UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 7 Penn State women's volleyball took down No. 3 Minnesota, 3-2: 20-25, 25-21, 30-28, 24-26, 15-12, to move to 23-6, 14-5 on the season and earn their second five-set win of the season.
Penn State was led by freshman Jonni Parker who put down a career-best 29 kills, the most by a freshman since 2001, while hitting .265 on 68 attempts. She also added seven digs and five blocks. She totaled 31.5 points on the evening.
Redshirt senior Bryanna Weiskircher dished out a career-best 63 assists, which is third most for a five-set match in the 25-point rally scoring era. Weiskircher tacked on 15 digs for her 10th double-double of the season, and 28th of her career. She also added five kills, five blocks and guided the team to a .245 hitting percentage.
Redshirt senior Nia Reed finished the match with 16 kills, hitting .262, adding four blocks and four assists.
In the middle, the duo of freshman in Kaitlyn Hord and Serena Gray combined for 21 kills and 12 blocks. Hord finished with 12 kills, hitting .346 and added a match-high seven blocks, while Gray put down nine kills on .318 with five blocks.
Junior libero Kendall White finished with a match-high 27 digs, she also added three assists and an ace. White is now at 477 for the season, and 1,439 for her career, the most by a player in their third season of play. White is just 35 digs from tying Dominique Gonzalez for fourth place on the Penn State career digs leaderboard at 1,474. She is also just 30 digs from tying the 25-point era single season record of 507 digs, held by Alyssa D'Errico in 2010. White's single season career-best is 500 in her freshman campaign.
Penn State came out slow to start the match, hitting just .100 with 12 kills, while Minnesota put down 16 on .273 hitting. However Penn State's defense helped keep them in the opening set with 24 digs and 2.0 blocks. Minnesota took the opener, 25-20.
In the second set, the Nittany Lions hit an impressive, .364 with 17 kills, led by Parker who had seven, while hitting .500. Kendall White also played a big factor as the libero scooped up eight digs in the second set. Penn State jumped out to an early 16-10 lead, and despite a small run by Minnesota down the end of the set, Penn State came out with a 25-21 set win to even the match at 1-1.
In the third set, the two squads showed how much of a battle this match was set to be. The team traded runs and leads, and Penn State fought tooth and nail to take a 30-28 win after trailing 21-18. Penn State saw Parker put down nine of the Nittany Lions' 21 kills, while the team tallied 4.0 blocks in the set.
Penn State looked to retain that momentum into the fourth set, and it seemed to be going the Blue & White's way as Penn State took a 14-10 lead early in the match. However, it was Minnesota's turn to battle back, and the Gophers were able to take the set, 26-24. Parker again was the offensive work horse for Penn State, leading with seven kills, but she got some aid from Reed as she put down five, while hitting .500.
In the fifth and deciding set, the two teams battled. The Gopher jumped out to a 5-2 lead and took a 8-6 lead at the switching of the sides. A service run by White tied the game at 9-9 on an ace, forcing Minnesota to call a timeout. From there, Penn State built off the gained momentum and took the set, and match, with a 15-12 fifth set win.
The Nittany Lions return to action on Saturday, November 24, 2018 at 8 p.m. as they host No. 8 Wisconsin in Rec Hall. The match will be aired on the Big Ten Network.