Nittany Digs: 2010 Big Ten Champs, National No. 4 Seed

Penn State will get home-court advantage
through most of the NCAA tournament.
(Photo: Steve Manuel)

Penn State locked up the 2010 Big Ten Women's Volleyball championship by sweeping the Iowa Hawkeyes Friday night. But just as one would expect in this very odd season for the Lions, they turned right around and lost to No. 15 Minnesota yesterday afternoon. It's not like a Russ Rose-coached team to look ahead, but it definitely felt like this team is keeping both eyes focused squarely on the tournament.

Speaking of which, Penn State also grabbed itself a very nice No. 4 seed in the national tournament. Penn State will be able to enjoy home-court advantage through the regional round, as the first three rounds will take place in the friendly confines of Rec Hall.

Details below the break.

Nittany Digs: Crackin' Nuts & Sweepin' Up

Seniors Blair Brown
and Fatima Balza
(Photo: GoPSUsports.com)

It was quite the week for Penn State women's volleyball. The Nittany Lions not only grabbed sole possession of first place in the Big Ten, but did it in their typically convincing fashion. To top off the week's work, three Nittany Lions took home conference honors.

Here's the lowdown on last week's action.

Sweepin' Up

Penn State earned a full sweep of the Big Ten weekly honors for volleyball this week, garnering offensive, defensive, and freshman of the week awards.

Nittany Digs: Payback is a Brown

(Ed.-Totally mixed up my proverbs, so the title has changed)

Blair Brown
(Photo: GoPSUsports.com)

Penn State is steamrolling its way through the Big Ten schedule, after a shaky start to the season. Well, "shaky" for Penn State standards.

Early in the conference schedule, Penn State fell 3-2 at Illinois, the Lions' first Big Ten loss in 65 matches. It was painful. And while Penn State lost two more conference matches a few weeks later (at Purdue and at Indiana), the Illinois loss stuck out because it was the first.

Well, Penn State had one chance to redeem itself for that loss in Champaign, Ill., as the Illini came into Rec Hall this weekend with a 1-0 record against Penn State this year, and a No. 9 ranking.

The Nittany Lions made the most of it.

Here's the roundup from last week.

Brown and McClendon Earn Big Ten Weekly Honors

Fan favorite (then again, which of these girls isn't a fan favorite?) Blair Brown, and rising star freshman Deja McClendon earned Big Ten Player of the Week, and Big Ten Freshman of the Week, respectively.

Brown led the Nittany Lions with 14 kills along with five digs and five blocks against the Badgers on Friday, Nov. 12. She went to on post a team-best 13 kills and seven digs against the Illini on Saturday. For the weekend, Brown averaged 4.50 kils per set on .463 hitting and contributed seven blocks (1.17 blocks per set) and 12 digs (2.00 digs per set).

McClendon posted a team-best .553 attack percentage after totaling 22 kills (3.67 kills per set), 10 digs (1.67 digs per set) and three blocks in matches against Wisconsin and Illinois. Versus the Badgers, McClendon posted 10 kills to rank third on the team with three digs and three blocks. She followed that performance with 12 kills and seven digs against the Illini.

Nittany Digs: These ladies are smart, too!

The Penn State women's volleyball team is gearing up for a huge home stretch to finish out the regular season, and it started with wins over No. 15 Michigan and Michigan State this past weekend. There were weekly honors abound for the Nittany Lions, for both on- and off-the-field accomplishments.

Here's the roundup from last week.

Slay Earns Big Ten POW and Frosh POW

Katie Slay
(Photo: GoPSUsports.com)

Freshman middle hitter Katie Slay earned her first conference honors this week, being named the Big Ten's Defensive Player of the Week, and Freshman of the Week, for her two-match performance against MSU and UM.

Nittany Digs: What Brown Does for PSU

Massive apologies for this posting two days late. After a rough start to the season, Penn State is winning again... and winning and winning.

Blair Brown
(Photo: GoPSUsports.com)

Since opening the Big Ten conference schedule a relatively disastrous (for Penn State's standards) 3-3, the Nittany Lions (19-4, 9-3 Big Ten) have reeled off six straight wins, including victories over No. 22 Minnesota, No. 19 Northwestern, while avenging earlier losses to Indiana and Purdue.

Speaking of the Hoosiers and Boilermakers, here's the roundup from last week.

Blair Brown Player of the Week

Considering her career at Penn State to this point, it's kind of amazing this is only Blair Brown's second Big Ten co-Player of the Week award ever. It's the first this season.

Nittany Digs: 'Deja'-Vu All Over Again

Teams just aren't losing. This leaves Penn State women's volleyball anchored firmly at No. 9 in the polls the last few weeks, even though the wins have picked up. The Nittany Lions are now 17-4, coming off sweeps of both Ohio State, and 22nd-ranked Northwestern in Evanston.

Deja McClendon
(Photo: GoPSUsports.com)

Penn State is undefeated in Rec Hall again this season. But with home games against Northwestern and Illinois looming large in the coming weeks, maintaining Penn State's 84-game home win streak is not guaranteed.

With that, here's the wrap up from this past week.

Frosh of the Week, again...

Deja McClendon just can't stop, grabbing this week's Big Ten Freshman of the Week award, her third this season.

Nittany Digs: Floyd of Rosedale Edition

Is it sad that a pig makes a better trophy
than the Land Grant Monstrosity that
PSU and MSU have to play for?

Penn State downed Iowa and No. 19 Minnesota last week. On the gridiron, the Gophers and Hawkeyes play for the Floyd of Rosedale trophy, giving this edition of Nittany Digs its theme for the week.

The Nittany Lions are now 14-4 overall, which on paper looks like a complete train wreck of a season for what this program has been used to the last few seasons. But Penn State is still in the very thick of the Big Ten title race this season, and already in position for a decent seed in the NCAA tournament. Yes, it's early to start thinking about the postseason, but the regular season is already halfway done.

Here's the lowdown on last week's action.

Nittany Digs: Consecutive losses? Really?!

Penn State football is... um... well...... anyway, we still have Penn State women's volleyball to cheer us up, right?

This just isn't a good year for Penn State fall sports. That's not to say all the fall teams are doing poorly, but the two flagship fall programs--football and women's volleyball--aren't exactly living up to the lofty standards set the last few seasons.

The Nittany Lions just lost two consecutive matches for the first time since Joe Paterno was a toddler. Adding insult to injury, INdiana was one of the victorious teams. You know how long it's been since Indiana women's volleyball beat Penn State? SINCE NEVER. This was the Hoosiers' first win over Penn State, bringing the series record to 40-1.

Nittany Digs: Wolverine State Sweep

Freshman Deja McClendon 
had 14 kills against MSU.

Penn State got back on the winning track this week, with a nice sweep of Michigan State and Michigan.

Wolverine State Sweep

Michigan State at No. 4 PSU - W, 3-0 (25-21, 25-17, 25-17)

Three Nittany Lions posted double-digit kills including senior Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) and freshman Deja McClendon (Louisville, Ky.) who tallied 14 apiece. Senior Blair Brown (Purcellville, Va.) rounded out the trio with 10. Sophomore Kristin Carpenter (Mechanicsville. Va.) dished out 36 assists and had two blocks, including one solo. Senior Alyssa D'Errico (Byron, N.Y.) led the team in digs with seven, while Brown and senior Fatima Balza (Merida, Venezuela) led the Nittany Lions with five blocks each.

Penn State closed out the night with a .293 attack percentage and held Michigan State to just .095. The Lions totaled 47 kills, four aces, 28 digs and 12.5 total team blocks and held the Spartans to 30 kills, one ace, 31 digs and 11.0 team blocks.

Nittany Digs: Crashing back to earth

Senior Blair Brown had 16 kills
in the losing effort at Illinois.

We all knew The Streak would end at some point. It did two weekends ago. But damn, we didn't realize Penn State would drop another match so quickly afterward.

The Nittany Lions not only fell earlier this season to Stanford, but then this past weekend, lost again, this time in conference play at No. 9 Illinois. I guess it could have been worse, against a poor opponent. But that doesn't make losing any easier for the team. In sports your goal is to win all of your games. Well, for three years, this team did just that. It must be a weird feeling to not have a 1.000 record.

Nittany Digs: 'The Streak 2.0 starts today'

Penn State's all-sports blog had a really nice piece about the atmosphere in Rec Hall, and how one of college sports' best fan bases is lifting this team back up after its first loss in 109 matches.

Students even created a Facebook event specifically promoting what they call 'The Beginning of the Streak 2.0'. More than 2,000 students planned on attending the event and they even orchestrated a white out for Friday night's match against George Washington...

"I think a crowd definitely plays a part in the opponents head and you know it helps us the whole time to get energy if we're needing energy, which we should be making our own," said Brown. "But you know if it's not coming naturally it's great for them to be there and to kind of lift us up when we need it and for the opponent it's tough playing in a place where everybody is rooting for the other team."

Nittany Digs: Goodbye to 'The Streak'

"The Streak" may have ended this weekend,
but Rec Hall is still an impenetrable
fortress for Penn State women's volleyball.
(Photo: Steve Manuel)

Penn State women's volleyball saw it's NCAA record 109-game win streak snapped at the hands of Stanford this past Saturday. I feel like it's partly my fault. In last week's edition of Nittany Digs, I wrote:

"Penn State women's volleyball is quickly separating itself from any other college sports dynasty. Ask the players and coaches--particularly head coach Russ Rose--and they'll surely tell you all the right things. But it's starting to morph into a monster, as we're all left to wonder "when will they ever lose again?"

Yeah, not happy about saying that now. Anyway, there's still much to look forward to this season, so on with this week's update.

Nittany Digs: Women extend streak to 108

Penn State women's volleyball hasn't lost
in Rec Hall since 2005. (Photo: Steve Manuel)

Penn State women's volleyball is quickly separating itself from any other college sports dynasty. Ask the players and coaches--particularly head coach Russ Rose--and they'll surely tell you all the right things. But it's starting to morph into a monster, as we're all left to wonder "when will they ever lose again?"

When that happens, we'll deal with it then. For now, we'll keep you in the loop with this new weekly series "Nittany Digs," which will cover both men's and women's Penn State volleyball. If you're a die-hard PSU volleyball fan, I highly recommend checking out Dig Nittany Volleyball, a fantastic, independent blog dedicated to two of Penn State's most dominant teams.