#1 Volleyball knocks off #8 Penn State, 3-2, in Happy Valley

The match will go down as one of the best regular season contests in Big Ten history. Over 5,200 fans watched the eighth-ranked and four-time defending national champion Penn State Nittany Lions battle No. 1 ranked Illinois at Rec Hall and in the end the visiting Illini came away with an epic five-set victory 21-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-21, 15-12. The victory pushes the Illinois overall record to 17-0, keeps the Illini tied with Nebraska for first place in the Big Ten at 6-0 and ends Penn State's 68-match Big Ten home winning streak. The Lions fall to 11-5, 4-2 in the league.

The victory also marked just the second victory by the Illini at Penn State in 22 tries with the other win coming in 1995. A pair of freshmen came up huge for Illinois, especially at the end of the match. Liz McMahon had 14 kills and six block assists while hitting .270. Penn State, who had the big block going in the taking the first set, saw that fortune turn late in the match when freshman Anna Dorn tied an Illinois record with 13 block assists, four of which came in the final set.

"It was just an epic battle," head coach Kevin Hambly said. "I thought Liz in that second set took over and Anna Dorn took over the match blocking late, but it really took a lot of players who made big plays throughout the match."

fightingillini.com