Penn State Womens Volleyball Weekend Recap
No. 13 Penn State's volleyball team exited the weekend 1-1 after two hard fought matches against No. 6 Ohio State and Illinois.
The Nittany Lions kicked off their weekend on the road against Ohio State. The Buckeyes came into the match 7-5 with a 3-1 conference record.
Penn State looked like it was going to be swept by Ohio State after the Buckeyes took a 2-0 lead. In the third and what looked like the final set of the night, Penn State came back from a six point deficit to win its first set.
Both teams traded leads throughout the fourth set but Penn State got hot late, scoring three straight points to tie the match 2-2.
In the fifth and final set of the night, both teams would again trade leads throughout the set. However, this time it would be Ohio State that would get hot late to win the set and shut down Penn State's comeback.
With this 3-2 win over Penn State, Ohio State improved to 8-5 with a 4-1 conference record. Penn State falls to 13-3 with a 2-3 conference record.
The Nittany Lions got a chance to bounce back with a match on Sunday against Illinois. Illinois entered the match with a 8-7 and 3-2 conference record.
Penn State had control of this match from the beginning. The Nittany Lions went back and forth with Illinois in the beginning of each set. The offense went on a ong scoring streaks to take a commanding lead and shut down any attempt of a comeback by Illinois.
Penn State won each seat by three points or more and sweep Illinois 3-0. The Nittany Lions improve to 14-3 with a 3-3 conference record, while Illinois falls to 8-8 and 3-3 conference record.
Takeaways
When Penn State gets on an ace streak this team is dangerous. The serves and blocks that Penn State had were big reasons why they were able to stay in the match against Ohio State and dominate against Illinois.
Freshman Alexa Markely got the comeback train going against Ohio State and had a career day against Illinois. Markely finished with 10 kills against Illinois which is a career high. Markley can become a huge piece for this Penn State team in the second half of the season.
Seleisa Elisaia continues to dominate in the passing game, leading Penn State in both games with 45 assists in the Ohio State match and 35 assists in the Illinois match. Elisaia now has 608 assists on the season and averages 9.97 assists per set.
Penn State hits the road to face Nebraska on Friday at 8:30 p.m. then heads to Iowa on Saturday at 8 p.m.
Micheal Bolger is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email mpb6233@psu.edu.
