Volleyball: Women's
Penn State downs No. 8 Purdue 3-1
No. 12 Penn State took down No.8 Purdue 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-15, 25-18) on Saturday night in Rec Hall.
Sophomore outside hitter Deja McClendon lead the Nittany Lions offensively with 18 kills and Maddie Martin also added 11 kills and nine digs.
Penn State came out sloppy in the first set and committing seven hitting errors and had a hitting percentage of just .102. But afterwards, the Lions picked it up hitting wise and ended the match with a .285 hitting percentage.
"I thought the serving pressure improved as the match went on, and I didn't think we played a sharp first game," coach Russ Rose said. "I think Purdue had us well scouted and is a very good team, the fact that we beat them both times we played them indicates that we had a couple of good matches against a very fine team."
Sophomore Ali Longo got it done in the back row for the Lions, as the libero dug 26 balls. As a team, Penn State was able to come up with 70 digs. The Lions also had 10 total team blocks and held the Boilermakers to a .169 hitting percentage.
It was senior night for the Lions, who honored their two seniors, Katie Kabbes and Megan Shifflett, before the match, and both saw some playing time in their last regular season home match.
"Those two girls are fantastic people," Martin said of Kabbes and Shifflett. "And we couldn't of gone out a better way. I wanted so badly just to get a win for the two of them."
Penn State now only has two regular season matches remaining; road trips to Ohio State and Michigan State are the only thing separating the Lions from the postseason.