What: Penn State vs. Northwestern

When: Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. ET

Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena, Evanston, Illinois

Purple Phase

Tonight, the Penn State women’s volleyball team takes on Northwestern University in Evanston.  It’s a Purple Out, according to Northwestern’s press release.  We are agnostics when it comes to fashion.

Following last night’s 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 28-26) loss to Illinois, the Nittany Lions are  18-7 overall record (11-4 in the Big Ten).  Earlier this season, the Wildcats nearly pulled off an upset in Rec Hall, pushing the then-No. 8 Nittany Lions to five sets.  Against Illinois, Penn State had its moments (a 6-2 lead at the start of the first set), but any way you slice it, they were swept by a very talented Illinois team.  Freshman Micha Hancock led the team with three service aces, but had five service errors. Deja McClendon had 17 kills and hit .350, so she seems to be officially out of her “slump,” but Ariel Scott only hit .057 in registering 7 kills (she did have 11 digs). Ali Longo’s 17 digs led the team (the Penn State recap said she led the team with 17 kills, which certainly caught our attention).  Penn State hit .248 for the match — not far off its season average — but Illinois hit an eye-popping .340.

Meanwhile, Northwestern will be coming off a dramatic, emotional 3-2 win over Ohio State (25-22, 21-25, 25-22, 27-27, 15-13).  Here’s what Northwestern press release had to say after the match:

The best of the dramatics were saved for the final set. As Caroline Niedospial (Chicago, Ill./Marist) raised her right arm to launch a serve for match point with her team leading, 14-13, Welsh-Ryan Arena completely went dark. The lights had momentarily gone out after a power outage in the Evanston area and the teams were forced to sit through a lengthy delay. When play resumed, the freshman calmly raised her arm yet again and this time delivered a match-winning ace for the Wildcats.  . . . Niedospial was not the only hero on the night for Northwestern. The Wildcats got monster efforts from Julie Chin (Naperville, Ill./North), who had a career-high 29 digs, and from Holthus, who led all players with 25 kills, one shy of her own career best and from Hannah Crippen (Plainfield, Ill./North) who tallied a personal-best 14 kills and achieved a hitting percentage of .323 (14-4-31).

Northwestern will be on an uber emotional high after that win.  If Penn State can’t regroup and focus, it could be a very tough, very short night for the Nittany Lions.

Stat Joust

We’ve included statistics for both teams in our Stat Joust section, below, comparing there statistics and rankings for  Big Ten matches only (prior to last night’s matches).  What is striking from these statistics, is how close Penn State and Northwestern are in several of the statistical categories. There’s a big disparity in team hitting percentage, but in opponent hitting percentage, the two teams are wedged right together at #4, and #5, as they are in blocking (#2 and #4) and service aces (#1 and #3). If both teams ring up statistics like that, it will be a great defensive battle.  Scroll down and take a look.

As for individual  performances, Katie Slay is second in the Big Ten with a .346 attack % (Big Ten matches only), Ariel Scott is 4th with 4.15 kills/set, and Micha Hancock leads the league with .84 service aces/set.  Northwestern’s super-frosh Katie Dutchman leads Katie Slay in blocks/set — 1.56 to 1.51.  6-2 Fr. MB Nia Grant is 9th with 1.06 blocks/set. In the back row, Northwestern’s Julie Chin is 6th with 4.25 digs/set.  Penn State’s 5-6 So. L Ali Longo is 10th with 3.75 digs/set.

Team Stats – Big Ten Only

 

HITTING PERCENTAGE		S	K	E	TA	Pct.
1.	Nebraska	54	727	241	1844	.264
3.	Penn State	55	749	280	1958	.240
6	Illinois	55	691	285	1965	.207
10.	Northwestern	52	607	288	1902	.168

 

Opponent Hitting Pct.		S	K	E	TA	Pct.
1.	Nebraska	54	651	357	1941	.151
3.	Illinois	55	703	364	2057	.165
4.	Northwestern	52	671	331	1931	.176
5.	Penn State	55	658	306	1925	.183

 

ASSISTS		S	No.	Avg/S
1.	Ohio State	53	690	13.02
4.	Penn State	55	693	12.60
9.	Illinois	55	652	11.85
10.	Northwestern	52	551	10.60

 

KILLS		S	No.	Avg/S
1.	Ohio State	53	732	13.81
3.	Penn State	55	749	13.62
9.	Illinois	55	691	12.56
10.	Northwestern	52	607	11.67

 

BLOCKS		S	BS	BA	Total	Avg/S
1.	Purdue	54	37	239	156.5	2.90
2.	Northwestern	52	20	260	150.0	2.88
3.	Illinois	55	17	279	156.5	2.85
4.	Penn State	55	35	241	155.5	2.83

 

SERVICE ACES		S	No.	Avg/S
1.	Penn State	55	88	1.60
2.	Illinois	55	66	1.20
3.	Northwestern	52	60	1.15

 

DIGS		S	No.	Avg/S
1.	Purdue	54	868	16.07
5.	Illinois	55	845	15.36
6.	Northwestern	52	792	15.23
10.	Penn State	55	818	14.87

Individual Stats – Big Ten Only

The statistics speak for themselves, though we’d like to point out the obvious: Micha Hancock, Katie Dutchman, Anna Dorn, and Nia Grant are very talented freshmen.

Hitting % (Min. 3.0 TA/set)		Cl	S	K	E	TA	Pct.
1.	Fisher, Tiffany-Purdue	SR	54	122	26	240	.400
2.	Slay, Katie-Penn State	SO	55	115	34	234	.346

 

KILLS		Cl	S	No.	Avg/S
1.	Turner, Ariel-Purdue	JR	54	277	5.13
4.	Scott, Ariel-Penn State	SO	55	228	4.15
5.	Ward, Colleen-Illinois	SR	55	208	3.78
6.	Bartsch, Michelle-Illinois	SR	55	201	3.65
10.	Holthus, Stephanie-Northwestern	SO	52	173	3.33

 

ASSISTS		Cl	S	No.	Avg/S
1.	Tabberson, Mia-Minnesota	JR	37	432	11.68
5.	Hancock, Micha-Penn State	FR	55	576	10.47
6.	Luhrsen, Annie-Illinois	JR	55	560	10.18
7.	Shalter, Madalyn-Northwestern	JR	47	447	9.51

 

SERVICE ACES		Cl	S	No.	Avg/S
1.	Hancock, Micha-Penn State	FR	55	46	0.84
3.	Bartsch, Michelle-Illinois	SR	55	19	0.35
8.	Dutchman, Katie-Northwestern	FR	52	15	0.29
9.	Shalter, Madalyn-Northwestern	JR	47	13	0.28

 

BLOCKS		Cl	S	BS	BA	Total	Avg/S
1.	Dutchman, Katie-Northwestern	FR	52	7	74	81.0	1.56
2.	Slay, Katie-Penn State	SO	55	15	68	83.0	1.51
3.	Dorn, Anna-Illinois	FR	55	3	76	79.0	1.44
5.	Chrystal, Kathryn-Northwestern	JR	52	7	56	63.0	1.21
7.	Johnson, Erin-Illinois	JR	55	3	62	65.0	1.18
9.	Grant, Nia-Penn State	FR	54	8	49	57.0	1.06

 

DIGS		Cl	S	No.	Avg/S
1.	Moster, Kori-Michigan State	FR	56	263	4.70
5.	Beltran, Jennifer-Illinois	SO	55	239	4.35
6.	Chin, Julie-Northwestern	JR	52	221	4.25
10.	Longo, Ali-Penn State	SO	55	206	3.75

 

POINTS		Cl	S	K	SA	BS	BA	Total	Avg/S
1.	Turner, Ariel-Purdue	JR	54	277	6	9	31	307.5	5.69
4.	Scott, Ariel-Penn State	SO	55	228	2	2	47	255.5	4.65
5.	Bartsch, Michelle-Illinois	SR	55	201	19	5	23	236.5	4.30
6.	Ward, Colleen-Illinois	SR	55	208	10	2	27	233.5	4.25

Penn State Stats

Attack Leaders - 2011

#	Name	Cl	SP	MP	MS	K	K/S	E	TA	Pct.
18	McClendon, Deja	So.	122	33	33	432	3.54	144	1090	.264
1	Scott, Ariel	So.	118	33	31	418	3.54	136	1083	.260
16	Slay, Katie	So.	122	33	33	257	2.11	63	502	.386
14	Whitney, Aiyana	Fr.	65	24	0	113	1.74	51	320	.194
6	Martin, Maddie	So.	98	33	24	141	1.44	60	410	.198
7	Grant, Nia	Fr.	117	32	32	151	1.29	44	309	.346
12	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	110	0.91	34	246	.309
	Team	n/a	122	33	33	1676	13.74	564	4159	.267
	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	1377	11.29	684	4077	.170

Set/Serve Leaders - 2011

#	Name	Cl	SP	MP	MS	Ast	A/S	SA	SA /S	SE
12	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	1275	10.54	91	0.75	76
23	Longo, Ali	So.	117	33	0	90	0.77	32	0.27	30
5	Carpenter, Kristin	Jr.	100	33	4	76	0.76	14	0.14	37
4	Gonzalez, Dominique	Fr.	84	29	6	19	0.23	8	0.10	21
33	Fuller, Lacey	Fr.	67	30	0	4	0.06	7	0.10	6
n/a	Team	n/a	122	33	33	1549	12.70	209	1.71	288
n/a	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	1293	10.60	113	0.93	202

Recept/Dig Leaders - 2011

#	Name	Class	SP	MP	MS	RE	Dig	Dig/Set
23	Longo, Ali	So.	117	33	0	19	397	3.39
12	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	4	279	2.31
18	McClendon, Deja	So.	122	33	33	22	245	2.01
5	Carpenter, Kristin	Jr.	100	33	4	12	182	1.82
6	Martin, Maddie	So.	98	33	24	21	156	1.59
4	Gonzalez, Dominique	Fr.	84	29	6	10	123	1.46
33	Fuller, Lacey	Fr.	67	30	0	13	59	0.88
	Team	n/a	122	33	33	113	1729	14.17
	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	209	1671	13.70

Blocking Leaders - 2011

#	Name	Cl	SP	MP	MS	BS	BA	TB	B/S	BE	BHE
16	Slay, Katie	So.	122	33	33	27	146	173	1.42	11	3
7	Grant, Nia	Fr.	117	32	32	13	94	107	0.91	4	0
1	Scott, Ariel	So.	118	33	31	5	81	86	0.73	2	1
18	McClendon, Deja	So.	122	33	33	13	48	61	0.50	6	3
12	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	5	54	59	0.49	9	19
	Team	n/a	122	33	33	76	503	327.5	2.68	40	31
	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	51	341	221.5	1.82	69	39