Oct. 6, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - History did not repeat itself as the Northwestern volleyball team lost to visiting No. 10 Penn State, 3-0 (30-19, 30-24, 30-23).
The Wildcats, who defeated Penn State last year in Evanston for one of two conference wins, fall to an even .500 (6-6, 3-3 Big Ten). The Nittany Lions improve to 10-3, 4-2 in conference play.
Despite another stellar performance from sophomore middle blocker Erika Lange (Orland Park, Ill./Sandburg), the 'Cats couldn't get it done against Penn State. Lange had 13 kills, two blocks and hit .409 for the match.
For the Nittany Lions Katie Schumacher had a match-high 17 kills, seven digs and hit .517. Mishka Levy chipped in ten kills.
The battle of the Big Ten blockers clearly went to Northwestern. Junior middle blocker Sarah Ballog had six total blocks on the night, compared to conference leader Cara Smith of Penn State, who had two blocks.
What hurt the Wildcats for the second night was receiving errors-they committed 10 to Penn State's five.
"It's in the details," Wildcat head coach Keylor Chan said after the match. "We're hitting well and passing better, but those receiving errors are killing us."
Northwestern is back in action this Wednesday, Oct. 10 as they host Wisconsin at 7 p.m.