During “The Streak, Penn State Women’s Volleyball racked up the following mind-boggling “consecutives”:

• from September 21, 2007 to September 10, 2010: 109 consecutive victories, an NCAA record 55 consecutive road match wins, and three consecutive NCAA Championships; and
• from the final set of the 2007 National Championship match against Stanford to the third set of the 2008 NCAA National Semifinal match against Nebraska, an NCAA record 111 straght won sets.

It was an accomplishment worthy of so many supurlatives, but probably best left simply as “The Streak”:

At the time, it was the longest consecutive victory streak by an NCAA Division I women’s team in history and (arguably) second overall to the Miami men’s tennis team’s 137 match streak.

As we discussed here, that’s true, but the Miami streak is the longest for an “aggregate score” team sport — like tennis, golf, and wrestling — where points earned in multiple individual competitions are aggregated to determine the team score.  The Streak is the longest for a “single score” sport — like football, or basketball, or volleyball.  We think these records are really apples and oranges.

The Streak was going to end sometime, and as everyone in the college volleyball world knows by now, the Streak was broken on September 11, 2010 by Stanford in the Finals of the Nike Big Four Volleyball Classic in Gainesville Florida.

Coach Rose: I Don’t Look Back

Penn State Women’s Volleyball Coach Russ Rose didn’t want to talk about The Streak when it was alive and he doesn’t want to talk about it now that it is over (we still love his quote: “I don’t look back.”)

We don’t blame him: a winning streak that spans more than one season (this one spanned parts of four) is a strange hybrid, involving a changing cast of characters each with different strengths and weaknesses and each with different team dynamics.  So although each group of players that contributes to the streak can take ownership for their part in it, no single group can lay claim to the entire streak. That’s one reason Coach Rose doesn’t like to talk about it.

More fundamentally, we think, his focus is on the present and the future (as it should be) and how to make his current team better, not on what happened in the past. That’s for fans.

Who’s Next?

But fans, being fans, think about things like streaks and records and the past.  So for many fans, the question is will The Streak be broken by an NCAA women’s volleyball team (there is plenty of support for the notion that the UConn women’s basketball team will end up with more than 109 consecutive victories) and if so, when.

Never is a very long time, so we wouldn’t make a bet on The Streak lasting forever.  We certainly can say it will take almost three years (assuming 38 matches per season per team), with the Streak-Breaker being undefeated in at least two of those seasons.  Back-to-back.  Given how rarely NCAA women’s volleyball teams have gone undefeated (only five times since since 1981 — if you include NCAA Tournament matches), it’s clear that’s a very tall order.

So, the Streak probably will be broken someday, but it will be a challenge.  And the fans of the program that meets that challenge will have something to be proud of.  And to talk about.  The team’s coach probably will be focused on other things.  As she or he should be.

[Updated]: To underscore the difficulty of the challenge, the table below shows the Final Four teams from 2024 to 1998, with total wins, losses, sets won, and sets lost (in all cases, including the NCAA tournament):

Year	Bracket/ Recap	Video	NCAA Finish	Team	Conf.	W	L	Sets Won	Sets Lost
2024	2024 Bracket DigNittany Recap NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	35	02	105	30
2024			Finals	Louisville	ACC	30	06	95	32
2024	NCAA Recap DigNittany Recap	Full Video	Semi	Nebraska	B1G	33	03	102	20
2024			Semi	Pittsburgh	ACC	33	02	102	15
2023	2023 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Texas	Big 12	28	04	86	28
2023			Finals	Nebraska	B1G	33	02	99	22
2023			Semi	Wisconsin	B1G	30	04	96	23
2023			Semi	Pittsburgh	ACC	29	05	92	24
2022	2022 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Texas	Big 12	28	01	86	14
2022			Finals	Louisville	ACC	31	03	97	23
2022			Semi	San Diego	WCC	31	02	95	22
2022			Semi	Pittsburgh	ACC	31	04	98	28
2021	2021 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Wisconsin	B1G	31	03	97	25
2021			Finals	Nebraska	B1G	26	08	83	35
2021			Semi	Louisville	ACC	32	01	98	15
2021			Semi	Pittsburgh	ACC	30	04	96	31
2020	2020 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Kentucky	SEC	24	01	74	09
2020			Finals	Texas	Big 12	27	02	84	18
2020			Semi	Washington	Pac 12	20	04	65	30
2020			Semi	Wisconsin	B1G	18	01	54	08
2019	2019 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Stanford	Pac 12	30	04	93	27
2019			Finals	Wisconsin	B1G	27	07	88	28
2019			Semi	Minnesota	B1G	27	06	84	34
2019			Semi	Baylor	Big 12	29	02	88	16
2018	2018 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Stanford	Pac 12	34	01	104	17
2018			Finals	Nebraska	B1G	29	07	97	36
2018			Semi	BYU	WCC	31	02	93	14
2018			Semi	Illinois	B1G	32	04	100	32
2017	2017 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Nebraska	B1G	32	04	101	24
2017			Finals	Florida	SEC	30	02	92	24
2017	NCAA Recap Talking Head Recap	Full Video	Semi	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	33	02	101	22
2017			Semi	Stanford	Pac 12	30	04	99	23
2016	2016 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Stanford	Pac 12	27	07	89	37
2016			Finals	Texas	Big 12	28	04	88	32
2016			Semi	Minnesota	B1G	29	05	95	31
2016			Semi	Nebraska	B1G	31	03	96	21
2015	2015 Bracket NCAA Recap	Full Video	Champ	Nebraska	B1G	32	04	102	27
2015			Finals	Texas	Big 12	30	03	91	23
2015			Semi	Kansas	Big 12	27	03	85	30
2015			Semi	Minnesota	B1G	30	05	97	32
2014	2014 Recap DigNittany Recap	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	36	03	112	15
2014			Finals	BYU	WCC	30	05	95	26
2014	NCAA Recap DigNittany Recap		Semi	Stanford	Pac 12	33	02	101	27
2014			Semi	Texas	Big 12	27	03	84	21
2013	NCAA Recap DigNittany Recap	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	34	02	106	21
2013			Finals	Wisconsin	B1G	28	10	94	53
2013	NCAA Recap DigNittany Recap	Set 1 Set 2 Set 3	Semi	Washington	Pac 12	30	03	91	28
2013			Semi	Texas	Big 12	27	03	83	30
2012	Texas Recap 2012 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Texas	Big 12	31	04	98	23
2012			Finals	Oregon	Pac 12	30	05	96	29
2012			Semi	Michigan	B1G	27	12	94	52
2012	NCAA Recap ESPN Recap		Semi	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	33	03	104	21
2011	NCAA Recap 2011 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	UCLA	Pac 12	30	06	97	31
2011			Finals	Illlinois	B1G	32	05	100	43
2011			Semi	Florida State	ACC	28	07	90	39
2011			Semi	USC	Pac 12	29	05	91	25
2010	Penn State Recap 2010 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	32	05	103	20
2010			Finals	Cal-Berkeley	Pac 12	30	04	95	23
2010	Penn State Recap	Set 1 Set 2 Set 3	Semi	Texas	Big 12	28	06	89	34
2010			Semi	USC	Pac 12	29	05	91	36
2009	2009 Bracket Penn State Recap	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	38	00	114	08
2009			Finals	Texas	Big 12	29	02	91	13
2009	Penn State Recap	Video Highlights	Semi	Hawaii	WAC	32	03	100	17
2009			Semi	Minnesota	B1G	28	09	88	41
2008	Penn State Recap 2008 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	38	00	114	02
2008			Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	31	04	95	23
2008	Penn State Recap	Set 1 Set 2 Set 3 Set 4 Set 5	Semi	Nebraska	Big 12	31	03	97	21
2008			Semi	Texas	Big 12	29	04	94	24
2007	Penn State Recap 2007 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	34	02	104	18
2007			Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	32	03	101	24
2007			Semi	Cal-Berkeley	Pac 10	26	08	87	36
2007			Semi	USC	Pac 10	29	05	91	35
2006	2006 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Nebraska	Big 12	33	01	101	14
2006			Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	30	04	92	19
2006			Semi	UCLA	Pac 10	33	04	104	24
2006			Semi	Washington	Pac 10	29	05	92	26
2005	2005 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Washington	Pac 10	32	01	98	10
2005			Finals	Nebraska	Big 12	33	02	101	15
2005			Semi	Tennessee	SEC	19	12	70	49
2005			Semi	Santa Clara	WCC	27	05	88	30
2004	2004 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Stanford	Pac 10	30	06	98	35
2004			Finals	Minnesota	B1G	33	05	105	34
2004			Semi	Washington	Pac 10	28	03	89	23
2004			Semi	USC	Pac 10	23	06	76	32
2003	2003 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	USC	Pac 10	35	00	105	08
2003			Finals	Florida	SEC	36	02	109	08
2003			Semi	Hawaii	WAC	36	02	109	16
2003			Semi	Minnesota	B1G	26	11	85	49
2002	2002 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	USC	Pac 10	31	01	95	12
2002			Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	32	05	102	27
2002			Semi	Hawaii	WAC	34	02	102	12
2002			Semi	Florida	SEC	34	03	105	17
2001	2001 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Stanford	Pac 10	33	02	101	21
2001			Finals	Long Beach State	Big West	33	01	99	07
2001			Semi	Nebraska	Big 12	31	02	94	14
2001			Semi	Arizona	Pac 10	25	05	79	25
2000	2000 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Nebraska	Big 12	34	00	102	13
2000			Finals	Wisconsin	B1G	33	04	105	21
2000			Semi	Hawaii	WAC	31	02	95	16
2000			Semi	USC	Pac 10	29	03	87	20
1999	1999 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	36	01	110	15
1999			Finals	Stanford	Pac 10	31	03	95	18
1999			Semi	Pacific	Big West	32	03	109	19
1999			Semi	Long Beach State	Big West	31	04	95	23
1998	1998 Bracket	Full Video	Champ	Long Beach State	Big West	36	00	108	08
1998			Finals	Penn State PSU Roster	B1G	34	01	104	06
1998			Semi	Nebraska	Big 12	32	02	99	16
1998			Semi	Florida	SEC	35	03	107	24