Evanston, Ill., Nov. 23, 2002 The Penn State women¡¯s volleyball team fell to Northwestern in four games (30-27, 23-30, 24-30, 26-30) Saturday night in Evanston, Ill. The Nittany Lions fall to 22-7 overall, 12-6 in the Big Ten while the Wildcats improve to 17-13, 10-8 in conference play.

Junior Cara Smith (Lafayette, Ind.) led the squad with 13 kills while sophomores Ashley Pederson (Sioux Falls, S.D.) and Syndie Nadeau (St. Georges, Quebec) both chipped in 11 and senior Mishka Levy (Houston, Texas) added 10.

Northwestern outhit Penn State .317 to .189 in the match and also won the blocking battle 12.0 to 8.0. Smith and junior Robyn Guokas (Burr Ridge, Ill.) both posted four stuffs with Levy adding three.

Freshman setter Sam Tortorello (Shorewood, Ill.) recorded 42 assists, 10 digs and a match-high five service aces while fellow freshman Kaleena Walters (Mt. Lebanon, Pa.) led the team in digs with 14, one shy of her career-high.

For Northwestern, junior Iwona Lodzik posted a match-high 25 kills and junior Erika Lange added 21 kills on 34 attempts to hit .529, along with seven blocks. Setter Drew Robertson dished out 61 assists while Lodzik also led the team in digs with 20.

Northwestern jumped out to an 8-5 lead before a Nadeau ace tied the game at 10-10. The teams then traded points until Penn State took the 14-13 lead on Wildcat attack error. Another NU attack error forced a timeout at 18-15 and from there Northwestern rallied to tie the game at 20-20. A Pederson kill gave Penn State the advantage but the Lions fell behind 24-22. Penn State rallied with a kill from Guokas and tied the score at 25-25. A block from Nadeau and Smith gave Penn State the 27-25 advantage and from there the Lions took game one on a Nadeau kill, 30-27. Smith led Penn State with six kills on eight attempts in the stanza while Walters tallied five digs. Penn State outhit the Wildcats .270 to .238 and outblocked them 3.0 to 1.0.

Penn State found itself down 3-9 in the second stanza before rallied to within one at 13-14 on a Smith kill. After a Penn State timeout at 14-19, Northwestern rattled off three straight points to force another Nittany Lion timeout. Levy responded with a kill and the Lions then scored the next three points to force a Wildcat timeout at 18-22. The teams traded points five times before three straight Northwestern points ended the game at 30-23. Both Smith and Pederson tallied four kills in the set while Walters posted four digs. Northwestern outhit the Lions .340 to .225.

The two teams kept the third stanza close early with 11 ties before Penn State took the 16-15 lead on a solo block by Guokas followed by a Smith and Guokas double block. Northwestern rallied to tie the score at 17-17 and the team again exchanged points before three straight Wildcat points forced a Penn State timeout at 20-23. A Northwestern kill and service error followed by a Tortorello service ace put the Lions down by two at 22-24. The teams traded points before the Wildcats rattled off two points to force another Penn State timeout at 24-28. An NU kill and block ended the game at 30-24. Levy posted five kills in the set for the Lions while Tortorello added three service aces. Northwestern outhit Penn State .343 to .083.

The Nittany Lions fell behind early in the fourth game behind three Northwestern kills but Penn State responded with kills of its own to tie the game at 3-3. A see-saw battle ensued before Penn State gained the 17-15 advantage behind two Levy kills and a Tortorello ace. A Northwestern timeout was followed by another Tortorello ace and a Wildcat attack error gave the Lions the 19-15 lead. Penn State retained the advantage, forcing another Northwestern timeout at 22-18. The teams traded kills and an NU attack error made the score 24-19. A Penn State ballhandling error coupled with two Northwestern blocks forced a Lion timeout at 24-22. The ¡®Cats came out of the break to score the next three points to take the 25-24 lead and force another Penn State timeout. A Nadeau kill evened the score at 25-25 but Northwestern went on to score five of the next six points to take the game 30-26. Nadeau and Pederson posted four kills apiece while sophomore Tabitha Eshleman (Greencastle, Pa.) tallied three digs. Northwestern outhit Penn State .351 to .167 and outblocked them 5.0 to 2.0.

Penn State returns home for its final Big Ten matches of the season when it hosts Minnesota and Iowa next weekend. On Friday, Nov. 29 the Nittany Lions host a 7:00 p.m. match against the Gophers before taking on the Hawkeyes on Saturday, Nov. 30, also at 7:00 p.m. Both matches can be heard live on the web at www.GoPSUsports.com.

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.