Volleyball: Women's

Every Wednesday we'll take a look at whose stock on the Penn State women's
volleyball team is rising, falling, or flat. Here goes:

Ariel Scott - Rising: Scott has had inconsistent
performances throughout the season so far, but ended her weekend with a strong
showing against Florida Gulf Coast, hitting .419 with 17 kills. Scott also had
72 attacks over the weekend, which led her team by 19 over Deja McClendon.
Coach Russ Rose obviously has enough confidence in the sophomore to keep giving
her attacks, and we'll see if she can justify that confidence against strong
teams like No. 10 Nebraska tonight.

Katie Slay - Rising: Slay has continued her
consistent play, hitting. 357, .769 and .571 against Long Island, Rutgers and
Florida Gulf Coast over the weekend. Slay has improved her hitting percentage
to .428, leading the Big Ten, and also is fourth in the Big Ten in blocks, with
49 (1.32 per set). Tonight's match against Nebraska will begin to tell if Slay
can continue her strong run of performances against bigger and more physical
teams, but Slay looks to be one of the most important Nittany Lions.

Ali Longo - Rising: Longo seized the starting libero
role from junior Kristin Carpenter after the first set against Long Island on
Friday and hasn't let go. Longo played solidly all weekend after winning the
job, and it appears it's hers to lose. If Longo can continue to play well
against top Big Ten opposition, she may lock down the job for the rest of the
season.

Kristin Carpenter - Falling: Carpenter, one of the
team's most experienced players, lost her job at libero after playing poorly
against Long Island. The junior saw limited time after that. Rose has said
Carpenter is the best ball-handler on the team, but she's out of a job for now
and will need to step up her performances in practice and in matches if she
hopes to win it back.

The Nittany Lions - Flat: The Lions, despite taking
nine of 10 sets in three wins, played poorly but managed to win in the first
set against Long Island, and again played poorly in the first set against
Florida Gulf Coast, a set they lost. The Lions certainly didn't improve their
stock with their weekend performance, but to truly see what this team is made
of, we'll have to wait until tonight's match against No. 10 Nebraska and
beyond.