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RARE COMPANY VARSITY VIEWS DEJA VU McClendon recently became only the fifth player in Penn State history to total 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in her career. McClendon looks to go out the way she came in | eja McClendon had nothing left to give. She had hit the wall. Or so she thought. Every night, McClendon would return to her room feeling exhausted. If a bug was going around campus, she would catch it. She had been through 31 matches, the most grueling season of her young volleyball career, and the NCAA Tournament hadn't even started yet. Looking back on it, the 6-foot-1 outside hitter sounds as though she's still not entirely sure how she survived her first season with the Nittany Lions. "Freshman year, " she said, "man, I was not ready for that. " But McClendon did more than just survive. Buoyed by the support of her teammates, she played a key role in bringing the Lions their fourth consecutive national championship, leading them to sweeps of Texas and California at the Final Four. The antidote to her physical problems? It came from her team. More to the point, it was her team. "There were so many people who were so full of life, McClendon said. "We were " laughing all the time. It was such a fun experience just to be around them. They kept me going. It didn't matter if this was hurting or that was hurting or I was sick, or whatever. We had that spark. " With the 2013 postseason fast approaching, the Lions are looking to reignite that fire. And as was the case her freshman year, McClendon is central to their title hopes. A four-year starter, she has been a mainstay for Penn State ever since her arrival, thwarting opponents with both power and finesse. D Earlier this season, McClendon became only the fifth player in Penn State history to surpass 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in her career, and the first since four-time AllAmerican Megan Hodge, who graduated the year before her arrival. McClendon called the milestone "probably the best thing I've done in my 21 years of life so far" – no small statement coming from an NCAA Championships MVP, national Freshman of the Year and three-time All-American. "I think there were people out there who didn't think I could do that, Mc" Clendon said. "Or maybe it was me. Maybe I didn't think it was possible for me. I wasn't even really thinking about it, and I didn't know I was anywhere close to hitting that mark, but once I found out that I'd done it, I was like, 'Wow, I'm proud of myself for doing something that I didn't think I could do. It made me even ' more inspired to go out there and try something else that I didn't think I could do, to see if I can get better at more aspects of the game. " The numbers are sign of her burgeoning versatility. In a 3-2 loss to top-ranked Texas in September – one of only two losses on the season for Penn State – she led the team in kills (20) and digs (17). She's more comfortable on the back row now, and has become a deft passer. "I definitely think over the spring, I wanted to get better at those things, she " said. "I wanted to be a presence in the back row. I wanted the ball to come to me on the back row instead of being afraid of that aspect of the game. " Thanks in large part to McClendon's all-around play, the Nittany Lions were ranked second nationally heading into the regular season's homestretch. The season finale at Nebraska on Nov. 30 should give them a good idea where they stand heading into the NCAA Tournament, as the ninth-ranked Cornhuskers have been chasing them all season and were only one match back in the Big Ten standings heading into the last two weekends of league play. Another conference championship would definitely look good in the Nittany Lions' crowded trophy case, but what they really want is their sixth national title. They haven't been back to the championship match since McClendon's freshman season. Two years ago, they bowed

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