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| Date (Time) | Opponent | Site | Media Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11-26-14 (8:00 p.m. ET) |  |  Evanston,IL |   |
Penn State (28-3, 16-2 in the B1G) visits Northwestern (16-13, 6-12 in the B1G) at Welsh-Ryan Arena on Wednesday night for the Wildcat’s Senior Night, with pre-match tributes to five Northwestern seniors: 6-0 MB Katie Dutchman, 5-10 OH Yewande Akanbi, 6-2 MB Savannah Paffen, 6-3 MB Maggie Burnham and 5-11 OH Monica McGreal. The match will be streamed live on BTN Plus (a paid subscription — click on the icon above for more info).
It’s been an up-and-down season for the Wildcats, with ups including the November 5th home win over then-AVCA #9 Illinois in five sets (25-20, 25-22, 16-25, 15-25, 15-11), and the October 5th sweep of then-AVCA #18 Minnesota (26-24, 29-27, 25-20) in Evanston. The downs — well, with 12 losses in the B1G, there are several from which to choose. But in its last match, on November 22nd, Northwestern was very effective, defeating Iowa 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-21), hitting .371 as a team while holding the Hawkeyes to a .120 team attack %.
The Wildcats have been led by Dutchman, who ranks 13th in the B1G (B1G matches only) with a .300 attack %, 6-1 Fr. OH Symone Abbott, who ranks 12th in the B1G in kills (B1G matches only), 5-7 RS Jr. libero Caroline Niedospial, who leads the B1G (B1G matches only) with 5.06 digs/set (She isn’t just a flash-in-the-pancake, either, as last season she averaged 4.46 digs/set in 124 sets), and 6-0 Fr. setter Taylor Tashima, who leads all B1G freshmen with 12 double-doubles.
Here are some video clips from the Iowa match, courtesy of nusports.com:
In it’s last match, Penn State defeated Maryland in straight sets (15-25, 18-25, 14-25) in front of 4,522 fans at Maryland’s XFINITY Center. The Nittany Lions were led by 6-4 RS Sr. Opp/RS Aiyana Whitney (11 kills, .350 attack %), 6-1 Fr. OH Ali Frantti (9 kills, .600 attack % — zero errors), 6-2 Jr. OH Megan Courtney (6 kills, .750 attack % with zero errors and a team-best 9 digs), and 6-3 Fr. MH Haleigh Washington (6 kills, .667 attack % — also no errors).
5-11 Sr. setter Micha Hancock guided Penn State to a .421 team attack % (compared to .123 attack % for the Terps), and added eight service aces, to reach the century mark for the season. 6-2 Sr. MH Nia Grant registered 4 blocks, as did Whitney, while 5-6 Sr. libero Dominique Gonzalez totaled 8 digs.
Stat Joust
B1G Team Stats (B1G Matches Only)
What jumps out to us:
- Penn State continues to dominate the attack % stats — both Team % (.334) and Opponent % (.151) — a Net Attack % of .183 (Wisconsin’s is .118)
- The Nittany Lions now rank #3 in the B1G in blocking
- Micha Hancock makes team service ace stats look really, really good
B1G Individual Stats (B1G Matches Only)
What jumps out to us:
- When you have a Team Attack % of .334, you end up with four of the top 14 hitters in the conference (or is it the other way around?)
- When you have Micha Hancock on your team, it’s easier to have four of the top 14 hitters in the conference
- Ali Frantti is having a monster freshman season
- So is Haleigh Washington
- Katie Dutchman is a very good player
- So is Symone Abbott.
- So is Caroline Niedospial
Penn State Stats – 11-22-14
Attack Leaders: 11-22-14
| # | Name | Cl. | SP | MP | MS | K | K/S | E | TA | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Frantti, Ali | 1/Fr. | 98 | 31 | 31 | 321 | 3.28 | 93 | 721 | .316 |
| 14 | Whitney, Aiyana | 3/RS Jr. | 100 | 31 | 27 | 299 | 2.99 | 79 | 564 | .390 |
| 15 | Washington, Haleigh | 1/Fr. | 53 | 18 | 14 | 146 | 2.75 | 22 | 245 | .506 |
| 7 | Grant, Nia | 4/Sr. | 99 | 31 | 31 | 237 | 2.39 | 48 | 404 | .468 |
| 17 | Courtney, Megan | 3/Jr. | 101 | 31 | 31 | 234 | 2.32 | 67 | 581 | .287 |
| 22 | Lee, Simone | 1/Fr. | 57 | 23 | 1 | 113 | 1.98 | 43 | 302 | .232 |
| 12 | Hancock, Micha | 4/Sr. | 101 | 31 | 31 | 117 | 1.16 | 25 | 231 | .398 |
| Team | n/a | 101 | 31 | 31 | 1482 | 14.67 | 380 | 3081 | .358 | |
| Opp. | n/a | 101 | 31 | 31 | 1006 | 9.96 | 578 | 3030 | .141 |
Setting Leaders: 11-22-14
| # | Name | Class | SP | MP | MS | A | A/S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Hancock, Micha | 4/Sr. | 101 | 31 | 31 | 1158 | 11.47 |
| 4 | Gonzalez, Dominique | 4/Sr. | 101 | 31 | 0 | 72 | 0.71 |
| 17 | Courtney, Megan | 3/Jr. | 101 | 31 | 31 | 55 | 0.54 |
| 33 | Fuller, Lacey | 4/Sr, | 100 | 31 | 19 | 16 | 0.16 |
| Team | n/a | 101 | 31 | 31 | 1343 | 13.30 | |
| Opp. | n/a | 101 | 31 | 31 | 950 | 9.41 |
Serving Leaders: 11-22-14
| # | Name | Class | SP | MP | MS | SA | SA /S | SE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Hancock, Micha | 4/Sr. | 101 | 31 | 31 | 100 | 0.99 | 88 |
| 4 | Gonzalez, Dominique | 4/Sr. | 101 | 31 | 0 | 24 | 0.24 | 37 |
| 5 | Frantti, Ali | 1/Fr. | 98 | 31 | 31 | 22 | 0.22 | 35 |
| 7 | Grant, Nia | 4/Sr. | 99 | 31 | 31 | 14 | 0.14 | 26 |
| 8 | Pierce, Lainy | 1/Fr. | 40 | 22 | 0 | 9 | 0.22 | 6 |
| 17 | Courtney, Megan | 3/Jr. | 101 | 31 | 31 | 9 | 0.09 | 11 |
| Team | n/a | 101 | 31 | 31 | 196 | 1.94 | 243 | |
| Opp. | n/a | 101 | 31 | 31 | 47 | 0.47 | 193 |
Rcpt/Dig Leaders: 11-22-14
| # | Name | Cl. | SP | MP | MS | RE | TA | Pct. | Dig | Dig/ Set |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Gonzalez, Dominique | 4/Sr. | 101 | 31 | 0 | 7 | 426 | .984 | 366 | 3.62 |
| 17 | Courtney, Megan | 3/Jr. | 101 | 31 | 31 | 22 | 613 | .964 | 217 | 2.15 |
| 12 | Hancock, Micha | 4/Sr. | 101 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 4 | 1.000 | 181 | 1.79 |
| 33 | Fuller, Lacey | 4/Sr. | 100 | 31 | 19 | 1 | 64 | .984 | 161 | 1.61 |
| 5 | Frantti, Ali | 1/Fr. | 98 | 31 | 31 | 10 | 299 | .967 | 135 | 1.38 |
| 7 | Grant, Nia | 4/Sr. | 99 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 21 | 1.000 | 56 | 0.57 |
| Team | n/a | 101 | 31 | 31 | 47 | 1537 | .969 | 1242 | 12.30 | |
| Opp. | n/a | 101 | 31 | 31 | 196 | 2210 | .911 | 1029 | 10.19 |
Blocking/Points Leaders: 11-22-14
| Name | SP | MP | BS | BA | TB | B/S | BE | BH E | Pts | Pt /S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frantti, Ali | 98 | 31 | 8 | 42 | 50 | 0.51 | 2 | 2 | 372.0 | 3.80 |
| Washington, Haleigh | 53 | 18 | 12 | 51 | 63 | 1.19 | 4 | 1 | 183.5 | 3.46 |
| Whitney, Aiyana | 100 | 31 | 4 | 76 | 80 | 0.80 | 12 | 1 | 344.0 | 3.44 |
| Grant, Nia | 99 | 31 | 12 | 95 | 107 | 1.08 | 5 | 1 | 310.5 | 3.14 |
| Courtney, Megan | 101 | 31 | 8 | 59 | 67 | 0.66 | 5 | 1 | 280.5 | 2.78 |
| Hancock, Micha | 101 | 31 | 4 | 66 | 70 | 0.69 | 9 | 4 | 254.0 | 2.51 |
| Lee, Simone | 57 | 23 | 4 | 18 | 22 | 0.39 | 4 | 0 | 126.0 | 2.21 |
| Team | 101 | 31 | 52 | 415 | 259.5 | 2.57 | 41 | 11 | 1937.5 | 19.18 |
| Opp. | 101 | 31 | 19 | 260 | 149.0 | 1.48 | 53 | 21 | 1202.0 | 11.90 |
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Photo Credits
- Welsh-Ryan Arena: Courtesy of www.nusports.com.
- Three-Headed Monster. Online Collection of Brooklyn Museum; Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2009.39.1_PS1.jpg. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
