Despite their slow start, the Nittany Lions are now on an eight-match win streak, with notable wins over ranked Ohio State and Western Kentucky. Their demise was a strong schedule early on — which the Nittany Lions usually handle well — but consecutive losses to Georgia Tech and Florida bumped their preseason No. 8 spot all the way to No. 14 in Week 1; they haven’t gotten back to the top 10 since.
To be fair, Penn State has seen a lot of turnover on its roster, and the team has had to learn how to play together through some trial and error. Transfers Mac Podraza and Jess Mruzik entered the starting rotation at the beginning of the season and have completely commanded the court, leading the team in assists (547) and kills (235), respectively.
What Nebraska has that Penn State doesn’t, however, is depth throughout the entire rotation. The Huskers are on a dominant 15-0 run right now, and their roster boasts some of the best of the best in the nation. Bekka Allick swarms the block, ranking 11th in the nation defensively with 1.45 B/S. AVCA All-American Lexi Rodriguez takes care of backcourt defense — averaging 3.5 D/S — while Merritt Beason and Andi Jackson handle things up top… It’s a dream setup.
What both teams can take advantage of? The serve.
If you scroll all the way to the last page of “team service aces” for this year, you’ll find Nebraska at No. 316 with 64 aces, and Penn State at No. 330 (out of 332 teams) with 53. This is a statline that both teams can capitalize on for this game, as well as limiting service errors. Nebraska has erred 124 times (about 8 per game) at the service line this year, while Penn State has 109 SE.
Penn State has just now started to get challenged in conference play, battling through its first five-setters against Indiana and Ohio State during Week 6 to maintain its perfect conference record (6-0). The Nittany Lions take on Iowa Friday night before Saturday’s match. As for No. 2 Nebraska, it has cruised through its early schedule thus far and must take care of Michigan State before PSU on Saturday.
Both squads are undefeated in the Big Ten, and have been unbeaten for weeks. Who will it be?
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