[youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jk0dBZ1meio’]

There’s the optimistic outlook (see Beatles video above, “It’s Getting Better all the Time”), and there’s the pessimistic outlook (see Sign-Carrying Blue Guy, above the optimistic Beatles video).

When it comes to the 2012 Penn State Women’s Volleyball team, we trend towards the Beatles — the stats make it pretty clear, things are better in 2012 than they were in 2011.  But that Sign-Carrying Blue Guy does have a point: can the Nittany Lions continue to improve, and carry that improvement through the crucible of the NCAA Tournament?

Who knows.  But take a look at the comparison of performances from 2011 to 2012.  You’ve got to admit, its getting better.

[Editor’s Note: Our crack team of statisticians and researchers have let it be known that they consider proofreading to be outside the scope of their collective bargaining agreement (i.e. we pretend to pay them; they pretend to work).  So undoubtedly there are errors in these tables.  Please let us know if you find any.]

Attack Leaders - 2012 vs. 2011 (as of 11-10-12)

Year	Name	Class	Sets Played	Matches Played	Matches Started	Kills	Kills/Set	Attack Errors	Total Attacks	Hitting Pct.
2012	Scott, Ariel	Jr.	95	27	26	346	3.64	103	851	.286
2011	Scott, Ariel	So.	118	33	31	418	3.54	136	1083	.260
2012	McClendon, Deja	Jr.	94	27	27	307	3.27	97	852	.246
2011	McClendon, Deja	So.	122	33	33	432	3.54	144	1090	.264
2012	Slay, Katie	Jr.	92	26	22	224	2.43	45	414	.432
2011	Slay, Katie	So.	122	33	33	257	2.11	63	502	.386
2012	Courtney, Megan	Fr.	90	27	26	182	2.02	71	485	.229
2011	Martin, Maddie	So.	98	33	24	141	1.44	60	410	.198
2012	Grant, Nia	So.	94	27	27	160	1.70	42	311	.379
2011	Grant, Nia	Fr.	117	32	32	151	1.29	44	309	.346
2012	Hancock, Micha	So.	95	27	27	104	1.09	25	197	.389
2011	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	110	0.91	34	246	.309
2012	Team	n/a	95	27	27	1384	14.57	408	3275	.298
2011	Team	n/a	122	33	33	1676	13.74	564	4159	.267
2012	Opponents	n/a	95	27	27	1022	10.76	581	3242	.136
2011	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	1377	11.29	684	4077	.170

Set/Serve Leaders - 2012 vs. 2011 (as of 11-10-12)

Year	Name	Class	Sets Played	Matches Played	Matches Started	Assists	Assists /Set	Service Aces	Service Aces/Set	Service Errors
2012	Hancock, Micha	So.	95	27	27	1090	11.47	53	0.56	95
2011	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	33	1275	10.54	91	0.75	76
2012	Gonzalez, Dominique	So.	95	27	0	74	0.78	19	0.20	21
2011	Longo, Ali	So.	117	33	0	90	0.77	32	0.27	30
2012	Courtney, Megan	Fr.	90	27	26	24	0.27	8	0.09	28
2011	Carpenter, Kristin	Jr.	100	33	4	76	0.76	14	0.14	37
2012	Fuller, Lacey	So.	92	27	1	12	0.13	12	0.13	13
2011	Gonzalez, Dominique	Fr.	84	29	6	19	0.23	8	0.10	21
2012	Team	n/a	95	27	27	1268	13.35	135	1.42	241
2011	Team	n/a	122	33	33	1549	12.70	209	1.71	288
2012	Opponents	n/a	95	27	27	977	10.28	75	0.79	156
2011	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	1293	10.60	113	0.93	202

Recept/Dig Leaders - 2012 vs. 2011 (as of 11-10-12)

Year	Name	Class	SP	MP	MS	RE	Dig	Dig/S
2012	Gonzalez, Dominique	So.	95	27	0	15	349	3.67
2011	Longo, Ali	So.	117	33	0	19	397	3.39
2012	McClendon, Deja	Jr.	94	27	27	26	266	2.83
2011	McClendon, Deja	So.	122	33	33	22	245	2.01
2012	Hancock, Micha	So.	95	27	27	0	226	2.38
2011	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	4	279	2.31
2012	Courtney, Megan	Fr.	90	27	26	19	173	1.92
2011	Martin, Maddie	So.	98	33	24	21	156	1.59
2012	Fuller, Lacey	So.	92	27	1	2	142	1.54
2011	Carpenter, Kristin	Jr.	100	33	4	12	182	1.82
2012	Team	n/a	95	27	27	75	1401	14.75
2011	Team	n/a	122	33	33	113	1729	14.17
2012	Opponents	n/a	95	27	27	135	1278	13.45
2011	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	209	1671	13.70

Blocking and Points Leaders - 2012 vs. 2011 (as of 11-10-12)

Year	Name	Class	SP	MP	MS	Block Solo	Block Assist	Total	Blocks /Set	Blocking Errors	Points	Points /Set
2012	Scott, Ariel	Jr.	95	27	26	11	63	74	0.78	3	391.5	4.12
2011	Scott, Ariel	So.	118	33	31	5	81	86	0.73	2	471.5	4.00
2012	McClendon, Deja	Jr.	94	27	27	13	39	52	0.55	5	349.5	3.72
2011	McClendon, Deja	So.	122	33	33	13	48	61	0.50	6	482.0	3.95
2012	Slay, Katie	Jr.	92	26	22	12	113	125	1.36	8	292.5	3.18
2011	Slay, Katie	So.	122	33	33	27	146	173	1.42	11	359.0	2.94
2012	Courtney, Megan	Fr.	90	27	26	21	51	72	0.80	8	236.5	2.63
2011	Martin, Maddie	So.	98	33	24	5	34	39	0.40	2	180.0	1.84
2012	Grant, Nia	So.	94	27	27	4	86	90	0.96	10	207.0	2.20
2011	Grant, Nia	Fr.	117	32	32	13	94	107	0.91	4	224.0	1.91
2012	Hancock, Micha	So.	95	27	27	6	60	66	0.69	4	193.0	2.03
2011	Hancock, Micha	Fr.	121	33	32	5	54	59	0.49	9	233.0	1.93
2012	Team	n/a	95	27	27	67	427	280.5	2.95	41	1799.5	18.94
2011	Team	n/a	122	33	33	76	503	327.5	2.68	40	n/a	n/a
2012	Opponents	n/a	95	27	27	37	277	175.5	1.85	38	1272.5	13.39
2011	Opponents	n/a	122	33	33	51	341	221.5	1.82	69	n/a	n/a