Jonni Parker Named Big Ten Player Of The Week

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

Penn State women’s volleyball standout Jonni Parker was named the Big Ten Player of the Week Monday after leading the Nittany Lions to an undefeated weekend at Rec Hall.

Parker, a senior right-side hitter from Casstown, Ohio, is the first Penn State player to be recognized by the conference so far this season. Parker also took home MVP honors of the Penn State Classic following a 35-kill, 22-dig tournament that featured sweeps of Iowa State, Oregon State, and LSU.

Purdue’s Hayley Bush, Nebraska’s Kayla Caffey, Ohio State’s Arica Davis, and Maryland’s Milan Gomillion joined Parker as this week’s Big Ten honorees. It’s the first time Parker has been named the conference’s player of the week during her collegiate career. Kaitlyn Hord was previously the latest Nittany Lion to accomplish the feat following the second week of the 2019 season.

Parker became the 29th player in program history to surpass 1,000 career kills in the first set of Penn State’s sweep of the Cyclones Friday night at Rec Hall. She currently sits at 1,031 kills and is 39 away from passing Zeynep Ton for 27th place on Penn State’s all-time list.

Parker, a three-time AVCA All-American and three-time All-Big Ten selection, has proven herself as one of the nation’s most versatile players and continues to make an impact all over the court for the Nittany Lions in her fourth season on campus. Russ Rose has occasionally experimented with Parker playing setter in some rotations this season when Gabby Blossom gets a rare breather.

Parker and Blossom share the distinction as three-time captains for the Nittany Lions and both clearly bring a vocal presence to the floor as veterans who have seen just about everything the Big Ten and NCAA volleyball has to offer. Their leadership will be especially important this weekend when Penn State travels to Eugene, Oregon, for the always competitive Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge against the Oregon Ducks and Stanford Cardinal.

When asked about her positive takeaways from the Iowa State win, Blossom was quick to acknowledge Parker’s impressive accomplishment, saying with a laugh that she had to restrain herself from exclusively setting Parker until she broke the mark early in the match.

โ€œNumber one, Jonni had her 1,000th kill, which was phenomenal,” Blossom said. “I knew she had four more, and was I about to go four-for-four? Yes, but I didnโ€™t. I held back. I really wanted to. But thatโ€™s freaking incredible. Iโ€™m so happy for her. Obviously, she deserves it. Sheโ€™s great every night, but thatโ€™s huge for any hitter, and Iโ€™m lucky I get to set her.”