We were curious about how four fabulous Penn State outside hitters – Nicole Fawcett, Megan Hodge, Darcy Dorton, and Deja McClendon compared, statistically, as Freshman. 

An obvious problem with this comparison is that during Fawcett’s and Hodge’s freshman seasons, the first four sets in a match were played to 30, whereas in Dorton’s and McClendon’s freshman years, the first four sets were played to 25.  Undaunted (and lacking the energy and, most likely, skill to do a mathematical adjustment), we forged ahead anyway. 

Having gone through the exercise, our conclusion is that all four were really, really good as freshmen.  Here are three tables comparing the four freshmen:

Fab Freshmen: Attack

Year	Name	SP	MP	MS	K	K/Set	E	TA	Pct.
2010	Deja McClendon	122	37	37	418	3.43	112	925	.331
2009	Darcy Dorton	116	38	19	276	2.38	103	607	.285
2006	Megan Hodge	114	35	35	551	4.83	213	1253	.270
2005	Nicole Fawcett	110	n/a	n/a	496	4.51	158	1093	.309
2010	Team	123	37	37	1764	14.38	486	4066	.314
2009	Team	122	38	38	1784	14.62	410	3605	.381
2006	Team	114	35	35	1913	16.78	573	4155	.323
2005	Team	111	34	34	1830	16.49	552	4159	.307

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Fab Freshmen: Blocking

#	Name	SP	MP	MS	BS	BA	Total	B/S	BE	BHE
2010	Deja McClendon	122	37	37	8	76	84	0.69	8	3
2009	Darcy Dorton	116	38	19	3	63	66	0.57	1	1
2006	Megan Hodge	114	35	35	13	64	77	0.68	11	1
2005	Nicole Fawcett	110	n/a	n/a	22	66	88	0.80	10	0
2010	Team	123	37	37	52	636	370	3.01	42	35
2009	Team	122	38	38	52	683	393.5	3.23	43	19
2006	Team	114	35	35	95	651	420.5	3.69	33	48
2005	Team	111	34	34	106	582	397.0	3.58	45	18

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Fab Freshmen: Recept/Dig

#	Name	SP	MP	MS	RE	TA	Pct.	Digs	Digs/Set
2010	Deja McClendon	122	37	37	23	536	.957	230	1.89
2009	Darcy Dorton	116	38	19	3	32	.906	53	0.46
2006	Megan Hodge	114	35	35	18	456	.961	303	2.66
2005	Nicole Fawcett	110	n/a	n/a	7	n/a	n/a	198	1.80
2010	Team	123	37	37	96	2074	.954	1811	14.72
2009	Team	122	38	38	65	1810	.964	1599	13.11
2006	Team	114	35	35	115	2258	.949	1693	14.85
2005	Team	111	34	34	79	n/a	n/a	1756	15.82