Indiana volleyball is on a three-match losing streak with a 6-8 record in the conference after losing to Wisconsin on the road Nov. 6. Indiana has an opportunity Friday to break this cycle and improve its resume with a ranked win against No. 16 Penn State or a win against No. 9 Minnesota on Sunday.
Indiana’s head coach Steve Aird is an alum of Penn State and competed with the men’s volleyball team as an outside hitter from 1997-2001. Aird and his teammates took the Nittany Lions to the Final Four three times throughout his career.
In this past week, Penn State was the second Division I women’s volleyball program and collected 1,400 match wins. The milestone win came in the form of a sweep against Rutgers on Nov. 6. The win also pushed Penn State to a two-match winning streak with a 19-6 overall record.
Penn State’s offense stars graduate student setter Seleisa Elisaia who has 949 assists on the season and contributes to the team’s .230 attack percentage. Alongside Elisaia are graduate student outside hitter Keshauna Williams and senior outside hitter Zoe Weatherington who both have over 210 kills on the season.
Following the evening match on Friday in Bloomington, Indiana will travel to Minneapolis to compete against No. 9 Minnesota. The Golden Gophers are 10-4 in the conference and have won the previous six games out of a seven-game stretch. They are also the only team in the conference to beat the defending NCAA champions, Wisconsin, this season.
At the forefront of the team is redshirt sophomore outside hitter Taylor Landfair, who is a top player in the nation with 363 kills on the season. On Oct. 24, she was named Big Ten Player of the Week following an impressive performance, delivering 21 kills and four digs against Purdue.
The tip-off for the match against Penn State will be at 6 p.m. Friday at Wilkinson Hall. Indiana will then face Minnesota on the road at 3 p.m. Sunday at Maturi Pavilion. Both matches can be found on BTN+.
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