First serve in the Penn State (12-0) vs. Minnesota (9-2) women’s volleyball match at Rec Hall has been moved back to 8:00 p.m. tonight to accommodate football — which we think is fine.  It gives football fans who have never seen national championship caliber volleyball in person a chance to check out the #1-ranked Nittany Lions in person, as they take on the #21-ranked Golden Gophers.

Minnesota is a very good team — they upset #12-ranked Ohio State, 3-2, Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio. The Gophers also downed then-#18 North Carolina earlier this year.  Minnesota has won its last nine matches, and before dropping sets three and four to the Buckeyes on Wednesday, it had won 24 consecutive sets.

 

 

First Serve 8:00 p.m. at Rec Hall (click images for more info)

Date (Time)	Opp.	Site	Media
9-26-15 (8:00 p.m. ET)		Rec Hall Univ. Park, PA	No TV

Penn State is pretty good too, having won their last 32 straight matches, dating back to a five-set win over Purdue on October 17, 2014, and have won 41 consecutive sets since dropping the second set of the 2014 NCAA national semifinal match against Stanford on Dec. 18, 2014.

About Minnesota

The Gophers are led by 6-1 Sr OH Daly Santana, who totaled 19 kills against the Buckeyes, and by the Tapp Twins — 6-1 Jr. MB Paige Tapp (who earned 3rd Team AVCA All-American and All-Big Ten honors in 2014) with 15 kills against Ohio State, and 6-2 Jr. MB Hannah Tapp, who registered 12 kills. Two other key players for Minnesota are 5-9 So. libero Dalianliz Rosado, who led the Gophers with 20 digs against Ohio State, and highly touted Fr. setter 5-11 Samantha Seliger-Swenson, who totaled 53 assists and six kills.

Seliger-Swenson has been named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for three consecutive weeks, sharing this week’s award with Nebraska’s Mikaela Foecke.  For the season, she is averaging 11.15 assist/set.

About Penn State

Penn State has featured a balanced offense this season, led by 6-3 So. MB Haleigh Washington, 6-4 RS Sr. RS/Opp Aiyana Whitney, 6-2 So. OH Ali Frantti, and 6-2 Sr. OH Megan Courtney, all of whom  registered at least 10  kills in the 3-0 win over Wisconsin on Wednesday night, with Courtney, who has been a defensive stalwart her entire career, adding a match-high 14 digs.

6-0 RS Fr. setter Bryanna Weiskircher directed the team to a .376 attack % against Wisconsin.  6-2 So. MB Heidi Thelen played sparingly in 2014.  As Club Coach noted in our pre-Wisconsin Q&A, her role is to close the block and score when she gets the ball set her way.  She has done a nice job of accomplishing that.  The other starter, 5-6 Fr. libero Keeton Holcomb, has earned a reputation as a very good passer.

B1G Stat Joust

Below are team and individual leaders in the B1G in selected statistical categories, with Penn State and Minnesota statistics highlighted with vague approximations of their respective team colors.

 

 

Penn State’s .339 team attack % is 2d in the NCAA  s the Big Ten. The Gophers’ .272 ranks 21st.

Penn State’s .099 opponents’ attack % is 3rd-best nationally.

Opp. Hitting Pct.	S	K	E	TA	Pct.
Penn State	36	375	257	1189	0.099
Purdue	40	424	246	1359	0.131
Illinois	40	440	256	1392	0.132
Ohio State	48	506	278	1667	0.137
Minnesota	39	440	228	1325	0.160
Wisconsin	38	446	225	1354	0.163
Michigan	42	524	261	1582	0.166
Northwestern	40	458	223	1390	0.169
Michigan State	42	464	226	1403	0.170
Nebraska	39	452	206	1391	0.177
Indiana	52	526	250	1543	0.179
Iowa	49	594	260	1667	0.200
Maryland	51	624	268	1635	0.218
Rutgers	46	636	208	1625	0.263

 

Penn State’s  3.33 blocks per set ranks #1 in the NCAA.

Blocks	S	BS	BA	Total	Avg./S
Penn State	36	31	178	120.0	3.33
Minnesota	39	23	178	112.0	2.87
Illinois	40	27	172	113.0	2.83
Wisconsin	38	12	179	101.5	2.67
Michigan State	42	18	176	106.0	2.52
Ohio State	48	33	172	119.0	2.48
Purdue	40	27	144	99.0	2.48
Nebraska	39	16	150	91.0	2.33
Maryland	51	35	164	117.0	2.29
Northwestern	40	28	123	89.5	2.24
Michigan	42	24	120	84.0	2.00
Iowa	49	25	140	95.0	1.94
Rutgers	46	13	146	86.0	1.87
Indiana	52	20	145	92.5	1.78

 

Blocks by Opponents	S	BS	BA	Total	Avg./S
Penn State	36	5	78	44.0	1.22
Purdue	40	5	110	60.0	1.50
Nebraska	39	17	94	64.0	1.64
Rutgers	46	20	136	88.0	1.91
Minnesota	39	28	98	77.0	1.97
Michigan State	42	23	125	85.5	2.04
Indiana	52	12	192	108.0	2.08
Maryland	51	24	164	106.0	2.08
Michigan	42	21	133	87.5	2.08
Illinois	40	22	124	84.0	2.10
Northwestern	40	12	147	85.5	2.14
Ohio State	48	22	166	105.0	2.19
Iowa	49	18	185	110.5	2.26
Wisconsin	38	22	134	89.0	2.34

 

Service Aces	S	No.	Avg./S
Purdue	40	64	1.60
Indiana	52	81	1.56
Penn State	36	50	1.39
Maryland	51	71	1.39
Northwestern	40	52	1.30
Iowa	49	63	1.29
Minnesota	39	50	1.28
Michigan State	42	47	1.12
Rutgers	46	50	1.09
Ohio State	48	52	1.08
Illinois	40	38	0.95
Nebraska	39	36	0.92
Michigan	42	35	0.83
Wisconsin	38	26	0.68

 

Service Aces by Opponents	S	No.	Avg./S
Illinois	40	20	0.50
Maryland	51	36	0.71
Indiana	52	38	0.73
Penn State	36	27	0.75
Minnesota	39	30	0.77
Wisconsin	38	31	0.82
Michigan	42	38	0.90
Northwestern	40	36	0.90
Nebraska	39	35	0.90
Michigan State	42	39	0.93
Ohio State	48	45	0.94
Iowa	49	47	0.96
Purdue	40	43	1.08
Rutgers	46	67	1.46

 

Individual Leaders
(Must have competed in at least 50% of team’s games)

Haleigh Washington’s .560 attack % is #1 nationally.

Hitting Percentage	S	K	E	TA	Pct.
Haleigh Washington, Penn State	36	100	11	159	0.560
Meghan Haggerty, Nebraska	19	37	7	66	0.455
Faye Adelaja, Purdue	29	68	16	121	0.430
Katie Stadick, Illinois	38	113	22	223	0.408
Paige Tapp, Minnesota	39	107	23	208	0.404
Haleigh Nelson, Wisconsin	38	97	20	193	0.399
Maddie Slater, Northwestern	40	87	21	168	0.393
Jazzmine McDonald, Indiana	24	45	10	89	0.393
Taylor Sandbothe, Ohio State	48	149	29	311	0.386
Abby Cole, Michigan	39	118	22	249	0.386
Mikaela Gunderson, Iowa	49	105	19	234	0.368
Aiyana Whitney, Penn State	36	115	30	240	0.354
Danielle Cuttino, Purdue	40	76	22	153	0.353
Mikaela Foecke, Nebraska	39	110	24	252	0.341
Jess Janota, Iowa	49	151	52	300	0.330

(Must have at least 3.33 attacks per set)

Assists	S	No.	Avg./S
Lauren Carlini, Wisconsin	38	448	11.79
Loxley Keala, Iowa	49	570	11.63
Kelly Hunter, Nebraska	39	445	11.41
Taylor Tashima, Northwestern	40	451	11.28
Ashley Evans, Purdue	40	448	11.20
S Seliger-Swenson, Minnesota	38	421	11.08
Jordyn Poulter, Illinois	35	383	10.94
Bryanna Weiskircher, Penn State	36	374	10.39
Megan Tallman, Indiana	42	407	9.69
Anna Sudbury, Rutgers	41	367	8.95
Rachel Minarick, Michigan State	41	357	8.71
Taylor Hughes, Ohio State	37	310	8.38
Makayla Lundin, Indiana	18	142	7.89
Carly Warner, Michigan	42	306	7.29
Emily Ruetter, Ohio State	36	223	6.19

 

Service Aces	S	No.	Avg./S
Brooke Peters, Purdue	40	20	0.50
Brooke Smith, Nebraska	12	6	0.50
Abbie Kraus, Northwestern	40	16	0.40
Holly Toliver, Michigan State	23	9	0.39
Annika Albrecht, Nebraska	39	14	0.36
Megan Tallman, Indiana	42	14	0.33
Amanda Neill, Purdue	40	13	0.33
Bryanna Weiskircher, Penn State	36	12	0.33
Abby Bentz, Maryland	47	15	0.32
Molly Lohman, Minnesota	39	12	0.31
Haleigh Washington, Penn State	36	11	0.31
Taylor Lebo, Indiana	47	14	0.30
Rachel Minarick, Michigan State	41	12	0.29
Taylor Krause, Penn State	21	6	0.29
Dalianliz Rosado, Minnesota	39	11	0.28
Ali Stark, Illinois	40	11	0.28

Haleigh Washington’s 1.58 blocks/set is 6th-best in the NCAA.

Blocks	S	BS	BA	Total	Avg./S
Haleigh Washington, Penn State	36	10	47	57	1.58
Amber Rolfzen, Nebraska	25	3	36	39	1.56
Katie Stadick, Illinois	38	5	48	53	1.39
Danielle Cuttino, Purdue	40	10	45	55	1.38
Paige Tapp, Minnesota	39	9	44	53	1.36
Heidi Thelen, Penn State	36	5	41	46	1.28
Haleigh Nelson, Wisconsin	38	5	43	48	1.26
Megan Tompkins, Michigan State	38	4	43	47	1.24
Gabrielle Hazen, Northwestern	39	8	39	47	1.21
Molly Lohman, Minnesota	39	6	40	46	1.18
Tionna Williams, Wisconsin	34	3	37	40	1.18
Taylor Sandbothe, Ohio State	48	13	41	54	1.13
Ali Bastianelli, Illinois	39	7	36	43	1.10
Abby Cole, Michigan	39	13	30	43	1.10
Alyssa Garvelink, Michigan State	42	6	39	45	1.07