Big Ten Volleyball turned up the intensity over the weekend. Between No. 16 Penn State locking up two top-20 wins at Rec Hall and No. 21 Washington scoring a historic top-10 road upset in Madison, the conference continues to deliver thrillers.
Penn State Ends Oregon’s Streak, Picks Up Two Ranked Wins
For the sixth straight season, No. 16 Penn State picked up a win over a top-10 opponent at Rec Hall with a 3-1 victory (25-17, 23-25, 25-19, 25-20) over No. 10 Oregon on Friday night. The Nittany Lions held Oregon, who entered the match on a seven-match win streak, to a .156 hitting percentage to stifle a Ducks attack that was clicking on all cylinders.
Offensively, Penn State was led by its stars Kennedy Martin and Whitney Lauenstein. Martin hit .431 with 25 kills, seven digs, and four blocks while Lauenstein hit .364 with 15 kills, nine digs (a career-high), and five blocks. In the third set where the teams were tied 1-1, Martin hit .571 with eight kills alone. More from Happy Valley.
The Nittany Lions followed up Friday’s standout performance with another ranked win on Sunday, defeating No. 18 Indiana in four sets (25-16, 22-25, 25-16, 25-21). Martin hit a wild .514 while also tallying 21 kills, nine digs and five blocks, while Lauenstein added 14 kills of her own.
Penn State picked up its third and fourth ranked wins of the season over the weekend, improving to 15-5 overall and 7-3 in Big Ten play. Riding a three-match win streak, the Nittany Lions return home for a pair of clashes next weekend with plenty of momentum on their side.
Huskies’ Historic Night in Madison
Madison was the home to an instant classic on Friday night, where No. 21 Washington defeated No. 6 Wisconsin in five sets to record the program’s first road win over a top-10 opponent since 2019. Behind 31 kills from Simona Mateska — the most by a Husky since current assistant coach Krista Hendrickson had 38 in 2013 — the Huskies handed the Badgers their first home loss of the year.
The story of the night for the Huskies was resiliency — finding their backs against the wall multiple times but coming out victorious. In the second set, they were trailing 24-21 with the risk of going down 2-0, but fought off four set points to take control and tie the match at one apiece.
Then, after falling down 2-1, Washington won the fourth and fifth sets 25-18 and 18-16 to come from behind and shock the Badger crowd.
"Our outside hitters went for it at the end of sets and the end of the match," head coach Leslie Gabriel said. "They had to take big swings and they did a great job. I didn't realize that Simona had 31 kills. I knew she was doing the Simona things that she always does for us, but 31, that's pretty cool.” More on a big night.
Boilermakers' Back-to-Back Wins
No. 12 Purdue had two wins over the weekend, the first in a thrilling five-set match (23-25, 25-21, 25-18, 19-25, 15-12) over No. 20 Minnesota on Friday in West Lafayette. In the match, the Boilermakers held the Gophers to a season-low three aces while recording nine, a season-high against a power-conference opponent. Grace Heaney had a season-high 19 kills and career-high six blocks, while Ryan McAleer’s 18 digs helped her join the 1,000-dig club at Purdue.
The Boilermakers carried that momentum right back into Holloway Gymnasium on Sunday, securing a dominant 3-0 sweep (25-20, 25-22, 25-15) over Northwestern.
Gophers Sweep Huskies in Minneapolis
After falling just short in a five-set thriller at Purdue, No. 20 Minnesota regrouped on Sunday to claim its first ranked Big Ten win of the season. Back in front of the home crowd at Maturi Pavilion, the Gophers defeated No. 21 Washington in straight sets (25-17, 25-17, 25-20), out-blocking the Huskies 11-6.
Minnesota held Washington — who was coming off the five-set win in Madison — to a .104 hitting percentage while only giving up the lead once on the night, coming in the second set. Mckenna Wucherer recorded here eighth double-double of the season, leading the Gophers with 11 kills and hitting at a .273 clip, while Stella Swanson hit .292 with 28 assists. More from Minneapolis.
On Saturday night, some of the Big Ten’s top-ranked teams tallied victories. No. 10 Oregon bounced back with a win over Ohio State in Columbus, while No. 1 Nebraska moved to 21-0 by sweeping USC in Lincoln. Here are the full standings with another weekend in the books.