Nov. 27, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Following the final week of the regular season, the Penn State women's volleyball team saw its duo of middle blockers recognized for their weekend of play as senior Haleigh Washington earned her fifth Big Ten Player of the Week honor of the season, and redshirt sophomore Tori Gorrell earned her first career weekly honor as she claimed the Defensive Player of the Week honor.
Washington (Colorado Springs, Co.) capped off her final regular season weekend in epic fashion as the senior middle blocker put together back-to-back performances that helped the Nittany Lions snag a share of the Big Ten title. On Friday night, Washington put down 10 kills on a .450 clip on the evening at Wisconsin. She also added five blocks. At Minnesota, Washington was unstoppable. She put down a career-high 21 kills on a .514 hitting percentage. She also added seven blocks. Her 21 kills came in just four sets, whereas her previous high of 20 came in five. She finished the weekend averaging 4.94 points per set.
Gorrell (Oakville, Ontario) put together a spectacular weekend of her own as the redshirt sophomore averaged 1.88 blocks per set, and posted a career-high against Minnesota with nine blocks. She added a season-best nine kills on a match-best .643 to her nine blocks for a near double-double. Against Wisconsin, she added six blocks and six kills.
With Washington's honor, she will finish her career with a program-high ten Player of the Week honors, which is good for second in Big Ten history, as she is just the second player to reach double-figure honors, trailing Stacey Gordon (OSU, 2001-04) who finished with 16.
Gorrell became the third player to win the Defensive Player of the Week honor this season, as Kendall White (10/16, 10/30, 11/6) and Simone Lee (11/13) were both honored this season. Lee and Ali Frantti both also earned Player of the Week honors.
The NCAA tournament will start in University Park on Dec. 1 on with a 5 p.m. match at Pittsburgh (25-6) and VCU (30-2) and the second match of the night at 7:30 p.m. will feature the host Nittany Lions and Howard (16-15).