All 20 B1G matches count the same in the standings, but tonight’s match between #4-ranked Nebraska (11-1) and #1-ranked Penn State (13-0) is noteworthy for several reasons.  It will be the 25th meeting in this storied rivalry — this will be the 10^th time they meet with one team ranked #1.  And it arguably is the biggest challenge of the season so far for both teams.

The Huskers are a very, very good team, led on the front row by 6-3 Jr. RS Kadie Rolfzen (who was named last week’s B1G Co-Defensive Player of the Week, after averaging 3.14 digs and 1.57 blocks/set in wins at Creighton and at Iowa State – where she chipped in 17 digs for good measure), 6-3 Jr. MB Amber Rolfzen (who in the Huskers’ match against Iowa on Saturday, had a team-high 11 kills — a .556 hitting % — and added 6 blocks), 6-3 Sr. MB Cecilia Hall, 6-3 Fr. OH Mikaela Foecke (who earned her second-straight B1G Co-Freshman of the Week award last week, after averaging 3.7 kills/set with a .375 hitting %) and 5-11 RS So. Setter Kelly Hunter.

The backrow is once again anchored by 5-6 Jr. libero Justine Wong-Orantes (Is this really only her third year? It seems she been digging balls against Penn State for at least five.)

It’s impressive, but Club Coach, in yesterday’s Q&A, gave the edge to Penn State:

I think the differences are the following: Foecke is a freshman, and all of Penn State’s “big four” are seasoned veterans, even though two are only sophomores.  The other big difference is two of Nebraska’s big guns — Kadie and Amber Rolfzen — are playing totally new positions.  Amber will be playing her 13th game as a middle and Kadie her 5th or 6th as a right side player.  I think the Nittany Lions are probably more settled and comfortable in their positions, which is an advantage.  Although I believe the match-ups between the athletes are pretty even, Penn State’s big four are at an advantage given their familiarity with their roles.

I think PSU will win. One, because I believe they have better and proven talent; second, they are at home; third, because even though Nebraska has more returning players, several are still adjusting to new roles. And lastly PSU has responded incredibly well after matches that were below their compete level  standard. This rivalry has a little edge to it, not in the sense of bad blood, but more mutual respect. PSU wins in four tough games.

We’ll see.  Come to Rec Hall for a great atmosphere and a great match.

Date (Time)	Opp.	Site	Media
10-02-15 (7:00 p.m. ET)		Rec Hall Univ. Park, PA	TV - BTN

Here are some of the other highlights from the series (courtesy of Lionsfan):

• Meetings Between Nebraska and Penn State: 24 (9 of those have been in the NCAA tournament)
• Wins in the Series: Nebraska has won 14, Penn State has won 10
• Matches played in Nebraska: 17Matches played at Penn State: 4
• Matches played on neutral court: 3
• Matches with both teams in the Top 4: 9
• Matches with both teams in the Top 10: 19
• National Titles: Penn State 7, Nebraska 3
• Title Game Appearances: Penn State 10, Nebraska 6
• Final Fours: Penn State 12 (2^nd in NCAA), Nebraska 11 (4^th in NCAA)
• NCAA Tourney Appearances: Penn State 34, Nebraska 33
• All Americans: Nebraska 38 (1st in NCAA), Penn State 30 (3rd in NCAA) (Stanford is second with 31)
• All-American certificates: Nebraska 77 (1st in NCAA), Penn State 65 (3rd in NCAA) (Stanford is second with 73)
• 1st-Team All-American certificates: Nebraska 41 (2^nd in NCAA), Penn State 37 (3^rd in NCAA) (Stanford is first with 49)
• Player of the Year Awards: Penn State 4, Nebraska 3

Stat Joust

B1G Team Stats: 9-28-15

Hitting %	S	K	E	TA	Pct.
Penn State	41	553	148	1268	.319
Nebraska	42	623	190	1472	.294
Illinois	43	611	197	1468	.282
Purdue	44	631	222	1495	.274
Minnesota	44	608	206	1512	.266
Iowa	52	726	255	1777	.265
Michigan State	46	683	262	1646	.256
Wisconsin	43	610	228	1531	.250
Northwestern	43	600	223	1531	.246
Ohio State	53	744	291	1906	.238
Michigan	46	631	237	1710	.230
Indiana	56	735	340	1848	.214
Maryland	54	675	289	1832	.211
Rutgers	49	596	264	1703	.195

• Penn State’s .114 Opponents’ Hitting % ranks 3rd in NCAA D1.  Illinois ranks 8th, Purdue 9th, and Ohio State 16th.

Opp. Hitting %	S	K	E	TA	Pct.
Penn State	41	435	280	1360	.114
Illinois	43	471	273	1496	.132
Purdue	44	478	270	1512	.138
Ohio State	53	564	305	1821	.142
Michigan	46	570	291	1710	.163
Minnesota	44	505	258	1502	.164
Nebraska	42	482	228	1495	.170
Northwestern	43	494	238	1497	.171
Wisconsin	43	508	248	1510	.172
Michigan State	46	521	244	1535	.180
Indiana	56	578	264	1656	.190
Iowa	52	636	274	1763	.205
Maryland	57	694	299	1816	.218
Rutgers	49	685	215	1722	.273

• Penn State’s 3.20 blocks/set ranks 3rd in NCAA D1.  Minnesota ranks 14th and Illinois 15th (based on total blocks).

Blocks	S	BS	BA	Total	Avg./S
Penn State	41	36	190	131.0	3.20
Illinois	43	28	188	122.0	2.84
Minnesota	44	26	198	125.0	2.84
Wisconsin	43	13	193	109.5	2.55
Ohio State	53	39	190	134.0	2.53
Purdue	44	31	158	110.0	2.50
Michigan State	46	18	192	114.0	2.48
Nebraska	42	18	166	101.0	2.40
Maryland	54	37	168	121.0	2.24
Northwestern	43	29	131	94.5	2.20
Michigan	46	25	144	97.0	2.11
Iowa	52	27	148	101.0	1.94
Rutgers	49	13	150	88.0	1.80
Indiana	56	21	159	100.5	1.79

Blocks by Opp.	S	BS	BA	Total	Avg./S
Penn State	41	8	98	57.0	1.39
Purdue	44	5	126	68.0	1.55
Nebraska	42	19	102	70.0	1.67
Rutgers	49	21	152	97.0	1.98
Illinois	43	22	128	86.0	2.00
Minnesota	44	33	110	88.0	2.00
Michigan	46	22	147	95.5	2.08
Northwestern	43	14	151	89.5	2.08
Maryland	57	26	186	119.0	2.09
Michigan State	46	27	139	96.5	2.10
Ohio State	53	23	180	113.0	2.13
Indiana	56	13	216	121.0	2.16
Iowa	52	20	201	120.5	2.32
Wisconsin	43	28	152	104.0	2.42

Service Aces	S	No.	Avg./S
Purdue	44	68	1.55
Indiana	56	83	1.48
Maryland	54	74	1.37
Northwestern	43	58	1.35
Penn State	41	55	1.34
Iowa	52	64	1.23
Minnesota	44	54	1.23
Ohio State	53	59	1.11
Michigan State	46	51	1.11
Rutgers	49	51	1.04
Illinois	43	40	0.93
Nebraska	42	37	0.88
Michigan	46	38	0.83
Wisconsin	43	28	0.65

Service Aces by Opp.	S	No.	Avg./S
Illinois	43	21	0.49
Indiana	56	41	0.73
Maryland	57	43	0.75
Penn State	41	31	0.76
Minnesota	44	35	0.80
Nebraska	42	36	0.86
Michigan	46	40	0.87
Wisconsin	43	38	0.88
Ohio State	53	47	0.89
Northwestern	43	39	0.91
Iowa	52	48	0.92
Michigan State	46	43	0.93
Purdue	44	47	1.07
Rutgers	49	69	1.41

B1G Individual Stats

(Must have competed in at least 50% of team’s sets)

• Haleigh Washington’s .527 hitting % leads NCAA D1.

(Must have at least 3.33 attacks per set)

Hitting %	S	K	E	TA	Pct.
Haleigh Washington, Penn State	41	113	15	186	0.527
Meghan Haggerty, Nebraska	19	37	7	66	0.455
Faye Adelaja, Purdue	33	76	17	138	0.428
Katie Stadick, Illinois	41	125	24	245	0.412
Maddie Slater, Northwestern	43	94	21	177	0.412
Abby Cole, Michigan	43	132	22	271	0.406
Taylor Sandbothe, Ohio State	53	169	32	347	0.395
Haleigh Nelson, Wisconsin	43	108	23	220	0.386
Paige Tapp, Minnesota	44	121	29	239	0.385
Mikaela Gunderson, Iowa	52	112	19	248	0.375
Jazzmine McDonald, Indiana	27	50	12	104	0.365
Danielle Cuttino, Purdue	44	83	24	169	0.349
Mikaela Foecke, Nebraska	42	118	28	271	0.332
Cecilia Hall, Nebraska	39	80	29	155	0.329
Aiyana Whitney, Penn State	41	128	37	281	0.324

 

• Haleigh Washington ranks 8th in NCAA D1 blocks/set, with Paige Tapp ranked 21st.  (For some reason, Amber Rolfzen isn’t ranked — although it looks as though she played in enough sets to qualify.  Then again, the NCAA on occasion seemingly marches to the beat of a different drummer.  Why not a different statistician?)

Blocks	S	BS	BA	Total	Avg./S
Amber Rolfzen, Nebraska	28	3	42	45	1.61
Haleigh Washington, Penn State	41	12	50	62	1.51
Paige Tapp, Minnesota	44	10	52	62	1.41
Katie Stadick, Illinois	41	5	51	56	1.37
Danielle Cuttino, Purdue	44	11	47	58	1.32
Abby Cole, Michigan	43	14	39	53	1.23
Heidi Thelen, Penn State	41	6	44	50	1.22
Megan Tompkins, Michigan State	42	4	47	51	1.21
Haleigh Nelson, Wisconsin	43	6	45	51	1.19
Gabrielle Hazen, Northwestern	42	8	42	50	1.19
Taylor Sandbothe, Ohio State	53	16	46	62	1.17
Ali Bastianelli, Illinois	42	8	41	49	1.17
Molly Lohman, Minnesota	41	7	40	47	1.15
Tionna Williams, Wisconsin	39	3	42	45	1.15
Awele Nwaeze, Indiana	42	9	36	45	1.07

• Brooke Smith hasn’t played in enough of Nebraska’s sets to qualify for NCAA D1 ranking.  Brooke Peters’ ranks 33rd.

Service Aces	S	No.	Avg./S
Brooke Smith, Nebraska	12	6	0.50
Brooke Peters, Purdue	44	20	0.45
Abbie Kraus, Northwestern	43	19	0.44
Bryanna Weiskircher, Penn State	41	14	0.34
Annika Albrecht, Nebraska	42	14	0.33
Holly Toliver, Michigan State	27	9	0.33
Abby Bentz, Maryland	50	16	0.32
Megan Tallman, Indiana	44	14	0.32
Haleigh Washington, Penn State	41	13	0.32
Rachel Minarick, Michigan State	45	14	0.31
Amy Dion, Maryland	54	16	0.30
Daly Santana, Minnesota	44	13	0.30
Amanda Neill, Purdue	44	13	0.30
Molly Lohman, Minnesota	41	12	0.29
Makayla Lundin, Indiana	21	6	0.29

• Caroline Niedospial’s 5.00 digs/set ranks 31st in NCAA D1.

Digs	S	No.	Avg./S
Caroline Niedospial, Northwestern	43	215	5.00
Valeria Leon, Ohio State	53	254	4.79
Annika Olsen, Iowa	52	245	4.71
Taylor Morey, Wisconsin	43	198	4.60
Brandi Donnelly, Illinois	43	196	4.56
Dalianliz Rosado, Minnesota	44	186	4.23
Amy Dion, Maryland	54	228	4.22
Amanda Neill, Purdue	44	180	4.09
Justine Wong-Orantes, Nebraska	42	171	4.07
Tiffany Morales, Michigan	44	165	3.75
Keeton Holcomb, Penn State	40	140	3.50
Abby Monson, Michigan State	46	157	3.41
Ali Schroeter, Rutgers	49	164	3.35
Kristen Muir, Michigan State	46	149	3.24
Courtney Harnish, Indiana