Sep 24, TBD
Clark (MA) vs WPI
Sep 24, TBD
United States Coas vs M.I.T.
Sep 24, TBD
Wellesley College[ vs Salve Regina
Sep 24, TBD
Springfield vs Wheaton
Sep 24, TBD
Emerson College vs Babson College
Sep 24, TBD
Smith College vs Mount Holyoke Coll
Sep 28, TBD
Mount Holyoke Coll vs Salve Regina
Sep 28, TBD
Smith College vs Clark (MA)
Sep 28, TBD
Emerson College vs WPI
Sep 28, TBD
M.I.T. vs Springfield
Sep 28, TBD
Wellesley College[ vs Wheaton
Sep 28, TBD
Babson College vs United States Coas
Oct 1, TBD
Springfield vs Clark (MA)
Oct 1, TBD
Salve Regina vs M.I.T.
Oct 1, TBD
Wheaton vs United States Coas
2018 FloVolleyball Big Ten Calendar

Big Ten Notebook: Week of Nov. 11

Big Ten Notebook: Week of Nov. 11

Thanksgiving is just over a week away and that means the impending end of the regular season and the start of the NCAA tournament.

Nov 12, 2018 by Megan Kaplon
B1G Volleyball Lives On FloVolleyball

Thanksgiving is just a week and a half away, and for fans of college volleyball, that means the impending end of the regular season and the start of the NCAA tournament. 

In the toughest women’s volleyball conference in the country, there’s still many big matches left to come and nothing is set in stone. In fact, these matches toward the end of the season carry extra weight, as they’ll be fresh on the mind of selection committee come November 24. 

Here’s what happened in the Big Ten last week, and what to watch for this week’s upcoming matches.

Illinois Stretches Streak To Nine In A Row

On Friday, Illinois swept Rutgers (25-20, 25-22, 25-11) and the next day turned around and won a lengthy five-set battle over Penn State (15-25, 25-22, 27-25, 23-25, 15-13) to extend its win streak to nine in a row. The Fighting Illini also maintained their unblemished record in five-set matches for the season.

Versus Penn State, outside hitter Jacqueline Quade led the way for Illinois, smashing a career-high 29 kills in 73 attempts. The Illini’s star setter Jordyn Poulter did a fantastic job running the offense, including knowing when to take thing into her own hands -- the senior had seven kills with no errors to hit .583 for the night.

The win marked Illinois’ first over Penn State since 2014.

Big Road Win For Iowa

In last week’s Coach’s Take feature, Iowa head coach Bond Shymansky revealed that he believes his team still has a chance to make the NCAA tournament -- if the Hawkeyes win each of their remaining matches. 

So far so good as Iowa traveled to East Lansing and scored a four-set victory over Michigan State on Saturday, marking Iowa’s first season sweep of MSU since 1991. 

With Hawkeye outside hitter Cali Hoye out for the remainder of the season, Meghan Buzzerio got the start and recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs, in addition to an ace and a block. Senior outside Taylor Louis also stepped up in Hoye’s absence, tying Michigan State’s Maddie Haggerty for the match-high with 16 kills. 

Down Week For Purdue

Purdue entered last week on a seven-match win streak, but then the Boilermakers suffered two road losses to Wisconsin and Minnesota to fall to No. 6 in the conference standings with a 10-6 league record. 

Purdue went up 2-0 in Friday’s match versus Wisconsin, hitting .441 and .243 in the first two sets and even had a 10-5 lead in the third, but a seven-point serving run from Wisconsin setter Sydney Hilley was enough to turn the momentum in her team’s favor. Purdue never regained control, disintegrating throughout the third, fourth, and fifth sets, and hitting a dismal -.040 in the final frame. The result marked Purdue’s first five-set loss of the season.

The next night in Minneapolis, the Gophers hit a cool .344 on their way to a sweep of the Boilermakers, making just seven hitting errors to Purdue’s 19 and missing zero serves to Purdue’s eight errors behind the service line.

Purdue’s Sherridan Atkinson led the match with 17 kills, but Minnesota setter Samantha Seliger-Swenson ran a well balanced offense resulting in 10 kills from opposite Stephanie Samedy, nine each from Alexis Hart and Adanna Rollins (who with just one error in 16 swings hit .500), and eight from middle Regan Pittman. 

Maryland Sets New Big Ten Best

In five seasons in the Big Ten, Maryland had never won more than seven matches. That is until last week, when a sweep of Ohio State pushed the Terps to 8-8 in league competition for the season.

With 40 kills and only nine attack errors on 93 swings, hitting .333, the Terps recorded a new team best for hitting percentage in a Big Ten match so far this season. The victory in Columbus also marked the first time Maryland had ever beaten the Buckeyes on the road. 

“I’m extremely happy for our group,” Maryland head coach Adam Hughes said. “Especially for our seniors who got to experience a win here at Ohio State. We’re winning sets at this point of the season that we would’ve lost earlier in the year and that’s a real testament to how this group works to get better each day.”

Rankings Roundup

Seven Big Ten teams appeared in this week’s AVCA Poll.

See the complete poll here.

Biggest Upset

On Wednesday night, Maryland traveled to Ann Arbor and took down then-No. 15 Michigan in straight sets. It marked Maryland’s only victory over Michigan in program history and the team’s first-ever road win over a ranked team. 

The Terps' 11 blocks in the second set also established a new program best for blocks in a single set of a Big Ten match.

Overall, Maryland out-blocked Michigan 13 to six and held the Wolverines to a .066 hitting percentage, their lowest mark of the season so far. 

With Michigan trailing 21-16 in the second set, head coach Mark Rosen replaced junior setter Mackenzi Welsh with freshman Erin O’Leary, who until that point had not played at all this season, leading many to believe Rosen planned to redshirt her. O’Leary stayed in the remainder of the second set and started the next set, but Welsh subbed back in when Maryland jumped out to an early lead in the third.

Maryland outside hitter Erika Pritchard led the match with 16 kills, while middles Katie Myers and Rainelle Jones captained the blocking effort, with Myers tallying five block assists and Jones recording three solos and three block assists.

Top Performer

Junior outside hitter Jacqueline Quade has been huge for Illinois all season, collecting a total of 420 kills and ranking second in the conference with 4.24 kills per set. 

With four matches left for Illinois in the regular season, instead of slowing down and tiring out, Quade just keeps getting better. Her 29 kills in Saturday’s Penn State match marked a new career high and she added 12 digs for her sixth double-double of the season. 

Biggest Upcoming Matches

Michigan @ Penn State | Wednesday, November 14, 7 PM ET

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Just over a week ago, Michigan upset Wisconsin, but the Wolverines also have recent losses to unranked Indiana and Maryland. A win over Penn State could go a long way toward reigniting the Wolverines’ confidence, but the Nittany Lions are also in need of a big win after a full month without a victory over a ranked team.

Nebraska @ Purdue | Friday, November 16, 7 PM ET

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Purdue is Nebraska’s last ranked opponent of the regular season and after falling to Wisconsin and Minnesota on the road last week, the Boilermakers will be happy to be playing at home and will have something to prove: to themselves and the NCAA selection committee.

Iowa @ Indiana | Friday, November 16, 8 PM ET

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These two teams are tied in the standings with identical 6-10 Big Ten records. Indiana has lost three in a row but boasts a big upset victory of Michigan. Iowa, meanwhile, is looking to win out to possibly earn a spot in the NCAA tournament.

Michigan @ Michigan State | Saturday, November 17, 7 PM ET

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Despite a loss to Iowa last week, Michigan State appears to be a team on an upward trajectory. Meanwhile, Michigan has lost some very unexpected matches in the past few weeks. Can MSU take advantage of a reeling Michigan team?

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