Dec. 7, 2015
By Anita Nham, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" Behind a balanced offense and a valiant team effort, the Penn State women's volleyball team defeated Dayton (25-17, 13-25, 25-14, 25-17) in the NCAA second round on Saturday night in Rec Hall.
"[Dayton] entered the match with the longest winning streak in the country," said head coach Russ Rose. "We knew that it was going to be a tough match…Dayton is a terrific opponent, and we feel fortune to advance. We know it's never a given. It's always hard. Every match has its challenges and this one is no different. I'm really thrilled with our effort tonight, how we competed, especially after playing as poorly as we did in the second game."
Redshirt senior Aiyana Whitney and sophomore Ali Frantti led the Nittany Lions offense with 14 kills each. Whitney hit .448, while Frantti hit .407 and notched seven digs.
"I thought we did a real nice job offensively," said coach Rose. "…I thought it really was a valiant effort. I thought Ali played great tonight. Aiyana was great offensively."
Sophomores Heidi Thelen and Haleigh Washington collected seven kills each. Thelen finished the night by hitting .875, and Washington recorded a team-high of four blocks.
"Heidi made a great impact in the match and on our team," said coach Rose.
Redshirt freshman Bryanna Weiskircher assisted the offense by passing out 46 assists, adding along seven digs and four blocks on Saturday night.
"Bryanna does a nice job of putting a good ball up for the most part," said Thelen. "…It's a good thing to mix the ball around because if you keep setting the same person every time, then the block on the other side will just commit to that person, so when you open things, it gets a little trickier for the other team to stop our hitters, so [Bryanna] did a nice job."
On the defensive end, senior Megan Courtney led the team with 15 digs, while also recording eight kills. Senior libero Kendall Pierce finished second in digs with a career-high of 13 digs.
"Kendall and Megan did a great job defensively," said coach Rose. "It's nice to advance."
Thelen opened the match with a kill for Penn State's first point of the night. It was a back-and-forth matchup at the beginning, but the Nittany Lions were able to take a six-point edge at 23-17, and secure a 25-16 win in the first set.
In the second set, Dayton came out with five consecutive points. Penn State continued to catch up throughout the set, but the Flyers went on a 9-2 run to take the second set at 25-13.
"We side-out right out the gate as we've done traditionally," said coach Rose. "I thought what happened was [Dayton] had .556, and when somebody hits .556, it's not so much as to what you're not doing, it's you can't stop them."
The Nittany Lions were able to rebound and defeat the Flyers in the third and fourth sets to advance to the NCAA regional semifinals for the 13th consecutive season. Penn State will take on Hawaii in Des Moines, Iowa, on Friday evening.
"We started mixing up our serves in the third and fourth game, but I thought we got a little better results from that, and it was a nice team effort," said coach Rose. "It was nice to watch the kids out there."