Women’s Volleyball Maintains No. 1 Spot after Two Big Ten Wins
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Women’s Volleyball Maintains No. 1 Spot after Two Big Ten Wins

It was another victorious week for the Nittany Lions (23-1, 13-1), who took down both Michigan State and Rutgers in order to hang on to the team’s premier national ranking.

The women traveled to East Lansing early last week to take on the Spartans. The Blue and White dominated the game, earning a win in four sets (27-25, 25-19, 25-27, 25-21).

Although the Spartans did not make the win easy, Penn State used its key players to best every trick MSU had up its sleeves.

Haleigh Washington (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Simone Lee (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) held the team steady with 18 kills apiece. Lee contributed five digs while Washington added three and two blocks.

Ali Frantti (Spring Grove, Ill.) was not far behind, clinching 13 kills and seven digs to help out the Blue and White.

Defensively, the usual standouts did not disappoint.

Kendall White (Indianapolis, Ind.) stunned with 29 digs and six assists as her defensive teammates Abby Detering (Mentor, Ohio) and Bryanna Weiskircher (Rockford, Ill.) added 27 and 34 assists, respectively. Detering also locked in nine kills and seven digs while Weiskircher added an impressive 11 digs and two kills.

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Despite the close score, Penn State dominated every statistical category. The Nittany Lions recorded 71 kills to MSU’s 58, 70 assists to 55, 73 digs to 65 and a stellar 10.0 blocks to the Spartans’ 4.0

The Lions got a brief break before taking on their next opponent, Rutgers, that following weekend.

In front of a crowd of 3,700, Penn State defeated Rutgers at home in three sets (25-9, 25-9, 25-12) over the weekend.

This game offered up the chance for most women on the team to be rotated in, giving the squad a chance to mix things up.

Nia Reed (Fort Lee, N.J.) recorded three kills, Washington 12 and Lee six.

Heidi Thelen (Edgewood, Ky.) kept up her consistent level of play with three kills, one dig and two assists against the Scarlet Knights.

Weiskircher and Detering were still mainstays on defense, and clinched a total of 29 assists for the Blue and White.

Penn State walloped the Knights in every category, with the most impressive statistics being PSU’s 24 digs for Rutgers’ 9 and the Blue and White’s 42 kills compared to Rutgers’ 16.

The team will travel to Iowa this Wednesday to face the Hawkeyes in what is sure to be an intense game. Listen in on Big Ten radio to catch all the action. Let’s go, Lions!