Northwestern
Penn State
Women's Volleyball Stuns #3 Penn State, 3-2
9/23/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 23, 2000
EVANSTON, Ill. - After a 3-1 loss to Indiana on Friday, Northwestern hosted defending national champion Penn State in a match that came down to the wire. The Wildcats upset the Nittany Lions in five games, 10-15, 16-14, 4-15, 15-12, 15-12.
Northwestern ups its record to 4-8 overall, 1-1 in the Big Ten. Penn State falls to 11-3, 0-2 in the Big Ten, as Wisconsin upset them Friday night, 3-0.
The first game stayed close throughout until Penn State opened a lead, 7-6, off a block by Mishka Levy and Jessica Hayden. They opened the lead further, 9-6, until Northwestern scored four straight points on a comeback run, 13-10. But they failed as the Nittany Lions prevailed 15-10.
Northwestern took a 2-1 lead at the beginning of the second game, then fell behind 9-4. After rallying within one, the Nittany Lions again put their power behind the ball, leading 12-8. The Wildcats came back to tie the game 14-14 where it stayed for the course of seven possessions. Finally, Wildcat Carmen Burbach served an ace to give NU the lead, 15-14, and two possessions later teammate Sarah Ballog served an ace to give the win, 16-14, and tie the games at one.
Penn State took control from the beginning of the third game and went up 12-0, eventually winning 15-4. That was the only low point for the Wildcats, though, as they refused to fold against the third ranked Nittany Lions. In game four, Northwestern took a 4-0 lead before Penn State battled back to tie, 4-4. The game went back and forth for a while, before an attack error by Penn State's Katie Schumacher gave the Wildcats an 11-9 lead. They held that lead, stalling at 13-10 for 12 possessions. An attack error by Penn State gave the Wildcats point 14, a kill by Erika Lange gave them the win, 15-12, and sent the match to game five.
The Wildcats opened game five going up, 4-1. It was then a back-and-forth battle, with the Wildcats leading, 8-7, at the switch of courts. Penn State took the lead 10-9 from a Northwestern attack error. Wildcat Lindsay Pavlik tied it up with a kill, 10-10. The teams traded two points apiece before Lange added a kill for a 13-12 lead. Cassie McKnight stepped up for the Wildcats and brought the score to 14-12 with a kill before Northwestern won their final point on a block assist by Burbach and Ballog.
The Wildcats were led by Ballog with 25 kills as she tied with Penn State's Schumacher for most kills on the night. Freshman Erika Lange tallied 13 blocks as Northwestern cruched the Nittany Lions in the stat book, 20.5 blocks to 9.5 blocks. Pavlik led the match in digs with 19.
