Nov. 22, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Double-digit kill performances by four Nittany Lions led the No. 2 Penn State women's volleyball team (25-2, 16-1) to a 3-1 (25-17, 25-18, 31-33, 25-20) victory against Northwestern (16-13, 8-9) on Friday evening at Rec Hall. The win extends the current PSU winning streak to 16 consecutive matches.
Sophomore Megan Courtney led the offense with a career-high 21 kills, adding 17 digs for her fifth double-double of the season. Senior Deja McClendon posted her seventh double-double of the season, registering 16 kills and 11 digs. Senior Ariel Scott and junior Nia Grant each added 11 kills in the triumph, led by Grant's match-high .529 hitting percentage.
Recording two aces, junior Micha Hancock set a new program record as she tallied two aces to bring her career total to 237, which moves her in front of Ellen Hensler (1982-86) into sole possession of first place on the all-time list.
Junior Dominique Gonzalez anchored the defense with a season-high 24 digs, while senior Katie Slay led the blocking with five blocks.
Penn State opened the match on a 6-2 run, building an early lead before Northwestern used a 3-1 spurt to cut the advantage back to two, 7-5. Northwestern's Katie Dutchman led the way with all three kills during the streak. The Nittany Lions remained in control though, doubling the lead, 12-6, to force the Wildcats into a timeout. Following the break, PSU constructed a 5-1 streak to take a double-digit lead, 17-7. From there, Penn State held on to its advantage, cruising to a 25-17 win in the first set.
Tied at 8-8 in the second set, two Penn State errors gave the Wildcats a narrow two-point edge, 10-8. Penn State responded with a kill from Hancock before a Northwestern attack error quickly knotted the frame, 10-10. The two teams kept it close until the Nittany Lions broke open an 11-all tie with a 5-2 streak to claim a 16-13 lead.
NU halted the momentum with a kill, but Penn State used a 5-0 run that featured two kills each from Grant and Hancock to pull ahead by as many as seven, 21-14. PSU surrendered just four more points as McClendon sealed a 25-18 win in the second set with a kill for a 2-0 lead in the match.
Trailing for most of the third stanza, Slay put down a kill to move Penn State within one, 14-13, before a Northwestern error tied the set, 14-14. Jumping ahead, the Wildcats used a 7-2 run to jump ahead by five, 21-16. Rallying, the Nittany Lions responded with a 6-0 stretch to reclaim the lead, 22-21.
Battling to a 24-24 tie, Scott put down a kill to put senior Maddie Martin at the line to serve for set-point. The frame was far from over though, as a PSU service error opened up a back-and-forth battle that featured six tie-scores, before Scott pounded a kill to knot the set, 31-31, for the seventh time during the final stretch. Dutchman connected on two consecutive kills to give the Wildcats a close 33-31 win in the third set to send the match into a fourth set.
Fighting point-for-point throughout the first half of the fourth set, McClendon and Scott paired up for a pair of consecutive kill to push Penn State ahead, 10-8. The Wildcats answered back with a 6-2 strike to get back on top, 14-12. Slay attempted to spark some momentum with a kill, but Northwestern continued to counter with offensive pressure. Connecting on a kill later in the frame, Slay lifted PSU ahead, 19-18.
Following an NU timeout, the Nittany Lions used a 4-2 attack, capped off by kills from McClendon and Scott to make it 23-20. Another Wildcat error and a kill from Courtney closed out the fourth set 25-20 in favor of Penn State, securing the victory.
Next up, Penn State hosts No. 20 Illinois Saturday, Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. on Senior Night in Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions will honor all six members of the 2013 senior class. Fans who bring their football ticket stub with them to the door will gain free admission to the match.