1999 NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Tournament - National Championship: Penn State Vs. Stanford

National Championship: Penn State Vs. Stanford

Appearing in the program's third straight title match, the top ranked Penn State Nittany Lions crushed second ranked Stanford in three sets to claim the school's first national title.

In game 1, Penn State jumped out to the 8-0 lead, before taking the first game 15-2. The Lions had 10 team blocks in game 1 alone, and hit .258 in game 1. Stanford had 19 hitting errors in the opening game.

Stanford jumped out to the 3-1 lead in game 2, but Penn State tied the game up at 6. After that, Penn State scored six straight points to take the 12-6 lead. Stanford would get no closer than three points, as Penn State took game 2 15-10.

Penn State lead 7-6 in game 3, and eventually stretched the lead to 11-6. Stanford scored their last point on a Lion hitting error, as Penn State scored the final four points. A Stanford hitting error that sailed wide sealed the national championship for Penn State, 15-7.

Penn State's Lauren Cacciamani, the co-AVCA National Player of the Year with Kerri Walsh, had 20 kills and hit .344, while Walsh hit .000 with 11 kills and 11 errors. As a team, Stanford hit negative .008 (39 kills, 40 errors) while Penn State hit .240 (48 kills, 19 errors).

After losing their first match of the season, the Nittany Lions reeled off 36 consecutive wins. The win gave Russ Rose his first NCAA title as the Penn State head coach after three previous runner-up finishes, while Stanford finished as NCAA runners-up for the fourth time in school history.