Saddled with a bad knee, Knoch graduate Elaine Voltz wasn't pleased with her freshman volleyball season two years ago at Penn State-Behrend College.

"I tore my ACL my senior year of high school basketball and wasn't 100 percent healthy yet," Voltz recalled. "I played. I just didn't play very well."

It didn't matter. Eventual head coach Phil Pisano knew what he was getting.

Pisano was a graduate assistant coach of that team, which finished around .500. He took over as head coach the following year.

"Elaine was in the starting lineup by the end of her freshman year," Pisano said. "I knew she was going to be there for a while.

"She was one in a group of five freshmen that year who have turned around the program."

The Lions were 17-15 last year — Voltz's sophomore season — and reached the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference finals.

This season, Penn State-Behrend finished 26-7, won the AMCC title and competed in the first NCAA Division III Tournament match in the program's 29-year history.

Voltz was named the conference's Most Valuable Player as she led the league with a .369 hitting percentage and was second with 4.20 kills per game.

"She's been my top hitter the past two seasons," Pisano said. "She works hard in practice and she's a very smart player.

"Elaine knows how to find the open space on the floor."

A volleyball player since seventh grade, Voltz and her twin sister, Jen, were central figures in a string of WPIAL playoff appearances at Knoch.

Jen Voltz now plays at Dickinson College, a Division III school near Carlisle. Their older sister, Amy, played at Washington & Jefferson College.

"That's how I got hooked on the game, going to watch Amy play all those years," Elaine Voltz said.

Sporting 1,061 career kills at Behrend, Voltz is one of just five players in the program's history to reach 1,000. The school record is 1,125, set by Danielle Bemis in 2003.

"I've had my eye on that since I got here," Voltz admitted.

Barring injury, she will break that record next year. But she'll break it with a lot of attention from opposing defenses and with a new setter.

Amanda Evans was a three-year starter at setter for Behrend and is graduating this year.

"It's going to be weird not having her out there," Voltz said. "She knew where I was going to be on the court before I did.

"Our new recruit for that position will have to be a leader from the beginning. That's what Amanda was to us."

Voltz has been a bit of a leader herself.

"Elaine's been a major plus to our younger players," Pisano said. "Not only has she excelled at her game, she's been bringing them along.

"Defenses began concentrating on Elaine toward the end of this year. She knew that opened things up for other people on the team and she encouraged them to take advantage.

"Next year, from the start … Our opponents know all about Elaine Voltz. That doesn't mean they can stop her," Pisano added.

Since Oct. 1, the Lions won 39 of the 42 games they played, rolling into the NCAA playoffs riding a 13-match winning streak.

They faced Gettysburg in the first round and suffered a 3-0 defeat.

"Nerves played a big factor in that loss," Voltz said. "That was our first playoff appearance ever, it was Gettysburg's 13th. We settled down by the third game and only lost it 34-32.

"We're still a very focused, hungry team. That's what gave us success down the stretch this year. Next year, we want to win the AMCC again and go deeper in the national playoffs."

The AMCC title this year was just the second in Behrend's volleyball history.

A mathematics major, Voltz said she will not leave volleyball after her senior season. She hopes to serve as a graduate assistant coach in 2007 and eventually become a high school coach.

"I want to stay involved in the game for the rest of my life," she said.

Pisano is only concerned with right now.

"I'm just happy she's here," he said.

Here is where Knoch graduate and Penn State-Behrend junior Elaine Voltz stands on the Lions' all-time volleyball charts:- <b>Career kills record:</b> 1st- Danielle Bemis with 1,1252nd- Elaine Voltz with 1,061- <b>Career kills per game:</b> 1st- Elaine Voltz at 3.8- <b>Career blocks (record at 668): </b>2nd- Carrie Grzejka with 402, 3rd- Elaine Voltz with 288