Big Ten Volleyball. Gophers #17, Paige Tapp Honored

• Big Ten volleyball begins conference play this week, with six teams facing Big Ten foes on Wednesday.

• In a rematch of last season’s NCAA championship match, No. 3 Penn State will take on No. 5 Wisconsin on Wednesday in a contest set to air on BTN.

• Minnesota and Penn State enter conference play riding a nine-match winning streak.

• In the latest national statistical rankings released by the NCAA on Monday, three Big Ten teams hold top-five spots. Penn State leads the nation with a .395 hitting percentage and ranks fifth with 14.71 kills per set and 2.10 aces per set. Wisconsin ranks second in kills per set (15.39) and fourth in assists per set (14.03), while Purdue checks in with the fifth-best hitting percentage in the nation (.307).

• Numerous Big Ten standouts appear among the top three of the NCAA statistical leaders. The Nittany Lions’ Micha Hancock leads the nation with 1.17 aces per set, while teammate Nia Grant ranks second with a .525 hitting clip. The Badgers’ Lauren Carlini ranks third with 11.97 assists per set.

• Big Ten teams earned 27 wins over the weekend, including victories over No. 10 USC and Creighton and Western Kentucky, which were receiving votes in last week’s AVCA poll. Eighteen of those victories were completed in straight sets.

• Six Big Ten teams are ranked in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll, including No. 3 Penn State, No. 5 Wisconsin, No. 8 Nebraska, No. 15 Purdue, No. 16 Illinois and No. 17 Minnesota. Michigan State and Northwestern are also receiving votes in the poll.

• Five student-athletes from four squads earned Big Ten weekly awards on Monday. Minnesota’s Sarah Wilhite was named the Player of the Week, the Golden Gophers’ Paige Tapp was tabbed the Defensive Player of the Week, Penn State’s Micha Hancock and Wisconsin’s Lauren Carlini shared Setter of the Week honors and the Illinois’ Brandi Donnelly garnered Freshman of the Week laurels.

courtesy: Olivia Truby/BigTen.org