Nov. 21, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The No. 1 Penn State women's volleyball team clinched their 13th overall and seventh consecutive outright Big Ten title with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-16, 26-24) sweep of Indiana. The Nittany Lions have extended their winning streak to 94 straight matches.
Junior Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) led all players with 13 kills attacking at a .667 clip. She tied with classmate Fatima Balza (Merida, Venezuela) with six total blocks. Junior Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) also posted double-digit kills with 10. Senior setter Alisha Glass (Leland, Mich.) paced the Nittany Lions offense with 39 assists and tallied four kills on five errorless swings. Junior libero Alyssa D'Errico (Byron, N.Y.) led the team in digs with 13.
The Hoosiers were on the board first in set one, but Wilson answered immediately for the Nittany Lions with a kill. Penn State took its first lead, 4-3, after back-to-back kills from Glass. The lead was short-lived after two Indiana kills and two PSU errors but the Hoosiers up by two, 8-6. The Nittany Lions continued to trail until a solo stuff by Glass and an ace from junior Jessica Ullrich (Winfield, Ill.) gave the Lions an 11-10 edge. The Hoosiers tied it at 11-11, but a Balza kill and an Indiana error put the Nittany Lions up by two, 13-11. PSU grabbed its largest lead of the set, 16-13, at midpoint of the frame thanks to two-straight Dorton kills and another IU error. Penn State maintained the lead until the Hoosiers moved ahead for a 21-19 advantage forcing a PSU timeout. Hodge nailed a kill following the break and two straight Penn State stuffs gave the Lions a 22-21 advantage. After an Indiana timeout, two Hoosier errors and a solo block by Hodge gave PSU a 25-22 first set win.
Wilson opened set two for the Nittany Lions tipping the ball for a kill. The two teams remained close until Penn State went on a 9-3 run for a 15-9 lead. Wilson had two kills and three stuffs in the run, including two joint blocks with Dorton. Indiana's Mary Chaudoin tried to slow Penn State's momentum with a kill, but two Hodge kills, an IU error and a Balza block increased PSU's lead to eight, 19-11. Two straight kills by the Lions had the Lions leading 21-12 and Indiana taking a timeout. After the break, Glass tallied a kill and Wilson registered three to close out the second set 25-16.
The third set was similar to the second with the squads staying neck-and-neck until Penn State took an 11-8 lead after a block with Wilson and Dorton, a Brown kill and an ace from junior Cathy Quilico (Thousand Oaks, Calif.). Soon after however, Indiana was ahead, 12-11, after tallying four straight points. The score tied four times before a PSU error and an Indiana kill gave the Hoosiers an 18-16 advantage. Soon after, Penn State was back in the lead, 20-19, courtesy of a Glass kill and a joint stuff from Glass and Wilson. After an Indiana timeout, the Hoosiers tied it up, 20-20, with a kill from Ashley Benson. The Hoosiers managed to take the lead, 23-22, forcing a Penn State timeout. After IU tallied an additional point for a 24-22 lead, head coach Russ Rose called a second timeout. The Nittany Lions managed to tie the set, 24-24, thanks to an IU service error and a Dorton kill. A block by Brown and Balza and a kill from Brown secured a third set victory for the Nittany Lions, 26-24.
Penn State is back in action on Friday, Nov. 27 versus Michigan State at 7 p.m. in Rec Hal. The Nittany Lions will celebrate senior night on Saturday, Nov. 28 when they host Michigan at 7 p.m. Live stats and live audio will be available for both matches via a link at GoPSUsports.com. Penn State's match with Michigan will be taped and will air on the Big Ten Network on Sunday, Nov. 29 at 6 p.m.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com. The Penn State women's volleyball 2009 season is presented by Rockvale Outlets and The Outlets At Hershey.