- After securing its place atop the NCAA volleyball landscape with the nation’s top non-conference winning percentage (.729; 105-39 record), the Big Ten now turns its collective attention to the start of conference play this weekend. During the next 10 weeks, Big Ten schools will play a 20-match conference schedule, beginning Friday with all 14 programs in action and highlighted by a Big Ten Network doubleheader (Michigan at Rutgers; No. 8 Minnesota at No. 11 Purdue).
- Wisconsin is the three-time defending Big Ten champion (2019-21), becoming the third school to earn three consecutive titles and first since Penn State won a conference-record eight in a row from 2003-10. Illinois was the first to claim three consecutive Big Ten volleyball championships (1986-88), while PSU also had a string of four in a row from 1996-99.
- Penn State will enter Big Ten play with a perfect 11-0 record, the Nittany Lions’ best start to a season since 2015 (13-0). PSU is one of six remaining undefeated teams in NCAA Division I and currently shares the third-longest winning streak in the nation (Towson and Valparaiso both have opened 12-0), as well as the longest among Autonomy Five conference programs (Auburn is also 11-0). The other undefeated Division I schools are Texas and UCF (both 8-0).
- Nebraska head coach John Cook is on the verge of another milestone, closing in on his 800th career win. Cook is 799-166 (.828) in his 30 seasons on the sidelines, including a 637-93 (.873) in his 23rd season in Lincoln. When he earns that landmark victory (his first try comes Friday vs. Michigan State), Cook will be the 19th NCAA Division I coach (and sixth active Division I coach) with 800 wins, as well as the third to do so in the opening month of the 2022 season, following American’s Barry Goldberg and Colorado State’s Tom Hilbert (the latter of whom just earned his 800th victory on Tuesday night).
- Wisconsin set a pair of attendance records on Sept. 16 when 16,833 fans jammed the Kohl Center for the Badgers’ five-set thriller against No. 16 Florida. It was the largest regular-season crowd in NCAA history (the previous record was set earlier this month on Sept. 7 – 15,797 for Nebraska vs. Creighton at Omaha’s CHI…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Big Ten Conference…