UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 7 Penn State women's volleyball ended the 2018 regular season with a 3-2: 25-20, 22-25, 25-23, 19-25, 21-19, loss to No. 8 Wisconsin in Rec Hall on Saturday evening to move to 23-7, 14-6 on the year.
Penn State was led defensively by junior libero Kendall White, who scooped up 26 digs. Her 26 digs per her at 503 for the season, giving her a new single season career high, surpassing her 500 digs from her freshman year. She is also now just five digs from breaking the Penn State 25-point era single season record of 507 set by Alyssa D'Errico in 2010. White also now has 1,465 career digs and is just 10 away from surpassing Dominque Gonzalez, who finished her career with 1,474, in the No. 4 spot on the Penn State all-time career digs leader board.
The Nittany Lions got 15 digs from redshirt senior Bryanna Weiskircher and 10 from both freshmen Jonni Parker and Jenna Hampton. Both Weiskircher and Parker finished the match with double-doubles as Weiskircher dished out 60 assists, and added three blocks and two aces, and Parker added 11 kills, three blocks, and an ace.
Penn State also got a good defensive outing from its freshmen middle blockers as Kaitlyn Hord and Serena Gray each added six blocks. Gray also added a fantastic offensive performance putting down a new career-high 12 kills on .674 hitting, and was second on the team with 15.5 points. Hord added six kills with no errors for .429 performance.
Offensively, Nia Reed and Allyson Cathey were the workhorses for the Nittany Lions. Reed tied a career high with 20 kills, hitting .294 on 51 attempts. She also added four blocks and two digs. Cathey put down 13 kills for her first double-digit hitting performance since September 23 vs. Ohio State. She also added three digs, a block and an ace.
It was a battle from the beginning, but ultimately untimely errors would be the end-all for the Blue and White.
In the fifth and final set, Penn State fought back from down 8-5, to 10-8, to finally being able to ward off set point, and ultimately go up 15-14. From there the two teams would fight back-and-forth trading set points, but ultimately back-to-back Penn State attacking errors would give Wisconsin the set and the match.
The Nittany Lions await their postseason fate as the NCAA Selection Show for the 2018 Women's Volleyball Tournament will take place on Sunday, November 25 at 8:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
