Match Preview: Penn State at Illinois

Posted on by Nyline
Huff Hall will feature "IlliNoise Night" when the Illini take on Penn State
Huff Hall will feature “IlliNoise Night” when the Illini take on Penn State Friday, October 9th at 8:00 p.m. ET

Penn State (14-1, 3-1 in the B1G) travels to Illinois for a match on Friday, Oct. 9th at 8:00 p.m. E.T. against the Illini (11-4, 2-2 in the B1G).

Date
(Time)
Opp.Site
Media
10-09-15
(8:00 p.m. ET)		Champaign
ILhuff1		TV -
BTN

The Nittany Lions are coming off a 1-1 weekend in which they lost to Nebraska  (25-12, 26-24, 14-25, 20-25, 11-15) despite taking the first two sets, and despite the efforts of the Rec Hall crowd of 5105 fans to cheer Penn State on to victory.  Still, the Penn State bounced back the next night to sweep Iowa (26-24, 25-16, 25-23), and even though it wasn’t the blowout win some Penn State fans were hoping for, Penn State Head Coach Russ Rose focused on the positives:

Iowa played with great energy, and had they not missed six serves in the last game, we could still be playing right now.  I thought we controlled the ball a little bit better tonight, but as I told the players earlier today, losing, or your statistics, don’t really define you.  They’re just an indication of how you played.  How you bounce back from defeat or challenges is how people will define you and you can define yourselves.

I thought we had some people play a little better tonight than they did last night, and you need to — the conference is very strong.  We’re pleased, I thought we did some good things.  There’s a lot of things I didn’t think were very good, but we’ll just focus on the fact that it was nice to get a victory today.

Illinois, which was ranked #8 in the AVCA pre-season poll and, after losing its last two matches (3-1 to Wisconsin on September 30th, and 3-2 to Minnesota on October 3rd), is now ranked #13, entered the 2015 season hoping to make some noise.   They still have a very good chance of doing just that, as they are only two matches behind league-leading Purdue, and only one match behind Penn State, Ohio State, Nebraska, and Minnesota.

But the Illinois marketing department, leaving nothing to chance, has announced “the return of IlliNOISE Night,” for the match between the Illini and Penn State From the Illinois SID’s press release:

It has been said by coaches, opponents, fans and media members alike that Huff Hall has the loudest volleyball atmosphere in the country, and the Fighting Illini plan to prove it. The Marketing & Promotions Staff will take a decibel meter reading during the match to put a number to just how loud Huff Hall truly is. . . . Ear plugs will be available free of charge at all entrances for any fans with sensitive hearing when the Illini Faithful establish the mark of Huff Hall’s noise level.

Alright then!

Here’s the “Night Hype Video” (their phrase) for IlliNoise:

Here’s Illinois head coach Kevin Hambly’s Monday press conference, in which he discusses Penn State and his team’s prospects:

 

Stat Joust — Penn State vs. Illinois and Northwestern

Team Hitting %

  • Penn State’s .302 hitting %, which leads the B1G, is fifth best in NCAA D1
  • Purdue ranks 10th,
  • Nebraska ranks 22nd, and
  • Illinois ranks 28th
Team S K E TA Pct.
Penn State 49 657 188 1554 .302
Purdue 51 730 247 1690 .286
Nebraska 52 742 242 1841 .272
Minnesota 52 717 240 1798 .265
Illinois 52 736 261 1813 .262
Iowa 59 805 291 1999 .257
Michigan State 54 783 298 1907 .254
Wisconsin 50 707 260 1783 .251
Ohio State 62 870 336 2214 .241
Michigan 54 738 278 1979 .232
Northwestern 49 676 264 1778 .232
Maryland 65 810 344 2171 .215
Indiana 64 854 394 2145 .214
Rutgers 56 670 308 1948 .186

Opponents’ Hitting %

  • Penn State is tied for 3rd in NCAA D1 for Opponents’ Hitting %.
  • Purdue ranks 13th, and
  • Illinois ranks 36th.
Team S K E TA Pct.
Penn State 49 536 320 1650 .131
Purdue 51 561 310 1734 .145
Ohio State 62 661 353 2122 .145
Illinois 52 595 306 1802 .160
Minnesota 52 612 313 1821 .164
Wisconsin 50 602 298 1783 .170
Michigan 54 670 327 1971 .174
Northwestern 49 576 271 1729 .176
Nebraska 52 609 282 1852 .177
Indiana 64 668 305 1928 .188
Michigan State 54 628 285 1804 .190
Iowa 59 739 305 2000 .217
Maryland 65 811 339 2067 .228
Rutgers 56 786 254 1963 .271

Team Blocks

  • Penn State’s 3.10 blocks/set ranks fifth in NCAA D1
  • Minnesota ranks 17th,
  • Wisconsin ranks 27th, and
  • Illinois ranks 29th.
Team S BS BA Total Avg./S
Penn State 49 41 222 152.0 3.10
Minnesota 52 30 234 147.0 2.83
Wisconsin 50 14 239 133.5 2.67
Illinois 52 30 216 138.0 2.65
Ohio State 62 47 216 155.0 2.50
Michigan State 54 28 212 134.0 2.48
Purdue 51 36 176 124.0 2.43
Nebraska 52 21 210 126.0 2.42
Maryland 65 40 219 149.5 2.30
Northwestern 49 34 143 105.5 2.15
Michigan 54 29 164 111.0 2.06
Indiana 64 26 195 123.5 1.93
Rutgers 56 16 184 108.0 1.93
Iowa 59 28 168 112.0 1.90

Blocks by Opponents

Team S BS BA Total Avg./S
Penn State 49 10 132 76.0 1.55
Purdue 51 7 151 82.5 1.62
Nebraska 52 25 130 90.0 1.73
Minnesota 52 38 126 101.0 1.94
Rutgers 56 24 182 115.0 2.05
Michigan State 54 31 159 110.5 2.05
Ohio State 62 25 210 130.0 2.10
Maryland 65 33 210 138.0 2.12
Michigan 54 32 167 115.5 2.14
Northwestern 49 17 181 107.5 2.19
Illinois 52 24 180 114.0 2.19
Indiana 64 17 260 147.0 2.30
Wisconsin 50 30 176 118.0 2.36
Iowa 59 27 231 142.5 2.42

Team Service Aces

Team S No. Avg./S
Maryland 65 100 1.54
Indiana 64 95 1.48
Purdue 51 73 1.43
Iowa 59 77 1.31
Penn State 49 61 1.24
Minnesota 52 64 1.23
Northwestern 49 59 1.20
Michigan State 54 59 1.09
Ohio State 62 66 1.06
Rutgers 56 58 1.04
Nebraska 52 44 0.85
Illinois 52 41 0.79
Michigan 54 40 0.74
Wisconsin 50 36 0.72

Service Aces by Opponents

Team S No. Avg./S
Illinois 52 28 0.54
Minnesota 52 36 0.69
Nebraska 52 38 0.73
Wisconsin 50 39 0.78
Maryland 65 52 0.80
Michigan State 54 45 0.83
Indiana 64 53 0.83
Penn State 49 43 0.88
Michigan 54 48 0.89
Ohio State 62 55 0.89
Iowa 59 59 1.00
Northwestern 49 50 1.02
Purdue 51 59 1.16
Rutgers 56 77 1.38

Individual Hitting %

Individual S K E TA Pct.
Haleigh Washington, Penn State 49 135 23 234 0.479
Meghan Haggerty, Nebraska 19 37 7 66 0.455
Faye Adelaja, Purdue 40 93 19 166 0.446
Maddie Slater, Northwestern 49 104 22 202 0.406
Jazzmine McDonald, Indiana 35 68 16 134 0.388
Katie Stadick, Illinois 50 155 36 308 0.386
Paige Tapp, Minnesota 52 136 31 273 0.385
Abby Cole, Michigan 51 149 30 312 0.381
Danielle Cuttino, Purdue 51 101 27 194 0.381
Taylor Sandbothe, Ohio State 62 188 38 395 0.380
Mikaela Gunderson, Iowa 59 128 23 279 0.376
Haleigh Nelson, Wisconsin 50 125 28 261 0.372
Aiyana Whitney, Penn State 49 150 43 327 0.327
Eden Frazier, Rutgers 44 78 15 197 0.320
Sarah Wilhite, Minnesota 21 33 9 77 0.312

Service Aces

Individual S No. Avg./S
Brooke Smith, Nebraska 12 6 0.50
Abbie Kraus, Northwestern 49 20 0.41
Holly Toliver, Michigan State 34 14 0.41
Brooke Peters, Purdue 50 20 0.40
Bryanna Weiskircher, Penn State 49 17 0.35
Megan Tallman, Indiana 52 17 0.33
Abby Bentz, Maryland 61 19 0.31
Haleigh Washington, Penn State 49 15 0.31
Amy Dion, Maryland 65 19 0.29
Annika Albrecht, Nebraska 52 15 0.29
Daly Santana, Minnesota 52 15 0.29
Amanda Neill, Purdue 51 15 0.29
Makayla Lundin, Indiana 21 6 0.29
Molly Lohman, Minnesota 47 13 0.28
Alyssa Klostermann, Iowa 29 8 0.28

Blocks

Individual S BS BA Total Avg./S
Haleigh Washington, Penn State 49 13 61 74 1.51
Amber Rolfzen, Nebraska 38 3 52 55 1.45
Paige Tapp, Minnesota 52 11 63 74 1.42
Danielle Cuttino, Purdue 51 14 52 66 1.29
Tionna Williams, Wisconsin 46 4 54 58 1.26
Katie Stadick, Illinois 50 5 57 62 1.24
Haleigh Nelson, Wisconsin 50 6 56 62 1.24
Abby Cole, Michigan 51 15 46 61 1.20
Gabrielle Hazen, Northwestern 42 8 42 50 1.19
Heidi Thelen, Penn State 42 6 44 50 1.19
Taylor Sandbothe, Ohio State 62 17 55 72 1.16
Megan Tompkins, Michigan State 49 5 52 57 1.16
Ali Bastianelli, Illinois 51 8 49 57 1.12
Molly Lohman, Minnesota 47 7 45 52 1.11
Alyssa Garvelink, Michigan State 54 11 47 58 1.07