Penn State put in a workmanlike performance Wednesday night against a tough Northwestern squad.  In the end, superior talent won out, but not as convincingly as the straight-set box score might indicate.  Granted, the outcome was never really in doubt, but there’s a lot of room for improvement by the Nittany Lions.  One wrinkle that some fans pointed out was 6-1 Fr. OH Simone Lee seemingly playing at RS/Opp at one point, with 6-2 Jr. Megan Courtney joining 6-1 Fr. Ali Frantti at OH.  Stay tuned on that one.

Here’s what the SIDs for Penn State and Northwestern had to say about the match (with Match Stats and updated Season Stats below):

GoPSUsports.com:  Courtney, Whitney Lead No. 5 Women’s Volleyball Past No. 24 Northwestern

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – A pair of double-digit kill performances from redshirt junior Aiyana Whitney and junior Megan Courtney propelled the No. 5 Penn State women’s volleyball team (16-2, 4-1) to a straight set (25-20, 25-17, 25-17) victory against No. 24 Northwestern (13-3, 3-2) Wednesday evening at Rec Hall.

Whitney led the offense with 12 kills on .500 hitting, adding a match-high seven blocks. Courtney tallied 10 kills on .400 hitting, posting eight digs and two blocks. Senior Nia Grant finished third on the team with seven kills on .500 hitting, notching five blocks. Senior Dominique Gonzalez anchored the defense with 10 digs.

Senior Micha Hancock paced the offense to a .340 team hitting clip, dishing out 30 assists while also logging seven digs, three blocks and a match-high four aces.

For the complete release from GoPSUsports.com, Click Here.

 No. 24 Northwestern Falls at No. 5 Penn State (Wildcats hampered by 22 attacking errors in three-set contest)

University Park, Pa. — The defending national champions protected their home floor Wednesday night as No. 5 Penn State downed No. 24 Northwestern at Rec Hall, 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-17). The Wildcats dropped to 13-3 on the season with all three defeats coming against teams ranked 15th or better in the AVCA top 25 coaches poll.

The Wildcats, which came into the night hitting .273 as a team, but they were hampered by 22 attacking errors against the Nittany Lions, including eight that were blocked by the home team.

The first set was a close one, but Penn State’s early blocking effort was too much to overcome. The Nittany Lions notched half of their eight blocks on the night in the first frame as they chiseled out a 25-20 triumph. Northwestern had no answer for PSU’s Megan Courtney in the first set as she buried seven of her 10 kills for the match at that time. On the other side, Maddie Slater and Katie Dutchman teamed up to post three kills apiece, accounting for half of NU’s output in the opening game.

For the complete release from nusports.com, Click Here.

Match Stats (Courtesy GoPSUsports.com)

Updated Season Stats

Attack Leaders (10-8-14)

#	Name	Cl.	SP	MP	MS	K	K/S	E	TA	%
5	Frantti, Ali	1/Fr.	56	18	18	185	3.30	57	402	.318
17	Courtney, Megan	3/Jr.	59	18	18	164	2.78	36	382	.335
7	Grant, Nia	4/Sr.	57	18	18	148	2.60	27	248	.488
14	Whitney, Aiyana	3/RS Jr.	58	18	16	149	2.57	38	288	.385
22	Lee, Simone	1/Fr.	49	16	1	111	2.27	41	289	.242
12	Hancock, Micha	4/Sr.	59	18	18	70	1.19	14	138	.406
	Team	n/a	59	18	18	868	14.71	220	1823	.355
	Opp.	n/a	59	18	18	551	9.34	328	1727	.129

Setting Leaders (10-8-14)

#	Name	Class	SP	MP	MS	A	A/S
12	Hancock, Micha	4/Sr.	59	18	18	666	11.29
4	Gonzalez, Dominique	4/Sr.	59	18	0	52	0.88
17	Courtney, Megan	3/Jr.	59	18	18	36	0.58
33	Fuller, Lacey	4/Sr,	59	18	17	12	0.20
	Team	n/a	59	18	18	785	13.31
	Opp.	n/a	59	18	18	520	8.81

Serving Leaders (10-8-14)

#	Name	Class	SP	MP	MS	SA	SA /S	SE
12	Hancock, Micha	4/Sr.	59	18	18	63	1.07	56
4	Gonzalez, Dominique	4/Sr.	59	18	0	15	0.25	23
5	Frantti, Ali	1/Fr.	56	18	18	10	0.18	19
7	Grant, Nia	4/Sr.	57	18	18	7	0.12	13
17	Courtney, Megan	3/Jr.	59	18	18	7	0.12	8
	Team	n/a	59	18	18	117	1.98	151
	Opp.	n/a	59	18	18	26	0.44	116

Rcpt/Dig Leaders (10-8-14)

#	Name	Cl.	SP	MP	MS	RE	TA	Pct.	Dig	Dig/ Set
4	Gonzalez, Dominique	4/Sr.	59	18	0	5	278	.982	222	3.76
17	Courtney, Megan	3/Jr.	59	18	18	11	291	.962	117	1.98
12	Hancock, Micha	4/Sr.	59	18	18	0	2	1.000	113	1.92
33	Fuller, Lacey	4/Sr.	59	18	17	1	62	.984	97	1.64
5	Frantti, Ali	1/Fr.	56	18	18	5	147	.966	87	1.55
7	Grant, Nia	4/Sr.	57	18	18	0	11	1.000	39	0.68
	Team	n/a	59	18	18	26	857	.970	744	12.61
	Opp.	n/a	59	18	18	117	1284	.909	622	10.54

 

 

 

 

Blocking/Points Leaders (10-8-14)

#	Name	Cl	SP	MP	BS	BA	TB	B/S	BE	BH E	Pts	Pt /S
5	Frantti, Ali	1/Fr.	56	18	3	23	26	0.46	2	2	209.5	3.74
17	Courtney, Megan	3/Jr.	59	18	3	38	41	0.69	1	1	193.0	3.27
7	Grant, Nia	4/Sr.	57	18	8	45	53	0.93	3	0	185.5	3.25
14	Whitney, Aiyana	3/RS Jr.	58	18	3	50	53	0.91	9	0	180.0	3.10
12	Hancock, Micha	4/Sr.	59	18	3	28	31	0.53	4	1	150.0	2.54
22	Lee, Simone	1/Fr.	49	16	3	17	20	0.41	4	0	122.5	2.50
	Team	n/a	59	18	27	210	132.0	2.24	23	5	1117.0	18.93
	Opp.	n/a	59	18	10	142	81.0	1.37	29	14	658.0	11.15