Oct. 29, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The ninth-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team roared past Big Ten foe Indiana winning the match 3-0 (25-17, 25-18, 25-22) in front of 5,811 Nittany Lion faithful. Penn State is now 41-1 all-time against the Hoosiers (17-6, 5-6 Big Ten).
Senior Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) led the Nittany Lions (18-4, 8-3 Big Ten) with 16 kills, tallying eight in the third set alone. Freshman Ariel Scott (Ridgewood, N.J.) was second on the team with nine kills on .533 hitting, while senior Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) registered eight kills on 13 errorless swings. Sophomore Kristin Carpenter (Mechanicsville, Va.) dished out 37 assists and finished second on the team with 10 digs. Senior libero Alyssa D'Errico (Byron, N.Y.) posted a match-high 12 digs, while Wilson led Penn State with six total blocks.
The Nittany Lions hit .395 for the match and held the Hoosiers to .161. Penn State totaled 46 kills, two aces, 36 digs and 9.0 total team blocks. Indiana closed out the match with 35 kills, two aces, 23 digs and 2.0 team blocks.
The Nittany Lions grabbed a 3-0 lead to start set, but two PSU errors and a kill by IU's Kelci Marschall had the Hoosiers within one, 4-3. Penn State held onto a one-point edge until Indiana used a 4-0 run to take a slim 9-8 lead. Brown tied it up at 9-9 with a kill, but Indiana's Taylor Wittmer put the Hoosiers back in front with a kill. A 4-0 PSU run, with kills from Wilson, Brown and Scott, gave Penn State a 13-10 advantage. The Nittany Lions followed it up with a 6-1 run to increase their lead to six, 18-12. The Hoosiers were unable to steal any momentum from Penn State, but did manage to come within four, 20-16. Kills from freshman Deja McClendon (Louisville, Ky.) and Scott put the Lions back up by six, 22-16, and forced an Indiana timeout. The timeout failed to slow PSU as the Nittany Lions closed out the set, 25-17, with kills from Balza, Brown and Scott.
The second set was close from the start with the score tying 11 times. With the score knotted at 11-11, a Balza kill and a joint stuff by Balza and Carpenter gave Penn State a 13-11 lead. After an Indiana timeout, the Nittany Lions lead grew to four, 15-11, on an IU error and a McClendon kill. The Hoosiers fought to within one, 16-15, but an Indiana service error kept IU behind by two, 17-15. A Marschall kill and an Indiana ace allowed the Hoosiers to tie the score one final time at 17-17, but a 3-0 Penn State run pushed the Nittany Lions in front by three, 20-17. After a second Hoosier timeout, Indiana managed one final point before three straight Nittany Lion points secured set two for PSU, 25-18.
Indiana took a 5-3 lead to start the third and final set, a lead they would not relinquish until the final moments. The Nittany Lions managed to tie the score three times during the first half of the stanza, but a 4-1 Indiana run moved the Hoosiers ahead by three, 14-11. The Nittany Lions continued to trail and faced a 16-13 deficit when they called a timeout. The timeout didn't faze the Hoosiers as their lead increased to five, 19-14. Two kills by Brown and one from McClendon brought PSU within two, 19-17, and forced an Indiana timeout. Three more kills by Brown and one from Scott had Penn State tying it up at 21-21. After a second Indiana timeout, a block by Wilson and Scott gave Penn State's its first lead since it's 2-0 start to the set. A PSU service error had the score tied at 22-22, but two kills and a block by Wilson gave Penn State a 25-22 victory.
What's Next?
Penn State hosts Purdue on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 5 p.m. in Rec Hall. Live stats will be available at GoPSUsports.com.
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.