| Nicole Fawcett | ||||||||||||||||
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Nicole Fawcett in 2008 with Penn State |
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Nicole Marie Fawcett | |||||||||||||||
| Born | December 16, 1986 San Antonio, Texas |
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| Height | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | |||||||||||||||
| Spike | 310 cm (120 in) | |||||||||||||||
| Block | 291 cm (115 in) | |||||||||||||||
| Volleyball information | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Opposite | |||||||||||||||
| Current club | Guangdong Evergrande | |||||||||||||||
| Career | ||||||||||||||||
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| National team | ||||||||||||||||
| 2009–present | United States | |||||||||||||||
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Honours
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Nicole Marie Fawcett (born December 16, 1986) is an American indoor volleyball player who played for Penn State University's volleyball team from 2005–2008, winning two NCAA National Championships in 2007 and 2008.
During her collegiate career, Fawcett was a four-time All-American and raked up many honors, including the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year in 2008, National Freshman of the Year in 2005, and the Honda Sports Award winner for volleyball in 2008.
She played professionally for Gigantes de Carolina (The Carolina Giants) in Liga de Voleibol Superior Femenino, Puerto Rico’s pro league in 2009.
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Nicole Fawcett was born in San Antonio, Texas in 1986. Her mother played volleyball at Wright State and her maternal grandfather was a pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles in 1945.
She grew up in Zanesfield, Ohio and was a four year volleyball letterwinner and three year track letterwinner at Benjamin Logan High School near Bellefontaine, Ohio, where she set a school record for kills in a single season for four consecutive years and was the 2004–05 Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year.[1]
She was a two-year member of the USA Junior National Team, including the 2004 squad that won the NORCECA gold medal in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and was a member of the 2003 USA Youth National Team. She played club volleyball for Team Atlantis Volleyball Club and holds the Ohio state record for kills.[2] She also a regional high jump finalist in track in 2004 and 2005.
Fawcett was considered a top three recruit in the class of 2005. She said one of the reasons she chose Penn State was because Rec Hall was her favorite place to be in and that she compared it to every school she visited.[3]
Nicole is a 6'4'' (1.93 m) left side hitter and is known for her extremely powerful, hard kills and serves, which makes it very hard for the opposing team to defend.[4]
Fawcett made Penn State history, as she was named the program's first ever AVCA National Freshman of the Year.[5] In addition, she was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, a second team All-American, First Team All-Big Ten. She also became Penn State's first ever freshman to earn Big Ten Player of the Week honors.[6]
During the season, she led the Lions and ranked third in the Big Ten with an average of 4.51 kills per game on .309 hitting and also ranked second in the league in conference-only matches with 4.53 kills per game. She led the team in kills on 28 occasions and recorded 31 double-digit kill matches, including a then-career-high 26 kills at Hawaiʻi.
She set an NCAA tournament record for hitting percentage in a single match, which was held since 1983, when she attacked at a career high .889 clip with 16 kills, 0 errors, on 18 attempts against Long Island.[7]
Fawcett was named a First Team All-American and was also a unanimous first Team All-Big Ten pick as she played in all 35 matches and 113 of 114 games for the year.[8] She averaged 4.27 kills per game, good for second on the team and eighth in the Big Ten. She finished the season ranked fourth on the team and sixth in the conference in hitting percentage (.331), the only pure left-side hitter in the league within the top six.
Other awards include the Texas Invitational Most Valuable Player after leading Penn State to their dramatic comeback win over the Longhorns.[9] She was also the LSU Classic MVP and the Penn State Invitational MVP.[10]
Fawcett reached exactly 1,000 kills in the first match of the season in the 3–1 win over the Texas Longhorns at Rec Hall, earning her Penn State's Golden Volleyball for 1,000 career kills.[11] On August 31 against Cal Poly, she set a new career high for kills in a single match with 31, which was exactly five years to the day that a Penn State player recorded 30 or more kills in a match.[12] Fawcett was one of the best outside hitters in the country, having 533 kills on the year for an average of 4.44 kills per game. The 533 kills ranked ninth on Penn State's single season record list. She led the team in aces and was one of the toughest servers in the country, having 47 aces on the year, more than her first two seasons combined. She was named an AVCA First Team All-American and a unanimous First Team All-Big Ten pick.
She helped her team win their second NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship against top seeded Stanford on December 15, 2007 at the ARCO Arena. She served championship point just a couple of hours before her 21st birthday.[13] She was named to the Final Four All-Tournament Team as she had 19 kills and two aces in the NCAA championship match. In the National Semifinal win over California, she served the final three points, including two consecutive aces, to win the match in the 3–0 win over the Bears.[14] She was also named the University Park Regional All-Tournament Team in her helping her team to 3–0 wins over Michigan and BYU. Throughout the NCAA tournament, she had at least two service aces in five of the six matches she played in, helping Penn State tie the NCAA record for services aces in an NCAA tournament, set by Long Beach State in 1998.[15]
In her final year playing for Penn State, Fawcett was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year,[16] was the Big Ten Player of the Year, and was voted as the Honda Award winner as the nation's top collegiate volleyball player.[17]
In conference play, Fawcett had 236 kills on a .400 hitting % average. By years end, Fawcett totaled 431 kills. In the 2008 NCAA Tournament, Fawcett had a season high 24 kills against Nebraska in the National Semifinals in Omaha to help Penn State to a 3–2 win, ending Nebraska's 96 match winning streak in the state. In the fifth set vs. Nebraska, Penn State was down 10–8 before Fawcett served six straight points, which included a service ace, to swing the match in favor of Penn State. The next night, Fawcett was named a First Team All-American for the third year in a row and was announced as the Division I National Player of the Year. In the National Championship against Stanford, Fawcett had the championship winning kill and had a total of 10 kills to help the Lions win their second straight national title, and was named to the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament Team for the second year in a row.
Fawcett ended her career with 1,943 total kills, which ranks second in Penn State history.
| Season | GP/MP | Kills | K/Game | Errors | Total Attempts | Percentage | Assists | Service Aces | Digs | Solo Blocks | Block Assists | Total Blocks | Points |
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| 2005 | 110/34 | 496 | 4.51 | 158 | 1093 | .309 | 15 | 13 | 198 | 22 | 66 | 88 | 564 |
| 2006 | 113/35 | 483 | 4.27 | 140 | 1035 | .331 | 9 | 27 | 96 | 19 | 70 | 89 | 564 |
| 2007 | 120/36 | 533 | 4.44 | 184 | 1116 | .313 | 17 | 47 | 177 | 11 | 90 | 101 | 636 |
| 2008 | 114/38 | 431 | 3.78 | 122 | 862 | .358 | 16 | 40 | 210 | 10 | 73 | 83 | 517 |
| Total | 457/143 | 1943 | 4.25 | 604 | 4106 | .326 | 57 | 127 | 681 | 62 | 299 | 361 | 2281 |
In March 2009, Fawcett made her professional debut with Gigantes de Carolina (The Carolina Giants) in Liga de Voleibol Superior Femenino, Puerto Rico’s pro league which began its season in January 2009. In her debut she had 16 kills and 2 blocks in a 3–2 loss to undefeated Llaneras de Toa Baja. She got 26 kills and a block in a 3–1 win over Vaqueras de Bayamon.[18]
In June 2009, Fawcett joined the U.S. National Team.[19]
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