, including the season-opener against Nicholls State (8/25), at Texas (9/8) and at Michigan State (11/17) ... tallied at least one block in 33 matches and had 30 multiple-block matches ... notched 14 matches of five or more stuffs ... also had at least one service ace in 16 contests, including a career-high three versus Tennessee State (9/15).
High School
Four-year letterwinner at Leland (Mich.) High School ... Michigan Gatorade Player of the Year ... led her squad to the 2006 Class D state championship, producing a single-match record of 48 kills in the title match ... named Miss Volleyball for the state of Michigan in 2006 ... four-time first team all-state, all-region dream team and all-conference ... is the National and State High School record holder in season aces (296), career aces (937) and career kills (3,584) ... during scholastic career attacked at a .440 clip while also contributing 1,816 digs and 680 blocks ... ranked sixth on PrepVolleyball.com's "Senior Aces" list ... was a member of the 2005 US Youth National A2 Team and played on the USA Red squad that won the gold medal at the HP Championships in Austin, Texas, where she also received the "Best Setter" award ... started on the 2004 USA Youth National Team that won the gold medal in Puerto Rico at the NORCECA Games, where she was recognized as "Best Server" ... a complete athlete, was also named first team all-state as a basketball player as a junior and senior ... was voted one of the top 25 players in the state by the Detroit Free Press ... member of the National Honor Society with a 3.7 grade point average.
Personal
Born Alisha Rebecca Glass on April 5, 1988 ... mother is Laurie Glass, who was also her high school volleyball coach ... grandfather Larry Glass was her high school basketball coach ... kinesiology major with a minor in Human Development & Family Studies ... names favorite book as "The Shack", favorite movie as "Antwone Fisher," favorite entertainer as Christa Harmotto, favorite place to visit as Buzios, Brazil, favorite food as Quaker Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bars, favorite actor as Morgan Freeman, favorite actress as Halle Berry and favorite pro sports team as the Seattle Seahawks ... nickname is Leash or "Hey You!"
Quoting Russ Rose
"Alisha has continued to progress every year. This year, in my mind, is her most important year. I'll judge her career on this year more than the other years because of the importance the position of setting has and how I think her leadership skills need to intermingle with the team. She's a terrific net player in that we never have to worry about what matchup we have from a blocking standpoint. She's a terrific blocker and competes hard. I'm sure her time with USA Volleyball this summer will show up in her performance this year."
Glass' Expectations
"I expect to take on the callenges that exist in my final season at Penn State. Leadership is key in our attempt to set the bar high and exceed our expectations. Chemistry will be crucial in combining all the new elements of the team this year. I am very excited at the possibilities that exist and want to finish my season and career with a win."