Nov. 17, 2009
For daily updates, visit the Big Ten Volleyball Blog at: http://www.bigten.org/blog/volleyball/
FACES OF THE BIG TEN
Anna Szerszen, Ohio State
Jr., Conflans Ste Hne, France
Anna Szerszen is back in the Buckeye lineup after missing a large part of last season. She returned to playing form this summer by playing for the French National Team. From a volleyball background that saw her father win two Poland National Championships, Szerszen continues to work with the French National Program. In school, she is working on her bachelor of science in business administration and is in the master of business administration program. Click HERE to read more about Anna's journey back from injury.
Big Ten Polling Place
The Big Ten claims four teams ranked in the top 14 of the latest AVCA coaches poll, including two in the top five. Penn State is once again the unanimous No. 1, while Illinois is spending its third straight week at No. 5. No other conference in the nation has two top-five teams. Rounding out the Big Ten in the poll are No. 12 Minnesota, No. 14 Michigan and Ohio State, who is receiving votes outside the top 25. The Big Ten has had at least four top-15 teams since the start of the season (excluding preseason poll).
High Five
Minnesota became the fifth Big Ten team to reach the 20-wins milestone with victories over Iowa and Wisconsin. The Golden Gophers have reached the marker for the second consecutive year and the seventh time in the last eight seasons. This is also the second straight year the Big Ten has had five 20-win programs and the eighth time in the last nine seasons the conference has had five teams accomplish the feat. The Big Ten last had six 20-win teams in 2006.
On the Verge
Penn State needs just one more win to clinch at least a share of its seventh consecutive Big Ten title and its 13th overall since joining the conference for the 1991 season. A win over Purdue on Friday would also extend the Nittany Lions’ winning streak to 93 consecutive matches, which would put the program alone in third on the NCAA’s all-time list of winning streaks across all sports. Currently, Penn State is tied with the 1990-94 North Carolina women’s soccer teams at 92 straight. In addition, Penn State also boasts impressive win streaks in Big Ten matches (61) and in home matches (70).
They Do It All
Wisconsin’s Brittney Dolgner became the first player in program history with over 1,500 kills, 1,000 digs and 200 blocks in a career when she hit the 1,000 career digs milestone on Sunday. The senior is also just the fifth UW player with more than 1,000 career kills and digs. Minnesota’s Lauren Gibbemeyer became the 19th Gopher in history to eclipse the 1,000 career kills mark on Friday, making her just the sixth Minnesota player with over 1,000 career kills and 400 career blocks.
Ranking in the RPI
The Big Ten is tied with the Pac-10 for the national lead with five teams in the top 25 of the latest NCAA RPI report. The Big Ten is led by No. 2 Penn State and No. 4 Illinois, followed by No. 11 Minnesota, No. 13 Michigan and No. 24 Ohio State. The Big Ten and Pac-10 are also the only conferences to place each of their teams in the RPI’s top 90.
Full Coverage
Big Ten volleyball is enjoying vast coverage during the 2009 season with 23 matches broadcast nationally on the Big Ten Network, ESPN2 and ESPNU. In addition, 21 more matches are being streamed on www.BigTenNetwork.com. The complete broadcast schedule can be found on Page 5 of this release.
Daily doses of Big Ten volleyball news can be found on the Big Ten Volleyball Blog, at http://www.bigten.org/blog/volley_blog.html. Keep track of Big Ten volleyball in real-time by logging on to Twitter and following @BigTenConf and @BigTenVal.
