On the same night as the heart-stopping ending of Saturday night’s football game, the fourth-ranked women’s volleyball team defeated No. 19 Wisconsin in three consecutive sets.

The first set was mostly point for point until three consecutive hitting errors put Penn State up 16-14. Penn State was two points away from winning the set when Wisconsin scored three points to get within one of Wisconsin. Megan Courtney had a kill to get the team within set point and a Wisconsin attack error gave Penn State the set win.

The second set didn’t start out as close, with Wisconsin taking an early 13-7 lead. Penn State got within one, after three Wisconsin hitting errors along with a kill from Katie Slay and an ace from Deja McClendon. Penn State won the set after a 7-1 streak including two kills from Courtney and a kill from McClendon.

With the third set tied at 6, Wisconsin went ahead 11-6 and then furthered their lead to 16-9. A Wisconsin service error shifted momentum and put Penn State on a 5-1 run after two kills from Ariel Scott to bring Penn State within two, 16-14. The two teams exchanged points, until an ace from Nia Grant gave Penn State the go-ahead point to put Penn State up 21-20. McClendon had a kill, followed by two Wisconsin hitting errors and a final kill from Slay gave Penn State the win.

Penn State won their fifth consecutive Big Ten match and improves to 14-2 overall and 5-1 in the conference. Penn State goes on a road next weekend when they will face Illinois on Friday night, which will be aired on the Big Ten Network at 8 p.m., and Northwestern on Sunday afternoon.

If Penn State is victorious in matches against both Illinois and Northwestern this coming weekend, head coach Russ Rose will leapfrog Andy Banchowski on the NCAA women’s volleyball all-time win list with 1106 victories. Current Hawaii coach Dave Shoji is the all-time wins leader with 1119.