As expected, the Penn State Women’s Volleyball team went 2-0 this past weekend, sweeping Illinois (20-25, 25-27, 15-25) and Northwestern (25-20, 25-14, 25-20), but neither match was as easy as some Nittany Lion fans might have expected (or at least hoped for).

The Illini were led by Laura DeBruler’s match-high 18 kills and put in a solid effort overall. Comparing the match to Illinois’ September loss to Penn State in Champaign, head coach Kevin Hambly said “Last time we had a lot to regret, but I don’t think we have a lot to regret tonight. . . . We certainly wish we could have that second set back, but we competed and put ourselves out there this time.” For complete Match Notes from gopsusports, Click Here . For Final Stats, Click Here. For the write-up from fightingillini.com, Click Here .

Northwestern also hung tough, although the Nittany Lions did hold the Wildcats to .083 hitting (Penn State hit .360 for the match). For the Match Notes from gopsusports, Click Here . For Final Stats, Click Here .

The victory tied Penn State with the North Carolina women’s soccer team (1990-1994) for the longest NCAA consecutive team “single score” winning streak (versus “aggregate score” team competitions, like golf, tennis, wrestling, where multiple individual competitions are aggregated to determine the team score). The overall record (single-score and aggregate score) for consecutive wins is held by the Miami (Fla.) men’s tennis team, which won 137 straight from 1957-1964.

We’ll have more on this weekend’s matches later in the week. Below are selected Big Ten team and individual statistical leaders: