Wilson earns third player of the week honor

University Park, Pa. — Junior middle hitter Arielle Wilson (Broadview, Ill.) was selected as the Big Ten Player of the Week, conference officials announced Monday (Oct. 19). This is Wilson's third honor of the season and marks the fifth straight week a Nittany Lion has earned Player of the Week accolades.

The honor is the seventh honor of Wilson's career and brings Penn State's total Big Ten Player of the Week accolades to 70 since joining the conference for the 1991 season. This is the ninth weekly honor for the squad this season as senior Alisha Glass was selected as the Player of the Week on Oct. 12, senior Megan Hodge earned the honor on Sept. 21 and freshman Darcy Dorton has been honored on four occasions as the league's freshman of the week.

Wilson guided the Nittany Lions to two more wins over the weekend, extending their NCAA-record winning streak to 84 straight matches and its Big Ten winning streak to 53 matches. Against nationally-ranked Michigan, Wilson tallied 17 kills on 23 swings for a .696 attack percentage. She also posted a team-best eight total blocks as Penn State held Michigan to a .191 average for the match. At Michigan State, Wilson attacked a .727 clip recording eight kills on 11 errorless swings, as Penn State registered a .519 team hitting percentage. Wilson also tallied seven total blocks for the night.

For the weekend, Wilson totaled 25 kills (3.12 kills per set) with only one error in 34 attempts for a smoking .706 hitting percentage. She posted 15 total blocks for a 1.88 blocks per set average and also recorded two assists and one dig.

The Nittany Lions are back in action at Rec Hall this weekend. Penn State hosts Indiana on Friday, Oct. 23 at 8 p.m. The match will be broadcast live on ESPNU. On Saturday, the Nittany Lions host Purdue at 7 p.m. The match with the Boilermakers will be taped and aired by the Big Ten Network on Sunday, Oct. 25.