Sept. 18, 2009
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The No. 1 Penn State women's volleyball team improved to 10-0 on the season with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-9, 25-15) win against Temple (3-4) Friday evening. The Nittany Lions return home tonight to take on Saint Francis (Pa.) Saturday morning at 10 a.m., followed by a second match with Temple at 7:30 p.m. Both matches will be played at Rec Hall.
Senior Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) and juniors Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) and Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) led the Nittany Lions with 11 kills apiece. Hodge attacked at a team-best .688 clip with zero errors. Freshman Darcy Dorton (Muncie, Ind.) finished the match with nine kills. Senior setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) dished out 44 assists and also notched four kills on five swings. Juniors Cathy Quilico (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and Alyssa D'Errico (Byron, N.Y.) led the team in digs with eight each, while Wilson was the blocking leader with five.
Penn State totaled 50 kills and a .575 attack percentage, while holding the Owls to 19 kills and a measly .014 attack percentage. The Nittany Lions outdug Temple 29-12, but only had five total blocks to Temple's four.
The Nittany Lions got off to a good start with a 25-13 first set win against the Owls. Penn State took a 10-1 lead after two kills each from Hodge and Wilson, one each from Dorton and Brown, three aces from D'Errico and a Temple error mixed in. A kill from Temple's Yun Yi Zhang brought the Owls within eight, 10-2, but that was the closest the Owls would come to the Nittany Lions for the remainder of the set. A block by Wilson and Hodge and an attack error by Zhang put Penn State ahead by double-digits, 12-2. The two teams would go back and forth, but Temple was never able to gain any momentum. Dorton tallied three kills and Brown and Hodge would notch one apiece in the run. Temple broke into double-digits on a Penn State error, but Wilson responded for the Nittany Lions with a kill to make it 20-10 in favor of Penn State. After an attack error by Temple and kill from Dorton, Temple took a timeout. The timeout failed to slow the Nittany Lions as kills from Wilson, Brown and junior Fatima Balza (Merida, Venezuela) closed out the set for Penn State.
Temple took control early in the second set with a 4-1 advantage. However, Penn State fought back with back-to-back kills from Hodge. Brown finally put the Nittany Lions ahead with two straight aces. She went on to serve 12 consecutive points to give Penn State a 19-5 lead. After to PSU errors and one from Temple, kills by Hodge and Wilson put the Nittany Lions up 22-7. Another Owl error and a kill from Wilson put Penn State in set-point position, but Zhang posted two kills to make it 24-9. The Nittany Lions wrapped up set two with Glass tipping the ball over the net for a 25-9 victory.
The Owls managed to keep it close early in the third set, but the Nittany Lions would take control for a 25- 15 victory. Penn State took a 3-0 lead on two kills from Brown and one from Balza, but a PSU service error, a kill by Zhang and one from Temple's Jasmine Waters brought the Owls within one, 4-3. The Nittany Lions stayed on the offensive with two Dorton kills and one each form Hodge and Brown, but the Owls managed to keep up thanks to two kills by Zhang and three PSU errors. With a 11-7 advantage, Penn State finally gained some momentum after a kill by Brown and three straight Temple attack errors. After an Owl timeout, Waters posted another kill for Temple. However, the Nittany Lions were up 16-9 and would only increase their lead from there. After another Temple timeout and Penn State leading 23-14, two monster kills by Wilson would secure the match for Penn State.
The Nittany Lions are back in action Saturday, Sept. 19 at 10 a.m. versus Saint Francis (Pa.) and wraps up the weekend with a 7:30 p.m. match with Temple. Both matches will be played in Rec Hall and live stats will be available via a link at www.GoPSUsports.com. The Big Ten Network will be streaming the Temple match live at BigTenNetwork.com for $2.99.