Madison, Wis., Nov. 22, 2002 The Penn State women¡¯s volleyball team downed Wisconsin in three games (30-27, 30-24, 30-27) Friday night in front of 6,761 fans in Madison, Wis. The Nittany Lions improve to 22-6, 12-5 in the Big Ten while the Badgers fall to 21-8, 12-6 in conference action. Penn State¡¯s three-game win marks the first time since Nov. 6, 1998 that the Badgers have been swept at home, which was also against Penn State.

Junior middle hitter Cara Smith (Lafayette, Ind.) led the Lions with a career-high-tying 19 kills with only one error on 29 swings (.621). Senior Mishka Levy (Houston, Texas) chipped in 15 kills, hitting .423. As a team, Penn State outhit the Badgers .364 to .260.

Freshman libero Kaleena Walters (Mt. Lebanon, Pa.) tallied a match-high 11 digs while sophomore Syndie Nadeau (St. Georges, Quebec) added six. Wisconsin outdug the Lions 50 to 35.

Smith also led all players with eight blocks, aiding in Penn State¡¯s 13.0 to 5.0 blocking advantage. Both junior Robyn Guokas (Burr Ridge, Ill.) and sophomore Ashley Pederson (Sioux Falls, S.D.) each added four blocks, including one solo effort.

Freshman setter Sam Tortorello (Shorewood, Ill.) led the Lion offense with 42 assists, also adding four kills on an errorless six swings, five digs and three blocks.

The Badgers were led by senior Erin Byrd with 21 kills while setter Morgan Shields tallied 48 assists, 10 digs and two service aces.

Wisconsin took control of game one early, jumping out to a 6-1 lead behind four kills and two Penn State blocking errors. But the Lions rattled off five straight points to tie the game at 6-6 on a Pederson kill. The Badgers regained the lead on a kill and held the advantage until a Wisconsin attack error and a block by Levy and Guokas gave Penn State the 18-17 lead. The teams traded kills before the Lions scored the next three points to take the 22-18 advantage. Wisconsin pulled to within one at 28-27 to force a Nittany Lion timeout, but Penn State scored the next two points to end the contest at 30-27. Smith led the Lions with six kills while Levy added four. Guokas tallied three blocks and Penn State outhit the Badgers .361 to .279.

Penn State jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the second stanza before Wisconsin rallied to tie the game at 11-11 on a kill. The Nittany Lions then used three kills to spark an 8-0 run to extend their lead to 19-11. But the Badgers fought back to force a Penn State timeout at 23-20, from which Smith and the Lions responded with a kill. Penn State outscored Wisconsin 6-3 for the remainder of the game to end the contest at 30-24 on a Levy kill. Smith led all players with nine kills on 11 errorless swings while Levy added five kills. Penn State outblocked the Badgers 5.0 to 2.0 in the game, aided by Smith with four. The Lions outhit Wisconsin .385 to .244.

The two teams kept the third game close with Penn State taking the 7-6 lead on a block by Guokas and Levy. Another block, this one by Smith and Tortorello, gave the Lions the 14-9 advantage. The Badgers clawed back to tie the contest at 18-18 but a Nadeau kill quickly put the Lions back on top. A service ace by Erin Iceman forced a Wisconsin timeout at 22-19 and Penn State came out of the break by scoring the next three points. A Nadeau kill ended the game at 30-27. Levy led the Lions with six kills while Smith had four block assists in the contest. Penn State outhit Wisconsin .349 to .255 and also outblocked them 5.0 to 2.0.

Penn State travels to Northwestern on Saturday, Nov. 23 to face the Wildcats in a 7:00 p.m. contest in Evanston, Ill.

The Penn State/Wisconsin match can be seen on Fox Sports Chicago on Sunday, Nov. 24 at 2:00 p.m. ET.

For complete match and season statistics and updates, please visit the women¡¯s volleyball homepage on Penn State¡¯s official athletic website, www.GoPSUsports.com.