The Nittany Lion came from behind to upset the defending champions
Published 11:30, 12 Nov 2023
Penn State players achieved a huge win over Wisconsin (Photo: Penn State)
Reigning Big Ten champions Wisconsin suffered their second loss in conference play this season in a shocking way as the Badgers fell to third-place Penn State on the road on Saturday.
Playing in front of more than 5,000 fans at University Park, the Nittany Lions erased a first-set deficit to come from behind and beat Wisconsin, the second-ranked team in the country, in four sets (23-25, 29-27, 25-23, 25-18) to end a four-match winning streak of the defending champions.
Senior opposite Camryn Hannah, with 20 points (19 kills, one ace), and senior outside hitter Jess Mruzik, with 18 (16 kills, two blocks), led Penn State in the team’s biggest victory in the season so far.
“These are the moments we work for and we’re going to celebrate it,” Hannah reflected. “We talked the entire time about staying together and having each other’s backs during the match and that’s one thing we did very well today.”
Wisconsin got a match-high 22 points (19 kills, three blocks) from senior outside hitter Sarah Franklin and another 16 (11 kills, four blocks, one ace) from Polish junior outside hitter Julia Orzol.
The point that sealed the dub for @PennStateVBALL. 🤩
— Big Ten Volleyball (@B1GVolleyball) November 12, 2023
📍Unleaded 88 pic.twitter.com/3YdNUWul6o
With the win, Penn State, who had swept (25-23, 25-22, 25-13) Michigan at home on Friday, improved their Big Ten record to 11 wins and five losses, remaining in third place, while Wisconsin, who topped Maryland also in three sets (25-10, 25-21, 25-9) on Friday, are second with 14 victories and two upsets.
Big Ten leaders Nebraska continue as the only undefeated team in the country as the Cornhuskers made good use of homecourt advantage to get to 16 victories in conference play by beating Northwestern 3-1 (28-26, 24-26, 25-11, 25-20) on Wednesday and triumphing over Illinois also in four sets (25-14, 25-14, 24-26, 25-22) on Sunday.
Freshman setter Bergen Reilly had another strong week, producing 90 assists and 20 digs across both matches. Sophomore middle blocker Bekka Allick was very productive as well with 18 points (11 kills, seven blocks on Wednesday) and 17 (12 kills, five blocks on Sunday).
Fourth-placed Purdue also had a clean week, downing Minnesota 3-1 (17-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-17) on the road on Friday and following it up with another four-setter (23-25, 30-28, 25-25, 25-18), in a home win over Michigan State on Sunday.
The Big Ten conference calendar features only two more weeks of play and the next one will begin on Wednesday, with one match – another six duels will be held on Friday, five on Saturday and two on Sunday.
VBTV subscribers around the world will be able to watch between Illinois and Michigan live on Saturday, at 18:00 local time (00:00 GMT, Sunday).
Quick links:
Big Ten Volleyball
VBTV
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Subscribe to Volleyball World's Newsletter
