Top B1G matchups in week 1

Week zero came and went and was a huge success. I think volleyball can expect to see more showcases like that in the future. It was great for TV, for fans, for the teams that participated. It led us straight into week 1 where we had more and more big time match ups. The Big Ten, especially the teams at the top, continue to put their best foot forward and play against more top talent across the country. Here are a few of my thoughts about some of the biggest games from week 1.

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We can't start without talking about the Huskers reverse sweep of the Wildcats. The Nebraska fans painted Nashville Husker red and the Cornhuskers came up victorious. That was SUCH a culture and character building win for DBK and her squad. Kentucky was playing some of the best defense I have seen and Nebraska was absolutely UNLOADING on some balls. This match showed how deep the Huskers bench really is. That fact alone is going to take them far this season.

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Wisconsin played Texas with a home court advantage but were unable to use that to their advantage. The Badgers came out swinging and hung on for a bit but were ultimately no match for the Longhorns. Texas is young and Wisconsin is new. Mimi Colyer had a great first showing against Kansas in their 5 set win on Friday night, but wasn't as ever-present on Sunday afternoon. WIsconsin will need to figure out who is going to speak up in big moments when they are down because in their loss they showed how new they really are. Although they took one loss, they walked away from the weekend 1-1 after beating a talented Kansas in 5. Overall I would say that Coach Sheffield should be happy with the performance of his Badgers in week 1. 

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If you couldn't tell I've been putting off talking about this one… #2 Penn State took a loss to a talented Arizona State in just 4 sets. It was inevitable, the Nittany Lions have a TARGET on their back after being the returning national champs and bringing on board Kennedy Martin, but I personally didn't think it was going to come this soon. Kennedy Martin took 48 swings and had 23 kills hitting at a high clip of .313. Some crazy numbers from Martin, but that's about where it stops. Not a single other nittany lion had double digit kills and everyone hit below .200 except Middle Blocker Jordan Hopp who hit .231. Overall not the best showing from Penn State and they are really going to need someone other than Martin to step up offensively. It's also not over for the lions, they have to bounce back and play #25 TCU this evening.