We’ve reached the final weekend of the Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge, and the race for the title has come down to the wire between four teams sitting at 4-0: Michigan State, Nebraska, Oregon, and Penn State. The final matches take place Saturday and Sunday to determine this year’s winner, including a head-to-head battle.
Huskers and Spartans Meet in East Lansing
Two of the four first-place teams square off when No. 1 Nebraska visits No. 25 Michigan State on Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET on B1G+). To some degree, the Huskers control their own destiny – if they can walk out of the Breslin Center with a sweep, they will win the challenge. If they do not sweep, the champion will be determined by tiebreakers resolved after all final matches are played. Seventeen of Nebraska’s 21 victories this season have been sweeps, but the Spartans will be no easy mark. Statistically, Michigan State ranks second behind Nebraska in the Big Ten in several key categories, including points per set, hitting percentage and opponents’ hitting percentage. If the Spartans want to pull off the upset, they’ll need big-time performances from Carmen Waye (.426 hitting percentage, second in the Big Ten) and Malayah Long, one of the conference’s best setters and servers who ranks top 10 in both assists and aces.
Top-15 Matchup in Happy Valley
Is No. 13 Penn State playing its best volleyball of the season? That may be the case coming off an impressive weekend, featuring 3-1 victories over No. 10 Oregon and No. 18 Indiana, followed by Thursday’s win over Ohio State. The Nittany Lions will face another tough opponent when No. 11 Purdue comes to town on Saturday (12:30 p.m. ET on B1G+). If Penn State can beat Purdue in the early Saturday matchup, it’ll keep the pressure on Nebraska, Michigan State and Oregon to stay undefeated in the challenge too.
Kennedy Martin has been on fire for Penn State, earning Big Ten and AVCA National Player of the Week honors after registering 46 kills in the wins last week and an absurd .514 hitting percentage against the Hoosiers. Alexis Stucky also took Big Ten Setter of the Week honors after compiling 90 assists and guiding the Nittany Lions to a .360 hitting percentage.
After a stumble at the start of Big Ten play, Purdue has found its stride too. The Boilers have won six of their last seven matches, highlighted by last weekend’s gutty five-set win over No. 20 Minnesota. While the team has played better across the board, redshirt junior Grace Heaney might be the best sign of that. After hitting .190 in her first five Big Ten matches, she rose to a .342 clip over her last five conference contests entering this week. Purdue will need another big performance from her in Happy Valley.
Ducks Look to Start Another Win Streak
After having its seven-match win streak snapped by Penn State last Friday, No. 12 Oregon is looking to put together another one heading into November. The Ducks rebounded to beat Ohio State the next night and now enter this weekend with matches against Maryland and Iowa – the tilt against Iowa counting towards the Discover In-Season Volleyball Challenge standings. The trio of Alanah Clemente, Sjakkie Donkers and Valentina Vaulet has been money for Oregon, combining to average nearly 12 points per set, and they’ll look to be on their game again to finish off the challenge 5-0. Outside of the challenge, the Ducks are also 8-2 in conference play, just two games back of first-place Nebraska.
See the full schedule for this weekend and the Big Ten standings.