Nov. 10, 2008
University Park, Pa. - Penn State women's volleyball sophomore middle hitter Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) has been named the Big Ten Co-Defensive Player of the Week, conference officials announced. She shares the defensive award with Minnesota's Christine Tan.
Wilson's second accolade of the year brings Penn State's total Big Ten Player of the Week citations to 63 since joining the conference for the 1991 season, and it is the fifth honor of the season for the top-ranked Nittany Lions, as senior outside hitter Nicole Fawcett (Zanesfield, Ohio) has captured the award three times.
Wilson was nearly perfect last week and helped Penn State (26-0, 14-0) tie the NCAA record for consecutive matches won at 52. Wednesday against Indiana, Wilson posted five kills on an errorless nine attacks to hit .559 while providing a wall at the net with a season-high-tying nine blocks. Friday at Michigan State, Wilson again was without an error, falling just shy of her career-best with a season-high 12 kills on an errorless 17 swings to hit .706 with three blocks.
For the week, Wilson averaged 2.83 kills per game, recording 17 kills without an error on 26 swings to hit .654, and also led the team with 12 blocks, an average of 2.00 blocks per game. Behind Wilson's blocking, Penn State held its opponents to hitting a combined .027 mark last week, while for the year, Lion opponents are attacking at a .066 clip. For the season, Wilson is averaging 1.37 blocks per game and is a part of the Lions squad that is leading the nation with 3.26 blocks per game while also hitting .395 as a team.
Penn State travels to Illinois and Purdue on Nov. 14-15 at 7:00 p.m. each night. The contest with the Boilermakers will air on the Big Ten Network on a tape-delay basis on Sunday, Nov. 16 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com. The Penn State women's volleyball 2008 season is presented by Rockvale Outlets and The Outlets At Hershey.