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Ali Frantti Named Big Ten Player Of The Week

Ali Frantti took home Big Ten women’s volleyball Player of the Week honors Monday after leading the undefeated Nittany Lions to a pair of wins in her home state of Illinois.

The senior outside hitter from Spring Grove paced Penn State’s offense over the weekend with 37 kills, including a season-high 20 in the team’s second early win versus Stanford. She added 11 digs and three blocks in a 2-0 performance at the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge in Champaign.

Wisconsin’s Tionna Williams was named the conference’s defensive player of the week, while Nebraska senior Kelly Hunter earned the setter of the week nod. Badgers middle blocker Dana Rettke and Ohio State libero Hannah Gruensfelder shared Big Ten freshman of the week recognition, an honor Frantti received three times in 2014 on her way to AVCA Freshman of the Year.

Frantti became the 26th player in Penn State history to surpass the 1,000 career kills mark in the sweep of West Virginia. Russ Rose’s wife, three-time All-American Lori Barberich, owns the school record with 2,282 from 1981-84.

Frantti and sophomore libero Kendall White form Penn State’s most consistent passing duo.

Penn State (7-0) rose to No. 2 in the latest AVCA Coaches Poll released Monday. Their 14 first-place votes rank second only to Minnesota’s 40. However, the two programs won’t meet til the final match of the regular season in Minneapolis on Nov. 25.

Frantti and the Nittany Lions will play in front of their first home crowd of the year Friday at 7:30 p.m. when they open the Penn State Classic against Yale in Rec Hall.

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About the Author

Ethan Kasales

Ethan’s a senior journalism major who grew up in Lemont, a few minutes from campus. When he’s not covering Penn State sports, you can usually find him golfing or teaching snowboarding at Tussey Mountain. Feel free to email him at [email protected].

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