Volleyball: Women's
Penn State knocks off No. 1 Nebraska
The No. 8 Penn State women's volleyball team defeated No. 1 Nebraska on Saturday, 3-1 (25-17, 25-15, 17-25, 25-17).
The Nittany Lions were clicking on all cylinders after a bittersweet victory over Iowa the night before when they got away with some sloppy play.
The staple early on was their serving — or rather, freshman setter Micha Hancock's serving. She posted five of her six service aces in the first set, and four of those came on consecutive rallies. Junior defender Kristin Carpenter notched two aces before the end of the night, throwing the Cornhuskers off by implementing a float serve and a line drive serve. Sophomore libero Ali Longo also had an ace.
Sophomore outside hitter Deja McClendon anchored the offense with a match-high 18 kills. She hit especially strong down the stretch, making some of her strongest kills look easy with her fluid attack.
Both the Lions' serving and attack forced wreaked havoc in Nebraska's back row. The Cornhuskers struggled to keep balls in bounds for much of the match, and when they did, it was often a bad pass. The result was several weak attacks and attacks off the net.
With 14 total blocks, the Lions front line defense had a field day. Sophomore middle hitter Katie Slay had a match-high five total blocks.
The Lions did stumble in the third set, but unlike in previous matches this season, they stole back the momentum and won with a strong fourth set.
Check Monday's Collegian for full coverage of the weekend.