No. 10 Penn State (17-6, 9-3 Big Ten) dropped its third-straight conference match Saturday night as No. 3 Minnesota (17-4, 9-3 Big Ten) swept the Nittany Lions (17-25, 20-25, 18-25) in Minneapolis.

How It Happened

Simone Lee turned in another impressive night with a match-high 17 kills, but head coach Hugh McCutcheon’s Golden Gophers avenged their 3-2 upset in Rec Hall earlier this season behind a balanced offense. Senior outside hitter Sarah Wilhite’s 15 kills and eight digs paced the maroon and gold to an easy win, while Hannah Tapp added 10 kills and four blocks.

Middle blockers Tori Gorrell and Haleigh Washington finished with seven kills apiece, but Russ Rose’s Nittany Lions were outblocked 12-4 in the Sports Pavilion. Juniors Heidi Thelen and Ali Frantti combined for 10 kills, while setter Abby Detering dished out 26 assists in the loss.

Her counterpart, Samantha Seliger-Swenson, put up 37 assists and five digs to help the Golden Gophers to a .374 hitting percentage. Freshman Alexis Hart, Molly Lohman, and Paige Tapp rounded out the scoring with nine, eight, and four kills, respectively. Lohman and Tapp finished with a match-high seven blocks apiece.

Kendall White and Keeton Holcomb delivered a combined 23 digs, while Katie Schau and Dalianliz Rosado had strong evenings with 29 between them. Penn State struggled for the second night in a row offensively, hitting a meager .195 as a team

Player Of The Match

Simone Lee | Junior | Outside hitter

The Menomonee Wis., native led the match with 17 kills and capped the double-double with 11 digs. She added three assists, a service ace, and a block.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will be back in Rec Hall this Friday at 8:00 p.m. against No. 1 Nebraska on Big Ten Network.