Oct. 2, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 1 Penn State women's volleyball team remained undefeated with a 3-1 (25-16, 25-10, 24-26, 25-18) victory against Iowa (9-6, 1-2) in its Big Ten home opener. The Nittany Lions improved to 15-0 on the season and are 3-0 in league play.
With the win, Penn State has now won an NCAA-record 79 consecutive matches. However, the Hawkeyes ended a different streak. The Hawkeyes took the third set, 26-24, ending Penn State's streak of 141 regular-season sets. The Nittany Lions had not lost a set in the regular season since Nov. 24, 2007 at Michigan.
Three Nittany Lions totaled double-digit kills against the Hawkeyes with senior Megan Hodge (Durham, N.C.) leading the way with 20. Junior Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) finished second on the squad with 14 on .571 hitting and junior Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) registered 10. Senior setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) led the team with 47 assists and 12 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Hodge also posted her fourth double-double of the season finishing second on the team with 11 digs. Junior Alyssa D'Errico tallied 10 digs on the evening and Wilson led the team in blocking with eight total.
Penn State attacked at a .381 clip, while holding the Hawkeyes to just .143. The Nittany Lions posted a total of 61 kills, 53 digs and 12.0 total team blocks. Iowa recorded 40 kills, 32 digs and 6.0 team blocks.
The first set started out close until the Nittany Lions registered five straight points for a 10-5 lead. Wilson sparked the run with a kill and managed to keep Penn State in control of the ball with back-to-back blocks. An attack error by Iowa forced the Hawkeyes to take a timeout only to have Wilson post another kill for the 10-5 advantage. The Hawkeyes fought to within three, 11-8, after two PSU errors and a kill from Megan Schipper, but Brown put the ball back in PSU's hands with a kill. Penn State's lead would grow to seven, 16-9, before Iowa would tally another point. Following a kill from Iowa's Becky Walters and a PSU attack error, a kill by Hodge and an ace from D'Errico would have Penn State leading, 19-11. After a second timeout by the Hawkeyes, Walters notched another kill. However, two kills each from Wilson and Brown and another by freshman Darcy Dorton (Muncie, Ind.) would cap off the first set for Penn State, 25-16.
Hodge put the Nittany Lions on the board first in the second set with a kill, but Iowa's Schipper answered immediately with her own for a 1-1 tie. The score tied twice more before two consecutive kills by Dorton gave Penn State a lead it would not relinquish for the remainder of the set. The Nittany Lions were leading by five, 10-5, when a block by Dorton and sophomore Katie Kabbes (Raleigh, N.C.) sent Iowa to the bench for a timeout. Dorton increased Penn State's lead to six, 11-5, and despite Schipper posting a kill for Iowa, she registered an error on her next attempt to make it Penn State's ball. Soon after, back-to-back kills by Hodge and one each from Brown and Wilson had Iowa taking a second timeout in hopes of slowing PSU. The timeout proved fruitless and Dorton finished off set two with a kill for a 25-10 win.
The third set was an entirely different story for both squads as the lead changed hands five times and the score tied on 11 occasions. The Nittany Lions took a 1-0 lead thanks to a Hodge kill, but two straight kills by Schipper had the Hawkeyes leading, 2-1. Junior Fatima Balza (Merida, Venezuela) would tie the score at 2-2 with a kill before an Iowa error and a D'Errico ace gave Penn State a slim 4-2 lead. The Nittany Lions finally seemed to develop some momentum at about the midpoint of the frame taking a 15-11 lead on an ace from Brown. However, the Lions committed five errors to just one by Iowa to aid the Hawkeyes in tying the set, 19-19. After a Penn State timeout, the Nittany Lions seemed to regroup and a kill from Hodge and an Iowa error gave PSU some breathing room, 21-19. But the lead was shortlived as two Nittany Lion errors would have the Hawkeyes tying it up at 21-21. Penn State took the lead once again, 23-21, courtesy of a kill by Hodge and a Wilson/Glass block, but Iowa stole the momentum away with a timeout and tied it up again with an ace from Christina Meister. The Nittany Lions continued to be plagued by errors and Iowa would take the set, 26-24.
The Nittany Lions got off to a slow start in the fourth set before two Iowa errors and a kill from Hodge put Penn State ahead, 8-6. Iowa took a timeout and managed a kill, but Brown answered to keep Penn State ahead by two, 9-7, with a kill of her own. Despite the two teams going back and forth, the Nittany Lions managed to keep control of the fourth set with at least a one-point lead. An ace from junior Cathy Quilico (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) and an attack error by Schipper gave the Nittany Lions its largest lead of the set thus far, 18-14. Iowa would come no closer than three points for the remainder of the set. After a huge block by Hodge and Wilson and an ace by Brown, Iowa took a timeout. The Hawkeyes managed a kill right after, but a Wilson kill and two by Hodge made it match-point for Penn State. Hawkeye Aimee Huffman stalled the final result with a kill, but Glass fired off a kill to secure the match for Penn State.
The top-ranked Nittany Lions are back in action on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. in Rec Hall hosting Big Ten foe Wisconsin. Live stats will be available via a link at GoPSUsports.com and the match will be streamed live on the BigTenNetwork.com for a fee of $2.99.