Last week in Big Ten women’s volleyball, Minnesota continued to stretch it’s lead at the top of the rankings, while upsets and surprises occurred throughout the conference.

Here’s what you need to know about what happened and what to look forward to this week.

Minnesota Still on Top

The Gophers stand alone at the top of the Big Ten rankings with an unblemished 8-0 record, most recently adding a pair of sweeps over Illinois and Northwestern.

#Gophers improved to 8-0 in Big Ten action with a win over Northwestern. Watch the highlights here. pic.twitter.com/0kopqyP6Tx

— Minnesota Volleyball (@GopherVBall) October 14, 2018

Against Illinois, Minnesota hit .270 and held the Fighting Illini to .194 clip thanks to 50 digs and five blocks from the Minnesota defense. Alexis Hart starred offensively for the Gophers, putting away a match-high 15 kills with only three errors to hit .364.

Versus Northwestern, Minnesota setter Samantha Seliger-Swenson surpassed 5,000 career assists as she led the Gophers to a .345 hitting percentage for the match. SSS ranks fifth all-time at Minnesota with 5,011 career assists. 

Illinois Recovers

Refusing to let the loss to Minnesota keep them down, the Fighting Illini rebounded the very next night with a four-set victory over Wisconsin. 

Jacqueline Quade, who Minnesota had held to only eight kills and a .081 hitting percentage, led the match with a career-high 26 kills. 

#Illini staying steady in the rankings. ??@NCAAStats RPI ?? No. 3️⃣@AVCAVolleyball Poll ?? No. 7️⃣ pic.twitter.com/X4MrG7Ewmo

— Illini Volleyball (@IlliniVBall) October 15, 2018

As a team, the Illini kept Wisconsin out of system with strong serving, tallying eight aces to Wisconsin’s two, and both teams displayed great defensive efforts with Wisconsin’s libero Tiffany Clark leading the match with 26 digs and Illinois’ libero Morgan O’Brien not far behind with 24.

You Just Never Know With Ohio State

Until this weekend, Ohio State’s only victory in the last few weeks was a five-setter over Rutgers, but Sunday in Columbus, the Buckeyes roared to a sweep of Michigan State. 

In the continued absence of star freshman outside hitter Mia Grunze, junior Bia Franklin, who often plays just back row for OSU, played all the way around and led the match with 14 kills, a career high for the Brazil native. 

Monday feels ? pic.twitter.com/id5cudruJQ

— Ohio State Women's Volleyball (@OhioStateWVB) October 15, 2018

Senior outside hitter Audra Appold made her return to the court over the weekend after missing much of the season with an undisclosed injury. In both of last week’s matches, Appold played libero, tallying 19 digs versus Michigan and collecting 11 in the Michigan State match.

Madison Smeathers, who did not play in the Michigan match, had 13 kills in the victory over Michigan State. 

Rankings Roundup

Seven Big Ten teams appeared in this week’s AVCA Poll, and one more received votes. 

See the complete poll here.

Biggest Upset

On Saturday, with a five-set victory, Penn State brought to a halt Nebraska’s seven-match win streak in the head-to-head series. The Nittany Lions had not defeated the Huskers either at home, on the road, or at a neutral site since 2014.

No. 9 Penn State wore its heart on its' sleeve on as the Nittany Lions came from behind to take a five-set victory, 3-2: 25-22, 11-25, 24-26, 25-23, 15-9, over No. 5 Nebraska in front of a raucous Rec Hall crowd on Saturday evening.

Read: https://t.co/Bm6ipCG6wM pic.twitter.com/M0XeuRHU16

— Penn State Women’s Volleyball (@PennStateVBALL) October 14, 2018

Huge swings in momentum occured on the way to a 25-22, 11-25, 24-26, 25-23, 15-9 victory for Penn State and on the match, Nebraska led in total points (82 to 73), kills (64 to 59), hitting percentage (.210 to .175), aces (5 to 4), and blocks (13 to 10). Penn State narrowly led with 89 digs to Nebraska’s 87.

Outside hitter Nia Reed led Penn State with 20 on 70 attempts, while a slightly more balanced Nebraska offense was led by Lexi Sun’s 20 kills on 56 attempts.

Top Performer

Penn State libero Kendall White not only contributed a match-high 25 digs versus Nebraska, but with three aces in the fourth set, she helped her team push the match to a fifth, despite PSU hitting just .023 in that set.

On the season, White has 279 total digs, averaging 4.73 digs per set, fourth-best in the Big Ten.

Biggest Upcoming Matches

Michigan @ Illinois | Friday, Oct. 19, 7 PM CT

Watch on FloVolleyball

These two top-15 ranked squads have not faced each other yet this season. Michigan enters this week’s matches on a four-match win streak and Illinois is feeling great after defeating Wisconsin last week. 

Iowa @ Minnesota | Friday, Oct. 19, 7 PM CT

Watch on FloVolleyball

Now that Minnesota has firmly established itself as the top team in the conference, any match of the Gophers is one worth watching, and Iowa, which toppled Wisconsin a couple weeks ago, could prove to be a formidable opponent.

Nebraska @ Wisconsin | Friday, Oct. 19, 8 PM CT

Wisconsin is one of only two ranked Big Ten teams Nebraska hasn’t faced yet. After losing a match in both of the past two weekends, the Huskers should be extremely motivated to earn a big win. Wisconsin also needs a win after recent losses to Illinois and Iowa.

Nebraska @ Minnesota | Saturday, Oct. 20, 7 PM CT

Minnesota’s four-set victory over Nebraska on October 6 secured the Gophers a spot at the top, but this is Nebraska chance at redemption. If the Huskers want a split for the season, they’ll have to do it in front of 5,000 Gopher fans inside Maturi Pavilion.