LINCOLN, Neb. – The No. 7 Penn State women's volleyball team fell in a five-set Big Ten battle to the hands of No. 8 Nebraska, 3-2: 25-27, 25-19, 21-25, 25-18, 15-8, in the Devaney Center on Friday evening.
Junior Kendall White finished with a match and season-high 31 digs and moved into fifth place all-time in the Penn State record books with 1,329 career digs. She became just the third Nittany Lions to reach 1,300 digs during the junior season, and the first during the 25-point rally scoring era.
Graduate student Taylor Leath finished the match with her fifth double-double of the season with a match-high 16 kills, adding 15 digs and one block.
Freshman middle blocker Kaitlyn Hord finished with 15 kills, and added six blocks.
Redshirt senior Nia Reed added 12 kills, three blocks and two digs.
Defensively, freshmen Jonni Parker, Jenna Hampton, and Gabby Blossom all finished with double-digit digs. Parker added 14 digs with eight kills, Hampton added 12 digs and an ace, and Blossom added 10.
Redshirt senior setter Bryanna Weiskircher finished the match with 49 assists, seven digs, four blocks and three digs.
Penn State fought its way to a 27-25 win in the opening set after trailing 23-19. The Nittany Lions used four Taylor Leath kills during that run, and few well-timed Nebraska hitting errors to take the set.
In the second set, Penn State was unable to build momentum, and Nebraska was able to take the lead at 10-9, and hang on to take the set, 25-19, despite the Nittany Lions fending off four set points as Nebraska led 24-16.
The Nittany Lions used the momentum to carry their energy into the third set. Kaitlyn Hord had a big set, tallying three blocks and four kills. Penn State also got the first ace of the entire match as Jenna Hampton brought the heat from the end line. The Nittany Lions went up 2-1 with a 25-21 set win.
Penn State was unable to find an offensive rhythm in the fourth set, hitting just .022, while Nebraska hit .238. Nebraska took the fourth, 25-18.
In the fifth set, Nebraska used a 4-0 run to jump out an 8-5 lead on the switch. The Huskers would never relinquish the lead, and go on to take the set and the match with a 15-8 set win.
Penn State looks to bounce back on Saturday evening as they take on Iowa at 8 p.m. in Carver Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.