Oct. 27, 2017
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 1 Penn State women's volleyball team heads to the University of Illinois for a Saturday evening showdown in Huff Hall on Illinois' campus at 8 p.m. ET.
SCOUTING THE FIGHTING ILLINI
The Fighting Illini are 16-6 on the season, and 7-4 in Big Ten action, with their four losses in Big Ten play coming to ranked teams. They are currently on a two-match slide, falling 3-1 on Oct. 21 to No. 7 Nebraska, and then they fall, 3-2, to Minnesota on Wednesday in Minneapolis. On the season, the Illini are hitting .286 with 13.77 kills per set. Jacqueline Quade leads the way with 3.37 kills per set, while Beth Prince follows with 3.09 kills per set. Ali Bastianelli is the third leading kill getter with 2.92 kills per set but does it the most effective as she has a .427 hitting percentage out of the middle. Bastianelli also leads the team and the nation in blocking at 1.79 stuffs per set. Her defense paced Illinois for the league-best 3.00 blocks per set. Their blocking numbers also rank the team in as No. 9 in the nation.
LAST TIME OUT
On Wednesday evening, the Nittany Lions took down No. 9 Wisconsin, 3-1; 25-19, 25-22, 23-25, 25-16, in Rec Hall. After jumping out to a 1-0 set lead, the Nittany Lions trailed Wisconsin, 16-9, late in the second set, and it seemed the two squads would head into the break tied at one set apiece. Nia Reed (Fort Lee, N.J.) came in to provide a spark for the Nittany Lions, and she delivered. Reed put down eight kills, which alone was a career-high, on nine swings, including scoring the final six points for the Nittany Lions with five kills and a block, to help Penn State take the set, 25-22. Reed finished the match with a career-high 11 kills in just two sets, at a clip of .421, adding one block. Haleigh Washington finished the match with 14 kills, hitting .448, and added a game-high eight blocks. Heidi Thelen (Edgewood, Ky.) provided another quality performance for Penn State, putting down seven kills on a .353 clip with five blocks. Defensively, Kendall White (Indianapolis, Ind.) led the match with 21 digs, while Simone Lee (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) scooped up a career-high 18 digs. Lee also added eight kills and three blocks. Penn State out-blocked the Badgers, 14.0-9.0, and out-hit the visiting team, .241-.207.
FIRST SERVE
>> The highlight of the past weekend was Haleigh Washington becoming the 7th athlete in Penn State volleyball lore to reach 1,000 kills and 500 blocks. She was the first in seven seasons to reach 500 blocks, as the last to achieve this feat was Arielle Wilson (2007-10). Washington is also currently the only active Big Ten player to reach this mark.
>> Penn State has three active 1,000 kill club members as Ali Frantti was the first on Aug. 26 at West Virginia, and Simone Lee followed on Oct. 6 at Ohio State, and Haleigh Washington eclipsed the mark on Oct. 21 at Indiana.
>> The last time Penn State had three active 1,000 kill club members was in 2008. Entering the season, Megan Hodge and Nicole Fawcett were already past the mark, but on Sept. 5, 2008, Christa Harmotto joined the club as well.
>> This marked the first time in Penn State history that a trio reached the pinnacle in the same season.
>>Currently, Penn State is the only program in all of DI volleyball to have three active 1,000 kill hitters. NC State is waiting on Kaitlyn Kearney (994) to join Julia Brown (1,176) and Bree Bailey (1,119).
>> The marks the 67th week the Nittany Lions have been at No. 1 in the poll since the end of the 2006 season, and the 91st time in the history of the poll. The Nittany Lions' first No. 1 Ranking came on Sept. 2, 1997, and the poll was started in 1982.
>> Nia Reed was the 6th Nittany Lion to put down double-figure kills with her career-best 11 against Wisconsin on Wednesday.
>> Penn State also remained No. 1 in the RPI that was released on Monday, Oct. 23.
>> Simone Lee had her 23 match double-digit kills streak come to an end against Indiana (8 kills). Her streak started on Nov. 11, 2016, and ended on Oct. 21, 2017.
>>Twice this season, the Nittany Lions have had four players with double-digit kills. Against Stanford (9/1): Abby Detering (11k), Ali Frantti (10k), Haleigh Washington (10k), and Simone Lee (11k), and against Purdue (10/20): Ali Frantti (15k), Heidi Thelen (14k), Simone Lee (13k), and Haleigh Washington (10k).
RECORD AGAINST 2017 OPPONENTS
Penn State owns a 600-115 (.839) combined series record against its 2017 opponents, including a 454-66 (.873) mark in Big Ten matches since joining the conference in 1991. The Nittany Lions own a 539-104-1 (.840) mark all-time against current Big Ten opponents.
BIG TEN COACHES SELECT PENN STATE TO WIN 2017 CONFERENCE TITLE
Penn State opens the season ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten Preseason Poll, released by the conference early this week. The Big Ten Preseason poll is selected by votes from all 14 conference head coaches.
UP NEXT
Penn State heads to No. 10 Michigan State on Wednesday, Nov. 1 for a 7 p.m. ET match on the Big Ten Network.