No. 3 Penn State Women’s Volleyball Defeats No. 4 Stanford and Colorado for Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge Win
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No. 3 Penn State Women’s Volleyball Defeats No. 4 Stanford and Colorado for Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge Win

No. 3 Penn State Women’s Volleyball traveled to Champaign, Illinois this past weekend to take on recurring foe No. 4 Stanford and the Colorado Buffs in the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge.

On Friday, Penn State took on Colorado and swept the Buffs in three sets (25-22, 25-18, 25-21).

Illinois-native Ali Frantti (Spring Grove, Ill.) led the team with 17 kills on a .469 clip. Frantti also contributed six digs.

Fellow anchor on the court Simone Lee (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) added 11 kills and two aces as well to defeat the Buffs.

Standout Kendall White (Indianapolis, Ind.) held down the team defensively with 14 digs and Tori Gorrell (Oakville, Ontario) had three blocks.

The Lions were statistically superior to the Buffs, locking down 53 kills to the Buffs’ 36 and four aces to the Buffs’ one.

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Although the win was a significant one, the Lions knew they would have to face No. 4 Stanford still, after just defeating the rival last week.

Taking it all the way to a fifth set (26-24L, 25-22W, 25-23L, 25-17W, 15-11W), the Lions stayed strong and determined to defeat Stanford and secure the tournament victory on Saturday.

It was Lee who helped make all the difference for the Lions as she added a grand total of 21 kills.

Haleigh Washington (Colorado Springs, Colo.) was a star with 10 blocks while teammate Bryanna Weiskircher (Rockford, Ill.) clinched a whopping 29 assists.

Defensively, White kept things moving with 22 digs.

An extremely back-and-forth game, when the Lions lept ahead with an 8-5 lead early on in the fifth set, Stanford called a timeout. The Trees were never able to make a comeback, however, as Penn State maintained its lead and clinched the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge victory.

This coming weekend is a big one for the Lions, who will host Yale, Wake Forest, and Ohio at Rec Hall beginning on Friday the 15th at 7:30 p.m. We hope to see you there to support our amazing women’s volleyball team!