So far the Penn State's women's volleyball season can be compared to a roller coaster. And this weekend the ride could be a whole lot tougher unless the Nittany Lions shut down Betsy Spicer of Illinois and Julie Doud of Purdue when both come to Happy Valley.
Penn State returns home after defeating a pair of Big Ten foes on the road last weekend. The Lions defeated Michigan and Michigan State and appear to be right back on track.
Penn State head coach Russ Rose once again was forced to jostle up his starting lineup last weekend after a slow start from a few of his starters one being freshman setter Jessica Hayden.
The freshman, who has played in several of the Lions matches this season, struggled and according Rose looked tight. Her absence allowed sophomore setter Shannon Bortner a chance to regain her starting spot and it worked out as she lead the Lions with 14 digs.
While Bortner kept the ball off the floor for Penn State, Mishka Levy came back to life after a two-week absence and led the Lions with a career high 30 kills against Michigan.
Though no one can expect that type of performance from last season's Freshman of the Year, one can expect Levy to get her number called a lot this weekend. She has been the Lions go-to-player throughout much of the season.
While offense is the key to putting points on the board, defense often wins games and in this case matches, and no one has had a bigger impact in the past few weeks than sophomore middle hitter Robyn Guokas.
Guokas shut down the Wolverines by her presence in the middle. She had a career-high 15 blocks — something the Lions will need to build on if they continue to win.
"I definitely think we will have to block as well as we did," Guokas said. "We have a three-game winning streak and it would be nice to be five and three at the end of the weekend."
One way the Lions can add to their win streak is if they continue to receive the solid play from Guokas and company. And they will need to in order to shutdown Purdue and Illinois this weekend.
Purdue has struggled so far this season but has seen signs of life from Doud who led the team to 29 kills in its loss last weekend to Ohio State.
After Penn State plays the Boilermakers tonight at 7:30 they return to action 7:30 p.m, tomorrow to take on a tough Illinois who is led by Spicer.
Spicer, who has already been named Big Ten Player of the Week this season, will challenge the Lions as she knocked 16 kills in a loss to Ohio State but ended the day in double figures.
"We have watched video on her and talked about what we have to do when were playing against her," Levy said.
Penn State appears to be finding its way back to its traditional style. However nothing is guaranteed and after losing to Northwestern earlier this season no one can be taken lightly.
