Oct. 16, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The ninth-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team earned a 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-19) victory against Iowa on Saturday night at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions (15-4, 5-3 Big Ten) are back in action on Wednesday, Oct. 20 at Ohio State at 7 p.m. The match will air live on the Big Ten Network.
Senior Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) led all players with 15 kills and senior Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) finished second on the team with 13 on a match-high .650 hitting percentage. Sophomore Kristin Carpenter (Mechanicsville, Va.) recorded 34 assists and was one of two players on the team with 10 digs. Senior libero Alyssa D'Errico (Byron, N.Y.) tallied 10 digs and Wilson led the Nittany Lions with five total blocks.
Penn State registered a .310 attack percentage and held the Hawkeyes (6-11, 1-7 Big Ten) to .096. The Nittany Lions totaled 41 kills, 48 digs and 7.0 team blocks, while Iowa posted 34 kills, two aces, 44 digs and 4.0 team blocks.
The Nittany Lions opened the match taking an 8-3 lead with Brown contributing two kills as the Hawkeyes were plagued by errors early on in the set. Iowa called a timeout and fought back cutting PSU's lead to three, 10-7. However, a 5-0 Nittany Lion run moved Penn State ahead by eight, 15-7, and sent Iowa back to the bench. Iowa came within five, 16-11, but two Wilson putdowns and an Iowa service error gave the Lions a 19-12 lead. The teams went back and forth with Iowa unable to gain any momentum. Kills from Wilson, freshman Deja McClendon (Louisville, Ky.) and Brown helped Penn State close out the set, 25-16.
The second set was a reverse of set one as the Hawkeyes took a 7-3 lead. The Nittany Lions continued to trail, until a 3-0 run with two kills by Wilson had the score knotted at 15-15. Iowa called a timeout and took the lead on a Becky Walters kill, but another Wilson kill had the score tied at 16-16. The score tied three more times before a second 3-0 run gave Penn State a 22-19 lead, the team's first lead of the second frame. The Hawkeyes came within two three times before Wilson secured set two for Penn State with a kill, 25-22.
Iowa was on the board first in the third stanza, but a 5-1 Lion run put Penn State up, 6-3. Leading by three, 9-6, a 6-1 Penn State run, with two blocks by Brown and senior Fatima Balza (Merida Venezuela), the Nittany Lions surged ahead for a 15-7 advantage. Three straight PSU errors had the Hawkeyes within five, 15-10, but a Brown kill and an Iowa error had the Lions ahead by seven, 17-10. The Hawkeyes used an ace, two PSU errors and a Tiffany Nilges kill close the gap to four, 19-15, but two straight Iowa errors moved Penn State back ahead by six, 21-15. Following an Iowa timeout, the Hawkeyes used a 4-1 run to hold off the Lions and put them within four, 23-19. However, Brown pounded a kill and Iowa followed with an attack error to send the Penn State fans home with a win, 25-19.
For more information on the Penn State women's volleyball team, please visit GoPSUsports.com. The Penn State women's volleyball 2010 season is presented by Rockvale Outlets and The Outlets at Hershey.