No. 20 Women’s Volleyball Set for B1G/Pac-12 Challenge in Minneapolis

MINNESOTA, Minn. – The No. 20 Penn State women’s volleyball team hopes to keep its winning streak alive against two ranked opponents at the Big Ten/ Pac-12 Challenge in Minnesota this weekend. The Nittany Lions open the event Friday at 6 p.m. (ET) with a match against No. 11 Stanford. They close the event against No. 18 Oregon Saturday at 5:30 p.m. (ET).

Friday’s match against Stanford will air nationally on Big Ten Network. Saturday’s match will stream on B1G+.

 

PENN STATE WEEKEND SCHEDULE

Friday, Sept. 9

6 p.m. (ET) | vs. No. 11 Stanford | Big Ten Network

Saturday, Sept. 10

5:30 p.m. (ET) | vs. No. 18 Oregon | Watch

 

SERIES HISTORY – STANFORD

• Stanford leads 14-12 in the all-time series thanks to wins in each of the past five meetings dating back to 2018.

• Penn State’s last two wins in the series both came in 2017 and both were played at neutral sites.

• The Lions led 2-1 and had a chance at match point in the fourth set before eventually falling in five sets in last year’s matchup. The match was played at Oregon.

SERIES HISTORY – OREGON

• The all-time series between Penn State and Oregon is tied at 3-3.

• The Ducks won last season’s matchup in three sets on their home floor.

• The Lions won the previous two matchups in 2018 and 2019.

SCOUTING STANFORD

• The Cardinal enter the weekend after being swept by No. 1 Texas Sunday, but have plenty of statement wins including a five-set thriller against No. 13 Florida.

• Senior Kendall Kipp leads the team with 55 kills on the season. Sophomore Sami Francis looks to follow up All-Pac-12 Freshman Team honors with a strong start to the season as she has totaled 32 kills and a .474 kill percentage.

SCOUTING OREGON

• The Ducks went 2-0 at the Oregon Invitational, including a five-set test against Rice and are now unbeaten at 4-0 on the season.

•  Oregon outside hitter Mimi Coyler has earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors for the second time in as many weeks after tallying 21 kills on 30 tries against UC Davis. She added four digs and two aces for a weekend total of 33 kills, 15 digs and three aces.

• Coyler is complemented by outside hitter senior Brooke Nuneviller who leads the team with 64 kills.

 

LAST TIME OUT

 • Graduate student Seleisa Elisaia was named Big Ten Setter of the Week after averaging 12.40 assists/set and…