Oct. 21, 2015
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A trio of Nittany Lions recorded double figure kills as No. 5 Penn State (18-2, 7-2) rallied past No. 23 Michigan (15-5, 5-4) in five sets (25-18, 22-25, 18-25, 25-20, 15-7) on the road Wednesday evening at Cliff Keen Arena.
Redshirt senior Aiyana Whitney powered the offense with a career-high 18 kills, while sophomore Haleigh Washington finished second on the team with a career-high 17 kills on .593 hitting. Sophomore Simone Lee rounded out the group with 13 kills for her fourth consecutive match with double digit kills.
Redshirt sophomore Bryanna Weiskircher paced the team to a .268 hitting percentage, dishing out 53 assists. She added 12 digs for a double-double.
Sophomore Ali Frantti led the team with 17 digs while also adding eight kills and a pair of blocks.
The Nittany Lions commanded the advantage in the blocking margin, out-blocking Michigan 17.0-7.0, led by multi-block performances from six Nittany Lions. Sophomore Heidi Thelen matched a career-high mark with a team-high nine blocks while Whitney also matched a personal best with eight blocks.
Washington tallied five total blocks while Weiskircher had four.
Michigan jumped out to a 7-2 advantage in the first set, prompting Penn State to call an early timeout. Whitney came out of the break with a kill, but a Nittany Lion attack error kept the Wolverines on top, 8-3. Washington looked to spark some momentum with a kill, 8-4, but Michigan responded with a 4-3 stretch to widen the margin to five, 12-7.
A Wolverine service error and a kill from Thelen sparked an 8-3 scoring streak, capped off by kills from Frantti and Washington to tie the score, 15-15. Michigan looked to break up the momentum with a kill, 16-15, but Washington put away a kill before teaming up with Weiskircher for a block to send Penn State ahead by one, 17-16. Michigan called a timeout and came out of the break with a kill to knot the frame, 17-17.
Penn State responded to a Wolverine service error with a block from Weiskircher and Whitney, opening up 5-1 run that sent Penn State ahead by as many as four, 22-18, causing Michigan to call a timeout, 22-18. A kill from Whitney and a pair of Michigan errors handed the Nittany Lions a 25-18 win in the first set.
PSU and Michigan kept it close throughout the first half of the second set, battling to tie the score eight times. With the score knotted, 12-12, a pair of Michigan kills and a block sent the Wolverines into the media timeout with a three-point cushion, 15-12. Michigan came out of the huddle with a kill, but Penn State responded with a 3-0 strike to arrive within one, 16-15. The Wolverines followed with a 4-1 streak to pull ahead by four, 20-16, causing Penn State to call a timeout.
The Wolverines came out of the break with a 2-1 strike, but PSU answered back with a 3-0 spurt capped off by an ace from Washington to cut the deficit back to two, 22-20. U-M came out of the break with a kill to make it 23-20, forcing Penn State to call a quick timeout. Whitney looked to put together a run with a kill, but a pair of Michigan kills in between a solo stuff from Thelen gave the Wolverines a 25-22 win in the second set to tie the match, 1-1.
The Nittany Lions and the Wolverines traded points in the third set to keep the score close. With the frame knotted, 7-7, Michigan broke open the tied score with a 5-1 run to move ahead 12-8, prompting Penn State to call a timeout.
The Nittany Lions could not regroup as the Wolverines used a 6-3 stretch to construct a seven-point lead, causing Penn State to use its final timeout, 18-11. Two kills from Washington in between one from Michigan made it 19-13, but the Wolverines followed with a 5-2 streak to arrive at set point, 24-15. With the score tied early in set four, 6-6, a pair of consecutive kills from Washington and a Michigan error lifted the Nittany Lions ahead, 9-6. Michigan looked to cut off the run with a kill, 9-7, but PSU responded with a 4-1 strike to expand the advantage, 13-8, causing the Wolverines to call a timeout.
Michigan came battling back after the break, using a 4-1 run to narrow the gap to three, 15-12. The Wolverines came storming back with a 5-2 run to tie the score, 17-17, causing Penn State to call a timeout. The Nittany Lions answered back with three in a row capped off by a solo stuff from Lee to bring PSU ahead, 20-17. Penn State couldn't shake Michigan as the Wolverines used a 3-1 strike to cut the Nittany Lion lead back to one, 21-20. Penn State called a timeout and rallied out of the break with four unanswered points to secure a 25-20 win in the fourth set to send the match into a decisive fifth frame.
The Nittany Lions opened up the fifth set with a 3-0 lead helped out by kills from Weiskircher and Lee. The Wolverines called a timeout and looked to regroup with a kill prior to a Penn State attack error out of the break, arriving within one, 3-2. A kill and an ace from Washington opened up a 5-1 Nittany Lion scoring streak that pushed PSU ahead 8-3 at the crossover. From there, the Nittany Lions did not look back, using a 7-4 run to close out a 15-7 win in the fifth set to secure a win.
Penn State closes out the week on the road, traveling to Michigan State Saturday, Oct. 24. First serve between the Nittany Lions and the Spartans is set for 8 p.m. ET.