“Déjà vu (pronounced /ˈdeɪʒɑː ˈvuː/ ( listen) DAY-zhah VOO; French: [deʒa vy] ( listen), meaning “already seen”, from Greek παρα “para,” “near, against, contrary to” + μνήμη “mēmē,” “memory”), is the experience of feeling sure that one has witnessed or experienced a new situation previously (an individual feels as though an event has already happened or has happened in the recent past), although the exact circumstances of the previous encounter are uncertain.” (Wikipedia)

Puns: “The “lowest and most groveling kind of wit.” Attributed to John Dryden.

“What a good thing Adam had — when he said a good thing he knew nobody had said it before.” Mark Twain. Notebook, July 2, 1867. (The Yale Book of Quotations.)

OK, an obvious pun, and one that a better class of blogger would have resisted using, and one that probably has been used before, making it even worse.  But . . . we indulged.  Just this once.  And, for the record, we think Deja is a beautiful name and Deja McClendon is a great player.  So there you have it.  And here you have Part I (or is it Part II?):

“Sept. 20, 2010.  UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Freshman outside hitter Deja McClendon (Louisville, Ky.) was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week, conference officials announced Monday. It is McClendon’s second honor of the season.

McClendon helped guide the Nittany Lions to sweeps of George Washington, Princeton and St. John’s in the Rockvale Outlets Classic at Rec Hall. McClendon started all three matches and was second on the team with 25 kills (3.12 kills per set) on a team-best .524 attack percentage. She also contributed one ace, 14 digs (1.75 digs per set) and seven total blocks (0.88 blocks per set).”  For the complete release from gopsusports.com, Click Here.

So, this seems vaguely familiar.   We’re sure we witnessed this situation previously — that this event has already happened in the recent past, although the exact circumstances of that previous experience are uncertain.  Oh wait, we’ve got it:

“Sept. 6, 2010.  UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Freshman outside hitter Deja McClendon (Louisville, Ky.) was named Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Week, conference officials announced Monday. It is McClendon’s first career honor. She shares this week’s honor with Illinois libero Jennifer Bonilla.

McClendon helped guide the Nittany Lions to sweeps of Seton Hall, Colgate and VCU this past weekend in the Hampton Inn Classic. In her Rec Hall debut, McClendon started in all three matches and led the team with 37 kills, averaging 4.11 kills per set on .464 hitting for the weekend. She also contributed one ace, 16 digs (1.78 digs per set) and six total blocks (0.67 blocks per set). Against Seton Hall, McClendon led all players with 14 kills and was second on the team with seven digs. On Saturday versus the Raiders, she was the only player with double-digit kills with 10 and tied for second on the team with four blocks. She once again led the team in kills against VCU with 13 and registered a .524 attack percentage. McClendon was named to the Hampton Inn Classic All-Tournament Team for her efforts.”  For the complete release from gopsusports.com, Click Here.

Back in the pre-season, Russ Rose said that Deja McClendon was going to be one of Penn State’s “key offensive players this year and into the future.”  He noted that “she hits high and hard and has a variety of shots.”  His bottom line: “She blocks and hits well. Usually young players do one or the other.”  Though undoubtedly there is room for improvement in all facets of her game, Deja McClendon already is a standout on this Nittany Lion team.  If she continues to work hard, we anticipate many more deja vu experiences, both this season and throughout her career.

Here are the Penn State team attack and blocking statistics to date:

Attack Leaders - 2010

#	Name	Cl	SP	MP	MS	K	K/S	E	TA	Hit %
9	Blair Brown	4/ Sr.	123	37	37	521	4.24	132	1214	.320
18	Deja McClendon	1/ Fr.	122	37	37	418	3.43	112	925	.331
7	Arielle Wilson	4/ Sr.	123	37	37	334	2.72	60	645	.425
1	Ariel Scott	1/ Fr.	63	20	2	143	2.27	57	414	.208
2	Katie Kabbes	2/ Jr.	58	22	12	99	1.71	58	303	.135
3	Fatima Balza	4/ Sr.	81	31	26	96	1.19	23	189	.386
16	Katie Slay	1/ Fr.	52	23	11	54	1.04	12	104	.404
	Team		123	37	37	1764	14.34	486	4066	.314
	Opponents		123	37	37	1335	10.85	772	4243	.133

Blocking Leaders - 2010

#	Name	Cl	SP	MP	MS	BS	BA	TB	B/S	BE	BHE
7	Arielle Wilson	4/ Sr.	123	37	37	10	129	139	1.13	9	0
16	Katie Slay	1/ Fr.	52	23	11	9	74	83	1.60	3	3
3	Fatima Balza	4/ Sr.	81	31	26	7	101	108	1.33	3	5
9	Blair Brown	4/ Sr.	123	37	37	11	102	113	0.92	2	2
18	Deja McClendon	1/ Fr.	122	37	37	8	76	84	0.69	8	3
1	Ariel Scott	1/ Fr.	63	20	2	3	40	43	0.68	6	1
	Team		123	37	37	52	636	370.0	3.01	42	35
	Opponents		123	37	37	36	315	193.5	1.57	87	50