Match Day: Penn State vs. Iowa (National LOI Signing Day)

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Date
(Time)
OppSiteMedia
11-11-15
(8:00 p.m. ET)
Iowa CityNo TV

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Iowa City. At some point.

Ahhh, Iowa City in the Fall.  Actually, it probably isn’t frozen-over in Iowa City right now, but we like the photo.  Frozen or not, #1-ranked Penn State (23-2, 12-2) will visit Iowa (12-15, 2-12) tonight for an 8 p.m. ET match against the Hawkeyes in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  It’s known as a somewhat cavernous venue, which can pose a problem for visiting teams, but don’t let that 2-12 B1G record fool you, regardless of the venue, so can Iowa.

After the Nittany Lions swept the Hawkeyes in Rec Hall on October 3rd in a  match that was closer than the 3-0 score indicated (26-24, 25-16, 25-23), Head Coach Russ Rose had nothing but praise for the Hawkeyes:

Iowa played with great energy, and had they not missed six serves in the last game, we could still be playing right now. . . . Iowa’s a good team.  Iowa, against Nebraska last week, had two deuce games in a three-game match.  So doing that with [Nebraska] and with us — Iowa’s very good.  It’s a new staff, they have a new energy, the kids are playing hard, and the coaches are doing a great job.  They’re going to beat somebody, and I hope it’s not us when we go back to Iowa City.

That’s not just coach-speak: according to Hawkeyesports.com, Iowa has the sixth-toughest strength of schedule in Division I Volleyball — #3 in the B1G.  If the Hawkeyes catch Penn State looking ahead to their next match against some team whose name escapes us (right on the tip of our tongues), which is supposed to be some kind of important test for Penn State, and a real challenge, Iowa could spring a surprise on Penn State.  Can anyone say “Trap Match”?  If Iowa should pull off the upset, it will be their first win after dropping the first 48 contests in a series that started in 1991.

About Iowa

Key players for Iowa include 5-8 So. libero Annika Olsen, who leads the B1G in total digs (460) and digs/set (4.84);  6-1 Jr. setter Loxley Keala, who holds the Iowa record with 5,471 career assists, leads the B1G in total assists this season (1,052) and ranks #5 in the B1G in assists/set (11.07);  6-0 Sr. MB Mikaela Gunderson, who ranks #8 in the B1G in hitting % (.341); 6-0 Fr. RS Reghan Coyle, who started for the first time in her young career in matches last week against Indiana and Purdue, totaling 12 kills, 10 digs and a pair of aces; and 6-3 So. MB Jess Janota, who led Iowa in the Indiana and Purdue matches with 30 kills and a .442 attack percentage.

In Penn State’s first match against the Hawkeyes, 6-2 Sr. OH Megan Courtney registered 12 kills and 13 digs, 6-3 So. MB Haleigh Washington totaled 11 kills, and 6-0 RS Fr. setter Bryanna Weiskircher guided the team to a .330 attack %, with 34 assists and 10 digs.

Big Ten Volleyball Extravaganza

As you can see from the table at the top of this post, the match will be streamed live online via BTN Plus (click the logo, above, for a direct link — it’s a subscription service).  BTN is also trying out what it is calling “The Big Ten Volleyball Extravaganza — similar to the ESPN Whiparound — which will feature live segments from all seven conference matches tonight.  The program will be hosted by BTN’s Mike Wolf  from the BTN studio in Chicago.

Heidi Thelen Speaks Interview on GoPSUsports

We found this video of Penn State’s 6-2 So. MB Heidi Thelen on the B1G site (obviously, our slacker staff missed it on GoPSUsports.com):

 

National Letter of Intent Day

It’s National Letter of Intent day.  Sometimes Penn States issues a press release.  Sometimes they don’t.  We’ll be looking out for one, but we may not provide any updates today — slacker staff nowhere to be found.  In the meantime, here’s a link to our Recruiting Matrix, and to the list of Class of 2016 verbal commitments we’re aware of.

Stat Joust: Penn State and Iowa

(B1G Matches Only)

Hitting Percentage S K E TA Pct.
Penn State 53 709 230 1743 .275
Purdue 52 727 255 1753 .269
Wisconsin 50 694 233 1741 .265
Nebraska 50 697 240 1856 .246
Ohio State 55 732 281 1884 .239
Minnesota 54 738 257 2021 .238
Michigan 53 725 284 1904 .232
Illinois 53 712 297 1906 .218
Michigan State 49 627 276 1647 .213
Northwestern 49 635 288 1747 .199
Iowa 49 613 275 1751 .193
Maryland 50 616 297 1776 .180
Indiana 46 564 305 1609 .161
Rutgers 47 503 299 1616 .126

 

Opp. Hitting Pct. S K E TA Pct.
Nebraska 50 619 306 1870 .167
Minnesota 54 708 357 2082 .169
Wisconsin 50 611 303 1800 .171
Penn State 53 646 328 1837 .173
Illinois 53 708 321 1970 .196
Ohio State 55 691 300 1902 .206
Purdue 52 663 284 1795 .211
Michigan State 49 616 258 1618 .221
Michigan 53 748 275 1933 .245
Northwestern 49 631 228 1622 .248
Iowa 49 684 239 1754 .254
Indiana 46 608 199 1479 .277
Maryland 50 680 222 1640 .279
Rutgers 47 670 197 1629 .290

 

Blocks S BS BA Total Avg./S
Penn State 53 42 235 277 3.0
Nebraska 50 21 250 271 2.9
Minnesota 54 23 259 282 2.8
Illinois 53 19 246 265 2.7
Wisconsin 50 14 242 256 2.7
Ohio State 55 39 198 237 2.5
Michigan State 49 26 178 204 2.3
Purdue 52 33 168 201 2.3
Northwestern 49 40 123 163 2.1
Rutgers 47 11 174 185 2.1
Michigan 53 24 170 194 2.1
Maryland 50 22 152 174 2.0
Indiana 46 11 140 151 1.8
Iowa 49 21 114 135 1.6

 

Blocks by Opponents S BS BA Total Avg./S
Penn State 53 17 159 176 1.8
Purdue 52 14 166 180 1.9
Nebraska 50 26 145 171 2.0
Ohio State 55 22 178 200 2.0
Wisconsin 50 19 167 186 2.1
Minnesota 54 26 188 214 2.2
Illinois 53 22 200 222 2.3
Michigan State 49 40 170 210 2.6
Michigan 53 33 210 243 2.6
Indiana 46 19 202 221 2.6
Maryland 50 21 232 253 2.7
Northwestern 49 25 221 246 2.8
Iowa 49 30 210 240 2.8
Rutgers 47 32 198 230 2.8

 

Service Aces S No. Avg./S
Nebraska 50 64 1.3
Maryland 50 67 1.3
Iowa 49 57 1.2
Indiana 46 50 1.1
Ohio State 55 61 1.1
Minnesota 54 57 1.1
Northwestern 49 54 1.1
Penn State 53 51 1.0
Wisconsin 50 43 0.9
Michigan State 49 44 0.9
Michigan 53 40 0.8
Purdue 52 44 0.8
Rutgers 47 39 0.8
Illinois 53 33 0.6

 

Service Aces by Opponents S No. Avg./S
Nebraska 50 23 0.5
Penn State 53 38 0.7
Illinois 53 40 0.8
Michigan 53 42 0.8
Wisconsin 50 45 0.9
Minnesota 54 46 0.9
Iowa 49 46 0.9
Indiana 46 51 1.1
Ohio State 55 61 1.1
Northwestern 49 53 1.1
Michigan State 49 55 1.1
Maryland 50 59 1.2
Purdue 52 75 1.4
Rutgers 47 67 1.4

 

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

Hitting Percentage S K E TA Pct.
Haleigh Washington, Penn State 53 143 29 269 .424
Haleigh Nelson, Wisconsin 50 122 19 253 .407
Faye Adelaja, Purdue 52 119 30 235 .379
Danielle Cuttino, Purdue 52 122 34 252 .349
Taylor Sandbothe, Ohio State 54 142 33 313 .348
Aiyana Whitney, Penn State 53 163 41 355 .344
Amber Rolfzen, Nebraska 50 123 30 283 .329
Maddie Slater, Northwestern 49 101 30 218 .326
Mikaela Gunderson, Iowa 49 96 28 224 .304
Gabrielle Hazen, Northwestern 34 69 24 148 .304
Tionna Williams, Wisconsin 50 108 36 241 .299
Hannah Tapp, Minnesota 54 136 42 318 .296
Romana Kriskova, Wisconsin 49 117 37 270 .296
Molly Lohman, Minnesota 47 67 21 158 .291
Kadie Rolfzen, Nebraska 50 168 44 430 .288
Alyssa Garvelink, Michigan State 49 102 41 212 .288
Jazzmine McDonald, Indiana 32 62 24 132 .288

(Must have at least 3.33 attacks per set)

 

Service Aces S No. Avg./S
Adreene Elliott, Maryland 50 24 0.5
Bryanna Weiskircher, Penn State 53 19 0.4
Allison Hammond, Indiana 25 10 0.4
Makayla Lundin, Indiana 5 2 0.4
Annika Albrecht, Nebraska 50 17 0.3
Daly Santana, Minnesota 54 17 0.3
Mikaela Foecke, Nebraska 46 16 0.3
Ashley Mariani, Iowa 49 15 0.3
Luisa Schirmer, Ohio State 53 15 0.3
Loxley Keala, Iowa 49 14 0.3
Kelsey Wicinski, Maryland 50 14 0.3
Haleigh Nelson, Wisconsin 50 13 0.3
Lydia Dimke, Purdue 16 4 0.3
Haleigh Washington, Penn State 53 13 0.2
Rachel Minarick, Michigan State 49 12 0.2
Elizabeth Campbell, Ohio State 54 12 0.2
Taylor Sandbothe, Ohio State 54 11 0.2
Amanda Neill, Purdue 52 11 0.2
Kayla Morin, Northwestern 49 11 0.2
Anna Sudbury, Rutgers 47 11 0.2
Holly Toliver, Michigan State 48 11 0.2
Ashley Evans, Purdue 51 10 0.2
Abbie Kraus, Northwestern 46 10 0.2
Dalianliz Rosado, Minnesota 54 9 0.2
Ali Schroeter, Rutgers 47 9 0.2
Taylor Lebo, Indiana 46 9 0.2
Molly Kelly, Iowa 49 9 0.2
Ali Stark, Illinois 53 9 0.2
Taylor Hughes, Ohio State 41 9 0.2
Sarah Wilhite, Minnesota 50 9 0.2
Valeria Leon, Ohio State 55 9 0.2
Paige Tapp, Minnesota 54 9 0.2
Kelly Hunter, Nebraska 50 8 0.2
Julia Conard, Illinois 42 8 0.2
Lauren Carlini, Wisconsin 50 8 0.2
Caroline Niedospial, Northwestern 49 8 0.2
Megan Tallman, Indiana 43 8 0.2
Taylor Morey, Wisconsin 50 8 0.2
Amy Dion, Maryland 50 8 0.2
Ronnie Komisarek, Rutgers 47 8 0.2
Alyssa Klostermann, Iowa 36 7 0.2
Reagan Davey, Iowa 38 6 0.2
Caroline Knop, Michigan 37 6 0.2

 

Blocks S BS BA Total Avg./S
Amber Rolfzen, Nebraska 50 6 74 80 1.6
Ali Bastianelli, Illinois 52 3 71 74 1.4
Haleigh Washington, Penn State 53 14 58 72 1.4
Tionna Williams, Wisconsin 50 4 67 71 1.4
Paige Tapp, Minnesota 54 5 65 70 1.3
Taylor Sandbothe, Ohio State 54 14 52 66 1.2
Haleigh Nelson, Wisconsin 50 6 52 58 1.2
Cecilia Hall, Nebraska 49 6 51 57 1.2
Gabrielle Hazen, Northwestern 34 13 29 42 1.2
Aiyana Whitney, Penn State 53 7 52 59 1.1
Alyssa Garvelink, Michigan State 49 10 44 54 1.1
Molly Lohman, Minnesota 47 3 49 52 1.1
Naya Crittenden, Illinois 41 3 42 45 1.1
Mikaela Matthews, Rutgers 21 1 22 23 1.1
Hannah Tapp, Minnesota 54 4 51 55 1.0
Katie Stadick, Illinois 53 2 50 52 1.0
Danielle Cuttino, Purdue 52 10 41 51 1.0
Faye Adelaja, Purdue 52 8 42 50 1.0
Eden Frazier, Rutgers 47 3 42 45 1.0
Krystalyn Goode, Michigan 40 5 33 38 1.0
Aspen Luedtke, Rutgers 1 0 1 1 1.0
Tori Blake, Wisconsin 1 0 1 1 1.0

 

Digs S No. Avg./S
J Wong-Orantes, Nebraska 50 246 4.9
Annika Olsen, Iowa 49 242 4.9
Brandi Donnelly, Illinois 53 237 4.5
Caroline Niedospial, Northwestern 49 210 4.3
Dalianliz Rosado, Minnesota 54 229 4.2
Taylor Morey, Wisconsin 50 212 4.2
Amanda Neill, Purdue 52 196 3.8
Kelsey Wicinski, Maryland 50 188 3.8
Valeria Leon, Ohio State 55 194 3.5
Ali Schroeter, Rutgers 47 165 3.5
Courtney Harnish, Indiana 46 159 3.5
Abby Monson, Michigan State 49 162 3.3
Keeton Holcomb, Penn State 53 168 3.2
Megan Courtney, Penn State 39 125 3.2
Daly Santana, Minnesota 54 162 3.0