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Oct. 3, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Behind double digit kills from two Nittany Lions, top-ranked Penn State (14-1, 3-1) swept past Iowa (10-7, 0-4), 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-23) in front of 5,331 fans at Rec Hall Saturday evening.
Senior Megan Courtney led the offense with her fourth consecutive and seventh double-double of the season, posting 12 kills and a team-high 13 digs. Courtney also reached the 1,000 career kills milestone, and is now just four digs shy of the 1,000 career digs plateau.
Sophomore Haleigh Washington finished second on the team with 11 kills, while also tying for first on the team with three total blocks. Sophomore
Simone Lee and Ali Frantti logged seven kills apiece. Lee added three blocks to tie for first on the squad.
Redshirt freshman Bryanna Weiskircher paced the team to a .330 team hitting percentage, dishing out 34 assists. Weiskircher added 19 digs for her fourth double-double of the season.
Penn State opened the match on a 6-4 stretch to take over an early lead. The Hawkeyes broke up the rhythm with a pair of consecutive kills to even the score, 6-6. Iowa continued its momentum, using a 5-1 run to move ahead by three, 11-7, prompting Penn State to call a timeout.
The Nittany Lions came battling back with a 5-1 run, capped off by an ace from Weiskircher to knot the frame, 12-12, forcing Iowa to call a timeout. The Hawkeyes came out of the break with a 6-1 streak to pull ahead 18-13.
Whitney and Courtney cut off the momentum with back-to-back kills, trimming the deficit to three, 18-15. Penn State could not sustain the momentum as the Hawkeyes answered back with a 3-2 spurt to make it 22-17, causing Penn State to call a timeout.
Penn State came out of the break with kills from Courtney and Washington and a block from Washington and Weiskircher to arrive within one, 21-20. An Iowa attack error and a kill from Frantti pushed Penn State ahead, 22-21, prompting Iowa to call a timeout. The two teams traded points before a kill from Frantti made it set point, 24-23. The Hawkeyes held off one attempt before Frantti and Whitney put away kills to secure a 26-24 win in the first set.
The Nittany Lions and the Hawkeyes traded points early in the second frame to keep the score close. Tied up at 4-4, Penn State used a 10-5 stretch featuring four kills from Washington to surge ahead by as many as five, 14-9. Iowa called timeout, but Weiskircher came out of the break with an ace to spark a 4-1 strike that widened the advantage to as many as eight, 18-10.
Iowa looked to cut off run with a kill, 18-11, but the Nittany Lions answered back with a 6-5 stretch to arrive at set point, 24-16. Looking to hold off the attempt, the Hawkeyes called a timeout, but Frantti answered with a kill to give Penn State a 25-16 win in the second set to put PSU up 2-0 at the intermission.
Much like the second set, Penn State and Iowa battled back and forth third stanza to keep the score knotted. Tied at 11-11, Courtney cracked open the tied score with a kill to open up a 5-1 run that lifted Penn State ahead by four, 16-12, prompting Iowa to call a timeout. A Nittany Lion attack error out of the huddle broke up the rhythm, but Weiskircher put away a kill to keep PSU ahead, 17-13. Iowa came charging back with 5-1 scoring streak to take over a one-point lead, 19-18, forcing Penn State to call a timeout.
An Iowa service error out of the break tied the score, 19-19, but three consecutive Hawkeye errors sent Penn State ahead, 21-20. Whitney added a kill to stretch the Nittany Lion lead to two, 22-20. The Hawkeyes put down two kills in a row to tie it up, but a service error gave Penn State the edge, 23-22. Iowa made one final attempt to mount a comeback with a kill, 23-23, but Courtney capped off a 25-23 win in the third set with a pair of kills to complete the sweep.
Penn State hits the road next week .The Nittany Lions travel to Illinois to take on the Illini Friday, Oct. 9 at 8 p.m. ET, live on the Big Ten Network. Penn State rounds out the weekend on the road at Northwestern, squaring off against the Wildcats Saturday, Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. ET.