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Nov. 25, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - No. 7 Penn State women's volleyball (26-4) swept past Northwestern (14-16, 6-13) in straight sets (25-18, 25-14, 26-14) on Senior Night at Rec Hall Wednesday evening.
Sophomore Ali Frantti and redshirt senior Aiyana Whitney led the Nittany Lion offense with double figure kills. Frantti recorded 13 kills on .500 hitting, while also adding four digs, two blocks and one ace. Whitney posted 10 kills on .643 hitting, finishing second on the team with four blocks.
Senior Megan Courtney finished third on the team with nine kills and third on the team with seven digs. Sophomore Simone Lee chipped in seven kills on .583 hitting, along with three blocks. Sophomore Haleigh Washington posted six kills, while also leading the team with five blocks.
Redshirt freshman Bryanna Weiskircher directed the team to a Big Ten season-high .408 hitting percentage, dishing out 41 assists to go along with four kills and a pair of blocks.
Penn State out-blocked the Wildcats 9.0-4.0, led by at least two blocks from six Nittany Lions.
Senior Kendall Pierce logged a team-high 12 digs to match a career-high mark in her second consecutive match at libero. Freshman Wilma Rivera finished second on the team with eight digs.
Penn State jumped out to a 4-1 lead early in the match, led by a pair of kills from Whitney. A Nittany Lion service error broke up the momentum, but two kills from Courtney and Lee in between one from NU kept PSU on top, 7-5. The Wildcats looked to get back on track with two consecutive kills, but a block from Frantti and Washington sparked a 4-2 stretch that lifted the Nittany Lions ahead by as many as four, 11-7.
The Wildcats answered back with a 3-1 strike to arrive within two, 12-10. A kill from Whitney sparked a 3-0 streak that helped the Nittany Lions build a five-point cushion, causing Northwestern to call a timeout. Penn State came out of the break with a block, to open up a 3-1 spurt that sent PSU ahead, 18-11, causing the Wildcats to use another timeout.
Penn State followed with a kill from Courtney, but could not sustain the momentum as NU constructed a 7-3 run to cut the PSU lead back to three, 21-18. The Nittany Lions called a timeout and regrouped with four unanswered points, capped off by a block from Whitney and Lee and a kill from Frantti to secure a 25-18 win in the first set.
Tied up a 4-4 in the second set, Courtney sparked a 6-1 run with a kill to double the Nittany Lion advantage, 10-5, causing the Wildcats to call a timeout. Northwestern looked to get back on track with a block, 10-6, but Frantti responded with a kill to open up a 4-0 run that sent Penn State ahead by as many as eight, 14-6, forcing NU to use its final timeout. The Wildcats came out of the break with a kill, 14-7, but PSU responded with an 8-4 run to widen the advantage to as many as 11, 22-11.
Northwestern looked to break up the rhythm with a kill, 22-12, but a pair of kills from Frantti in between two Northwestern points made it set point, 24-14. Whitney followed with a kill to close out a 25-14 win in the second set to send Penn State into the intermission with a 2-0 lead.
Penn State continued its momentum into the third frame, moving out to a 12-7 lead, prompting Northwestern to call a timeout. The Wildcats regrouped and came out of the huddle with two consecutive kills to open up a 5-3 stretch that pulled NU within three, 15-12. Whitney looked to get the Nittany Lions back on track with a kill, 16-12, but the Wildcats rallied with a 5-1 strike to tie the frame, 17-all, prompting Penn State to call a timeout.
A Nittany Lion attack error out of the break put PSU down 18-17, but a block from Washington and Weiskircher and an NU attack error gave Penn State the edge, 19-18. A block from Frantti and Washington made it 20-18, but the Wildcats continued to rally, using a 4-0 run to take over a two-point lead, 22-20.
Frantti and Weiskircher put away two consecutive kills to keep the frame knotted, but another Northwestern kill put the Wildcats on top, 23-22. A pair of Northwestern errors brought Penn State to match point, 24-23, but NU held off another attempt to tie the score again, 24-24. A clutch kill from Lee followed by a Northwestern attack error handed the Nittany Lions a 26-24 win in the third set to complete the sweep.
Penn State hits the road to close out the 2015 regular season, traveling to Nebraska to take on the Huskers Saturday, Nov. 28 at 9:30 p.m. ET, live on the Big Ten Network. The Nittany Lions will then wait to find out seeding for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Tournament selection show is set to air Sunday, Nov. 29 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU.