STATE COLLEGE, Pa., Nov. 21, 2002 - The Penn State women's volleyball team (21-6, 11-5 Big Ten) takes to the road to face Wisconsin and Northwestern this weekend. On Friday, Nov. 22, Penn State travels to Madison, Wis., to face the Badgers (21-7, 12-5 Big Ten) in a 7:00 p.m. contest before taking on Northwestern (16-13, 9-8 Big Ten) on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 7:00 p.m. in Evanston, Ill. The Penn State/Wisconsin match will air on Fox Sports Chicago on Sunday, Nov. 24 at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Last weekend, Penn State split matches, falling to Ohio State in three games before defeating Indiana the next night in three games. The win over the Hoosiers gave Penn State a 26-0 all-time series record lead.

Against the Buckeyes (28-30, 30-32, 25-30), junior Cara Smith led the team with 14 kills while sophomore Ashley Pederson added 12 kills. Freshman Kaleena Walters tallied a team-high 11 digs and both Pederson and junior Robyn Guokas posted three blocks while senior Mishka Levy led the team with four. The following night versus Indiana (30-25, 30-25, 30-25) sophomore Syndie Nadeau and Levy posted 14 and 13 kills, respectively. Junior Erin Iceman led the team with 10 digs and Levy and Smith led the blocking front with six and five blocks, respectively. Freshman setter Sam Tortorello directed the offense both nights, recording 39 assists against Ohio State and 48 versus Indiana.

As a team, the Nittany Lions are hitting .297 to lead the Big Ten. Penn State is averaging 15.95 kills per game and 3.27 blocks per game. Defensively, the Lions are picking up 13.52 digs per game while also recording 1.97 service aces per game. Tortorello is dishing out 12.29 assists per game to lead the offense and Smith continues to lead the conference in hitting percentage, tallying a .424 mark for the season.

Wisconsin defeated Northwestern Wednesday night in five games (28-30, 25-30, 30-27, 30-25, 15-10) to avenge a loss to the Wildcats earlier this season. Badger senior Erin Byrd tallied a match-high 29 kills while three other Wisconsin players racked up double-digit kill tallies. For Northwestern, junior middle hitter Erika Lange posted 21 kills while junior Iwona Lodzik and freshman Christie Gardner tallied 18 and 17 kills, respectively. Wisconsin setter and Big Ten Player of the Week Morgan Shields led the Badger offense with 68 assists while NU sophomore setter Drew Robertson paced the team with 64 assists. The 'Cats outblocked Wisconsin 13.0 to 8.0, led by Lodzik and senior Sarah Ballog with six stuffs each. Northwestern also won the battle behind the service line, tallying eight service aces, led by senior Cassie McKnight, while not allowing Wisconsin to record any, but the Badgers outhit the Wildcats .263 to .201.

The Badgers come into Friday night's match with a 21-7 overall mark and a 12-5 Big Ten record, good for second place in the conference. Senior Erin Byrd leads the team with 4.29 kills per game with five other Badger players averaging above 2.00 kills per game. Junior setter Morgan Shields directs the offense with 13.81 assists per game while libero Lisa Zukowski is averaging 2.68 digs per game. Senior middle hitter Amy Hultgren leads the Badger blocking front with 0.97 blocks per game, aiding in the team's 2.28 block per game average. As a squad, Wisconsin is hitting .279 with 17.22 kills per game, 1.53 service aces per game and15.29 digs per game. The Nittany Lions lead the series with the Badgers, 22-3. The last meeting was a five-game Wisconsin win on Oct. 26 in Happy Valley. Wisconsin's Erin Byrd and Penn State's Mishka Levy both posted 25 kills in the match while the Nittany Lions won the blocking war 20.0 to 5.0. Byrd also posted 24 digs for the Badgers while Penn State's Hilary Sexton led the team with 18. Wisconsin outdug the Lions 85 to 69 while Penn State outhit the Badgers .314 to .218. The last Penn State win was a five-game match on Oct. 27, 2001 in State College. The Wildcats come into the match with a 16-13 overall and 9-8 conference record. Junior middle hitter Erika Lange leads the team with 4.34 kills per game while hitting .356 and also leads the team in blocking with 1.49 blocks per game. Sophomore setter Drew Robertson directs the NU offense with 11.86 assists per game while outside hitter Iwona Lodzik leads the defense with 3.20 digs per game. As a team, Northwestern is hitting .202 with 15.25 kills per game, 1.77 service aces per game, 14.05 digs per game and 2.52 blocks per game. The Nittany Lions lead the series with the Wildcats 23-3. The last meeting was a three-game Penn State win on Oct. 25 in State College. Penn State's Ashley Pederson racked up 10 kills while NU's Lange posted 12. The Nittany Lions outblocked the 'Cats 16.0 to 4.0 and hit .284 to Northwestern's .175. The last NU win was a five-game match in Evanston on Sept. 23, 2000.

For complete Penn State women's volleyball statistics and match notes for the weekend, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.