Today in Penn State sports: Sept. 30, 2017

Wrapping up a busy Saturday of Penn State sports away from Beaver Stadium:

Penn State powers to sweep of Northwestern

Behind a highly-efficient offense, the Penn State women’s volleyball team swept away Northwestern 26-24, 25-14, 25-14 Saturday night at Rec Hall.

Simone Lee led the way with a dozen kills on .611 hitting, Haleigh Washington put down 10 kills and Tori Gorrell was a perfect 7-for-7 on her spikes as the No. 3 Nittany Lions hit .494 with just seven errors. Penn State entered the weekend second in the nation in hitting at .349, just behind Purdue’s .350.

Abby Detering and Bryanna Weiskircher directed the offense with 21 and 17 assists, respectively. Kendall White had 13 digs and Washington posted five blocks.

Symone Abbott’s 12 kills led the Wildcats (11-5, 1-3), who hit .198.

Penn State (13-1, 3-1) visit Ohio State on Friday.

Nittany Lions fall to Buckeyes

COLUMBUS, Ohio The Penn State women’s soccer team dropped a showdown for Big Ten supremacy 1-0 to Ohio State.

Sammy Edwards netted the only goal of the contest, finding the net from the left wing with help from Marike Mousset with 25:57 left.

Rose Chandler made one save in the loss and D Kerr stopped three shots for the Buckeyes (9-2-1, 4-1 Big Ten), who are alone atop the conference standings. The No. 6 Nittany Lions (10-6-2, 3-1-1) dropped into a tie for second with Purdue and Northwestern, who meet Sunday.

Penn State next hosts Michigan on Friday.

PSU men, women each take top-3 finishes

STILLWATER, Okla. Penn State was second in the women’s race and third among the men at Oklahoma State’s Cowboy Jamboree.

Jillian Hunsberger was fourth in the women’s 6-kilometer race in 21 minutes, 6 seconds, while Alison Willingmyer was 12th and Kathryn Munks took 21st. State College graduate Victoria Crawford was the sixth Nittany Lion across in 59th in 22:55.

Colin Albert finished the 8-kilometer men’s race in 24:48 for eighth place, while Tim McGowan was 11th and Bobby Hill took 18th.

The host Cowboys won the men’s team title with 42 points, and Penn State had 88. Mississippi topped the women with 44 points to edge the Nittany Lions’ 48.

PSU blanked on road

DULUTH, Minn. No. 5 Minnesota-Duluth scored all of its goals in the final 12:05 in a 3-0 win over Penn State.

Jalyn Elmes, Mallorie Iozzo and Sydney Brodt scored the Bulldogs’ goals, finally solving Hannah Ehresmann after the Lion goalie stopped the first 33 shots she faced. She made 38 saves in the game as Penn State (0-2) was outshot 41-12 Saturday and outscored 4-0 in the opening weekend series.

The Nittany Lions host Union for two games next weekend.

PSU beats UNCW

WILMINGTON, N.C. Penn State posted a 4-1 singles record against North Carolina-Wilmington and was 1-4 in singles against Old Dominion at the Seahawk National Invitational.

Earning wins against the tournament host Seahawks were Gabby O’Gorman, Shannon Hanley, Hanna Wikberg and Frederikke Svarre. Wikberg had the lone win against the Monarchs. Hanley and Samantha Smith earned a doubles win against Virginia Commonwealth in a tournament that runs through Sunday.

Lions open play in Tulsa

TULSA, Okla. Christos Antonoplous won his opening singles match but dropped his second contest during the pre-qualifying round of the ITA All-American Tournament on Saturday. Alp Sentay lost his singles opener. The tournament runs through Monday.

This story was originally published September 30, 2017 at 10:29 PM with the headline "Today in Penn State sports: Sept. 30, 2017."