A Look Ahead – Nov. 14-20

by Jen Armson-Dyer

Purdue Travels To Penn State

One match separates No. 8 Purdue and No. 12 Penn State after the Boilermakers took out then-No. 2 Nebraska in straight sets last weekend and the Nittany Lions split with No. 7 Illinois and Northwestern. Penn State hosts Purdue on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. ET at Rec Hall. A link to watch the match can be found at www.GoPSUsports.com. No. 4 Nebraska leads the conference with a 14-2 record while Illinois and Purdue are tied for second with 13-3 records and Penn State is fourth with 12-4.

The previous meeting between Penn State and Purdue was a four-set Nittany Lion win on Oct. 14 in West Lafayette, Ind.

Purdue (24-3, 13-3 Big Ten, 5-2 on the road) is led by Ariel Turner (#8) with 4.82 kills per set, Blair Bashen (#14) with 4.04 digs per set and Kierra Jones (#12) with 1.31 blocks per set.

Penn State (19-7, 12-4 Big Ten, 11-2 at home) is led by Deja McClendon (#18) and Ariel Scott (#1) with 3.59 and 3.49 kills per set, respectively, Ali Longo (#23) with 3.08 digs per set and Katie Slay (#16) with 1.43 blocks per set.

San Diego Hosts Pepperdine

The No. 18 Waves dropped their first league match last weekend to Saint Mary’s in a sweep  and will take on second-place and No. 20 San Diego Saturday afternoon at 1pm PT as one of their two remaining WCC matches. A link to watch the match can be found at www.usdtoreros.com. The last meeting between the two schools was a three-set Pepperdine win on Oct. 24 in Malibu.

Pepperdine (19-6, 13-1 WCC, 7-4 on the road) is led by Kim Hill (#13) with 3.82 kills per set, Stevi Robinson (#10) with 3.52 digs per set and Samantha Cash (#16) with 1.20 blocks per set.

San Diego (26-3, 11-3 WCC, 13-1 at home) is led by Amber Tatsch (#7) with 3.11 kills per set, Kandiss Anderson (#10) with 4.30 digs per set and Katie Hoekman (#9) with 0.93 blocks per set.

UC Santa Barbara Takes On Cal State Northridge

In a match that is heavy more in RPI significance than conference significance, UC Santa Barbara (RPI 53) travels to Cal State Northridge (RPI 118) on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. PT. The last meeting between the two schools was a 3-0 UCSB win just two weeks ago.

UC Santa Barbara (16-11, 9-5 Big West, 4-6 on the road) is led by Stacey Schmidt (#11) and Leah Sully (#4) with 2.98 and 2.96 kills per set, respectively, Chelsey Lowe (#2) with 5.43 digs per set and Schmidt with 0.94 blocks per set.

Cal State Northridge (14-12, 8-6 Big West, 5-3 at home) is led by Mahina Haina (#10) with 3.37 kills per set, Cindy Ortiz (#6) with 4.49 digs per set and Casey Hinger (#1) with 1.15 blocks per set.

Big East Tournament

Louisville (21-7, 13-1) earned the top seed in the Big East Tournament after capturing its first conference regular-season title since joining the conference in 2005. The Cardinals have won four of the last five Big East Championships, including last season. Cincinnati (22-8, 12-2) picked up the second seed while third-seed Marquette (22-8, 12-2) will play host to the tournament on Nov. 18-20 at the Al McGuire Center in Milwaukee. Links to watch the Quarterfinals and Semifinals can be found on the Big East website at http://www.bigeast.org/Sports/WomensVolleyball/2011VolleyballChampionshipCentral.aspx and the Championship match will televised on ESPNU Sunday at 3:00 p.m. CT.

Rounding out the eight-team field is No. 4 seed Syracuse (19-11, 8-6), No. 5 Notre Dame (15-11, 8-6), No. 6 Seton Hall (17-12, 8-6), No. 7 Villanova (17-12, 8-6) and No. 8 Pittsburgh(18-12, 7-7).

CAA Tournament

The regular-season in the Colonial Athletic Conference was one of the most competitive in recent history, with three teams recording 10 wins and Delaware and Northeastern both finishing with 11-3 records. The Blue Hens, winners of three of the past four CAA titles, earned the tie-breaker courtesy of sweeping the season series between the two schools. The CAA Tournament will be held Nov. 18-20 on Delaware’s Barbara Viera Court at the Carpenter Sports Building in Newark, Del. The winner of the tournament earns the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Links to live stats and a free web stream can be found at www.bluehens.com.

The top-seed is the second straight for Delaware (18-12, 11-3 CAA) and it will be Northeastern’s (21-5, 11-3 CAA) fifth tournament appearance in the last six years. Other teams in the hunt for the bid are third-seeded Towson (23-8, 10-4), fourth-seeded Georgia State (14-17, 8-6), fifth-seeded James Madison (19-10, 8-6) and sixth-seeded VCU (15-15, 8-6).

Here’s a link to the NCAA scoreboard: http://www.ncaa.com/content/womens-di-volleyball-scoreboard. What other matches are you looking forward to this week?