Sept. 15, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- No. 20 Penn State women's volleyball (5-3) returns home from the road this week, set to host a trio of teams in Rec Hall in the Penn State Invitational. The Nittany Lions take on Rhode Island (4-5) Friday, Sept. 16 before squaring off against Howard (8-3) and Clemson (4-5) Saturday, Sept. 17 at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., respectively.
PROMOTIONAL SPOTLIGHT: Penn State will release two more posters from its 2016 commemorative poster series this weekend. Poster No. 3 will be released Friday night and poster No. 4 of 5 will be released Saturday evening. The Nittany Lions will also offer $4 tickets for Friday and Saturday matches to fans who present their Penn State football ticket at the door. Fans may also purchase in advance online via the Penn State volleyball ticketing portal.
FIRST SERVE
* The Nittany Lions enter the week on a 3-0 winning streak, having claimed wins against Siena, Hofstra and Syracuse last weekend, capturing the Syracuse Classic title.
* Junior Simone Lee powered the Penn State offense with 5.30 kills per set during the 3-0 week, leading the team with double figure kills in all three outings. Redshirt freshman Tori Gorrell also highlighted the weekend with a trio of multi-block performances, totaling 21 blocks to lead the team with 2.10 blocks per set.
* Both Lee and Gorrell are in the NCAA DI Top 30 national standings this week with Gorrell at No. 21 with 1.45 blocks per set and Lee at No. 25 with 4.31 kills per set and No. 27 with 4.86 points per set.
* Penn State also enters the week hitting .311 on the year, which ranks sixth in the Big Ten standings and 28th nationally The Nittany Lions have also limited their opponents to .124 hitting efficiency on the year, which ranks second in the conference and ninth nationally, among DI teams.
* Penn State moved to No. 20 in the latest release of the AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll this week. The Nittany Lions have matches against nine teams represented within the top 25. Including the Nittany Lions, a total of eight Big Ten teams are ranked in the top 25 with one additional squad receiving votes.
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE SERIES VS. PENN STATE INVITATIONAL OPPONENTS
The Nittany Lions own a 25-1 advantage in the all-time series against Rhode Island, dating back to the first meeting between the two teams in 1979. Having won each of the last 11 games against the Rams, the Nittany Lions and Rhode Island will meet for the first time since a neutral site outing in 2003.
Penn State is 2-0 all-time in a short series against Howard. The Nittany Lions and the Bison most recently met in the first round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. Penn State swept Howard to advance to the second round of the event, hosted by the Nittany Lions in Rec Hall.
The Nittany Lions and Clemson have also only met twice in program history. Having never met during the rally scoring era, the Nittany Lions and the Tigers will square off for the first time since 1998. Penn State captured a 3-0 win against Clemson in the 1998 meeting, which came in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Rec Hall.
WHITE'S ON IT!
Making her rookie debut in the Blue and White, freshman Kendall White powered the team with 38 digs across three matches in the Penn State Classic, leading the team with 3.45 per set. Week two was no different as the Indianapolis native logged her first career 20-dig outing, posting a match-high 22 digs against No. 9 Stanford. Leading the team with 3.66 digs per set, she ranks 11th in the Big Ten standings and second among freshmen in the conference.
LEE'S ON FIRE!
With double-figure kills in all but one match this season, junior Simone Lee's 4.31 kills per set ranks second in the Big Ten standings and 25th nationally. With double figure kills in all three matches on the road last week, she highlighted the weekend with her second 20-kill outing with 21 kills against Hofstra. She closed out the Syracuse Classic with 18 kills against the Orange to mark her sixth consecutive match with double-digit kills.
DETERING EMERGING AT SETTER
Junior transfer Abby Detering (Florida) and redshirt sophomore Bryanna Weiskircher have split time early in the non-conference slate at the setting position. Having started the last four consecutive matches, Detering is beginning to emerge as a consistent presence at the position. Detering highlighted last weekend with back-to-back double-doubles, recording 41 assists and 10 digs against Hofstra and 39 assists and 11 digs against Syracuse in the same day.
AVCA POLL UPDATE: RELEASE 4
Penn State slipped to No. 20 in the latest release of the AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll. The Nittany Lions opened the season ranked No. 9 in the Preseason Poll, before moving to No. 13 and No. 17 in last week's release. Penn State has matches against nine teams represented within the top 25. Including the Nittany Lions, a total of eight Big Ten teams are ranked in the top 25 with one more receiving votes.
NITTANY LION ALUMS EARN BRONZE WITH TEAM USA
Penn State women's volleyball All-American alums Alisha Glass and Christa (Harmotto) Dietzen earned a Bronze medal with the United States Women's National Team at the Olympic Games in Rio.
Having played key roles for Team USA throughout the event, Glass and Dietzen helped the United States to a 3-1 (25-23, 25-27, 25-22, 25-19) win against the Netherlands to clinch The Americans' second Bronze medal since the 1992 games in Barcelona, Spain. Team USA went 6-0 through Pool play before a close 3-2 loss to Serbia in the semifinals moved the United States to 6-1 heading into the Bronze medal match.
Penn State women's volleyball now has four Olympic medalists in Nittany Lion program history as Glass earns her first and Dietzen picks up her second consecutive. Having previously earned Silver with the U.S. at the 2012 Games in London, Dietzen is Penn State's first women's volleyball alum to win two Olympic medals as a member of the 12-woman roster.
From Hopewell Township, Pa., Dietzen was a two-time first-team All-American and the 2008 CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year in women's volleyball. From Leland, Mich., Glass also was a two-time first-team All-American for the Nittany Lions. Glass was a member of the initial three national title squads and Dietzen was a member of the first two squads, playing for Hall of Fame Coach Russ Rose.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Penn State hits the road next week, opening Big Ten play on the road. the Nittany Lions travel to Rutgers for a mid-week matchup against the Scarlet Knights Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. PSU remains on the road for the rest of the week, traveling to Northwestern for a mid-afternoon outing against the Wildcats Sunday, Sept. 25 at 1 p.m.