Not a bad starting seven for the Nittany Lions

Penn State @ Northwestern

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where: Evansville, IL, (Welsh-Ryan Arena)

When: Sunday — 10-20-13 (2:00 p.m. ET)

Media: Online Stream – Big Ten Digital Network; CBSsports.com’s GameTracker

The Buzz on Northwestern: The Northwestern Wildcats (12-7, 4-3 in the B1G), have won three consecutive matches, and are fresh off of two victories against ranked opponents – a 3-2 win over #20 Purdue on October 12th in West Lafayette (13-25, 25-23, 29-27, 21-25, 21-19) , and a 3-1 win over #17 Ohio State (25-20, 22-25, 25-19, 25-23), in Evanston on Wednesday night.

In the Purdue win, 5-11 Sr. OH Stephanie Holthus and 6-0 RS Jr. RS/Opp Katie Dutchman each had 23 kills. Against Ohio State, 6-2 Fr. RS/OH Kayla Morin came up big, registering a career-high 17 kills and adding 10 digs. 5-7 So. libero Caroline Niedospial led Northwestern with 20 digs.

The Buzz on Penn State: After its five-set win over Illinois Friday night (19 -25, 25-22, 24-26, 25-15, 15-12) – a result that was far from certain after they dropped the first set (having trailed 13-22) and won the second set after trailing by 7-15 — the Nittany Lions (15-2, 6-1 in the B1G), are tied with Michigan State for first place in the B1G.

Of all the statistics that were generated in the match, two that Coach Rose undoubtedly focused on intently were Penn State’s 21 attack errors and 16 service errors.  Those are the kind of stats that can lead to five-set upsets.  And almost did.  On the bright side, Penn State outhit the Illini .269 to .211.  6-1 Sr. OH Deja McClendon led the offense with 14 kills (but hit .194),with 10 digs.  6-6 Sr. MH Katie Slay had 12 kills (.308 attack %), as did 6-4 Sr. RS/Opp Ariel Scott (.229 attack %).  6-2 Jr. MH Nia Grant, who didn’t start, appeared highly-focused when she finally entered the match, racking up 10 kills and leading the team with six blocks.  5-6 Jr. libero Dominique Gonzalez led the team with 13 digs.  Still, the Nittany Lions are coming off two solid performances last week, having defeated then- #11 Minnesota 3-2 and then-#19 Wisconsin 3-0 (a match that was closer than that result would suggest).

Club Coach’s Take: Northwestern does not appear to be a group that is intimidated.  The Wildcats are getting good balance offensively and are playing great defense.  As this is a match they are not supposed to win, they are playing on house money, and can go for broke. I think they will stress PSU and make them earn a tough win.

The challenges for PSU are the challenges for everyone: being able to hit the re-set button after a tough Friday match, and to sustain the right energy level and focus.  I love the heart Northwestern is showing, but a horse is a horse and I think the Lions sweep at Northwestern.

Team Statistics

 

Penn State Statistics (as of 10-18-13)

Attack Leaders - 2013 (Final)

#	Name	Cl	SP	MP	MS	K	K/S	AE	TA	%
1	Scott, Ariel	4/Sr.	115	35	31	383	3.33	103	971	.288
18	McClendon, Deja	4/Sr.	126	36	36	378	3.00	117	953	.274
17	Courtney, Megan	2/So.	120	35	34	297	2.47	96	740	.272
16	Slay, Katie	4/Sr.	127	36	36	274	2.16	54	531	.414
7	Grant, Nia	3/Jr.	118	35	33	208	1.76	64	411	.350
12	Hancock, Micha	3/Jr.	127	36	36	129	1.02	36	281	.331
	Team	n/a	127	36	36	1814	14.28	523	4231	.305
	Opponents	n/a	127	36	36	1367	10.76	776	4270	.138

Setting Leaders - 2013 (Final)

#	Name	Class	SP	MP	MS	Asst	Asst/ Set	TA	Pct.
12	Hancock, Micha	3/Jr.	127	36	36	1425	11.22	2999	.475
7	Grant, Nia	3/Jr.	118	35	33	10	0.08	47	.213
4	Gonzalez, Dominique	3/Jr.	127	36	0	91	0.72	339	.268
33	Fuller, Lacey	3/Jr.	118	36	0	9	0.08	50	.180
3	Pierce, Kendall	2/So.	83	34	0	1	0.01	5	.200
n/a	Team	n/a	127	36	36	1669	13.14	4030	.414
n/a	Opponents	n/a	127	36	36	1296	10.20	4233	.306

Recept/Dig Leaders - 2013 (Final)

#	Name	Class	SP	MP	MS	RE	Rcpt TA	Rcpt Pct.	Digs	Digs /S
4	Gonzalez, Dominique	3/Jr.	127	36	0	--	571	.991	416	3.28
18	McClendon, Deja	4/Sr.	126	36	36	--	857	.981	363	2.88
17	Courtney, Megan	2/So.	120	35	34	--	466	.970	301	2.51
12	Hancock, Micha	3/Jr.	127	36	36	--	6	.667	289	2.28
33	Fuller, Lacey	3/Jr.	118	36	0	--	27	1.000	141	1.19
	Penn State Total	n/a	127	36	36	49	2061	.976	1809	14.24
	Opponents	n/a	127	36	36	166	2736	.939	1632	12.85

Blocking and Points Leaders - 2013 (Final)

#	Name	Cl	SP	MP	MS	BS	BA	TB	B/S	BE	Pts	Pts /S
1	Scott, Ariel	4/Sr.	115	35	31	3	91	94	0.82	9	432.5	3.76
18	McClendon, Deja	4/Sr.	126	36	36	22	55	77	0.61	6	438.5	3.48
16	Slay, Katie	4/Sr.	127	36	36	30	177	207	1.63	19	392.5	3.09
17	Courtney, Megan	2/So.	120	35	34	28	59	87	0.73	14	355.5	2.96
7	Grant, Nia	3/Jr.	118	35	33	12	85	97	0.82	12	285.5	2.42
12	Hancock, Micha	3/Jr.	127	36	36	5	69	74	0.58	8	250.5	1.97
	Penn State	n/a	127	36	36	107	561	387.5	3.05	71	2367.5	18.64
	Opponents	n/a	127	36	36	38	369	222.5	1.75	66	1638.5	12.90

Northwestern Statistics

				ATTACK					SET		SERVE
##	Player	SP	MP-MS	K	K/Set	E	TA	Pct	A	A/Set	SA	SA/Set	SE
1	Holthus, Stephanie	73	19-19	293	4.01	113	806	.223	7	0.10	14	0.19	12
15	Morin, Kayla	73	19-19	167	2.29	60	541	.198	6	0.08	10	0.14	31
16	Paffen, Savannah	73	19-19	131	1.79	56	314	.239	9	0.12	10	0.14	11
14	Dutchman, Katie	53	14-14	158	2.98	53	383	.274	2	0.04	1	0.02	0
79	Akanbi, Yewande	32	12-0	73	2.28	32	193	.212	0	0.00	0	0.00	0
12	McGreal, Monica	58	17-4	57	0.98	20	134	.276	11	0.19	9	0.16	25
4	Burnham, Maggie	35	12-8	41	1.17	10	68	.456	0	0.00	0	0.00	1
11	Slater, Maddie	47	14-11	20	0.43	12	64	.125	3	0.06	0	0.00	0
6	Ryan, Caleigh	66	18-17	9	0.14	3	38	.158	754	11.42	4	0.06	10
5	Niedospial, Caroline	73	19-0	1	0.01	1	4	.000	33	0.45	17	0.23	21
13	Kraus, Abbie	54	17-0	1	0.02	0	1	1.000	1	0.02	13	0.24	22
7	Crippen, Hannah	7	2-2	1	0.14	0	6	.167	64	9.14	1	0.14	4
10	Strobos, Rafae	3	2-1	2	0.67	0	3	.667	0	0.00	0	0.00	0
	NORTHWESTERN……..	73	19-19	954	13.07	360	2555	.232	890	12.19	79	1.08	137
	Opponents………..	73	19-19	924	12.66	399	2575	.204	872	11.95	65	0.89	144

				DIG		BLOCKING						POINTS
##	Player	SP	RE	Dig	Dig/Set	BS	BA	Total	Blk/Set	BE	BHE	Points	Pts/Set
1	Holthus, Stephanie	73	–	208	2.85	4	29	33	0.45	6	1	325.5	4.46
15	Morin, Kayla	73	–	176	2.41	4	13	17	0.23	6	1	187.5	2.57
16	Paffen, Savannah	73	–	40	0.55	8	58	66	0.90	8	1	178.0	2.44
14	Dutchman, Katie	53	–	17	0.32	4	21	25	0.47	3	0	173.5	3.27
79	Akanbi, Yewande	32	–	9	0.28	1	13	14	0.44	1	0	80.5	2.52
12	McGreal, Monica	58	–	106	1.83	0	8	8	0.14	0	1	70.0	1.21
4	Burnham, Maggie	35	–	1	0.03	2	23	25	0.71	0	0	54.5	1.56
11	Slater, Maddie	47	–	7	0.15	5	31	36	0.77	6	0	40.5	0.86
6	Ryan, Caleigh	66	–	140	2.12	0	30	30	0.45	2	17	28.0	0.42
5	Niedospial, Caroline	73	–	307	4.21	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	18.0	0.25
13	Kraus, Abbie	54	–	52	0.96	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	14.0	0.26
7	Crippen, Hannah	7	–	10	1.43	0	1	1	0.14	0	8	2.5	0.36
10	Strobos, Rafae	3	–	1	0.33	0	0	0	0.00	0	0	2.0	0.67
	TEAM		8
	NORTHWESTERN……..	73	65	1074	14.71	28	227	141.5	1.94	32	29	1174.5	16.09
	Opponents………..	73	79	1051	14.40	27	269	161.5	2.21	26	16	1150.5	15.76