Coach Russ Rose’s No. 1-ranked women’s volleyball team opened its Big Ten season with sweeps of Northwestern and Illinois on the road.

The Nittany Lions shut out Northwestern 25-19, 25-12, 25-16 in Evanston Friday night, then topped Illinois, 25-11, 25-17, 25-17 in Champaign-Urbana Saturday night to raise their winning streaks to 78 overall and 47 in the Big Ten.

Megan Hodge led the Lions at Northwestern with 16 kills on .414 hitting, followed by Arielle Wilson with 13 and Blair Brown with 10. Alyssa D’Errico posted 14 digs, Alisha Glass had 45 assists and Fatima Balza had four blocks. At Illinois, freshman Darcy Dorton led the team with 14 kills, followed by Wilson with 13 on .750 hitting and Hodge with 12. Glass tied D’Errico with 11 digs, while Hodge and Cathy Quilico had 10. Penn State outblocked the Illini 7-3.

The men’s soccer team opened its Big Ten season by upsetting No. 22 Michigan, 2-0, on a wet and sloppy Jeffrey Field Sunday. Coach Barry Gorman’s lads (5-3-1 overall) got goals from Corey Hertzog and Jason Yeisley and assists from Yeisley, Matheus Braga and Frank Costigliola.

The Wolverines entered the game with a 7-1 record and 23 goals, but a stellar Lion defense of Andy Parr, Andres Casais, Mark Fetrow and Justin Lee limited them to four shots on goal, all of which were stopped by keeper Warren Gross, who fought through a hip injury to record his fourth shutout of the season.

The Lions now have a 4-0-1 record on Jeffrey Field and increased their scoring advantage there to 14-2.

On Wednesday, the Lions took on Lehigh on Jeffrey Field. Hertzog scored the first goal 70 minutes into the match, but two minutes before the end of regulation, Lehigh got the tying goal, and 20 minutes of play through two overtimes couldn’t resolve the tie.

The women’s soccer team lost a tough overtime match, 3-2, in its conference opener at Michigan State Sunday, despite rallying from a 2-0 deficit on long goals by Katie Schoepfer and Christine Nairn in the final 31 minutes. Schoepfer tallied from 20 yards out off an assist from Maddy Evans, while Nairn blasted the tying goal from 30 yards out. Penn State (4-5-1) outshot the Spartans 19-12, but is now winless in its past three overtime matches since October 2008.

Despite outshooting the Bisons, 30-10, Coach Erica Walsh’s team had to settle for a 0-0 tie after two overtimes at Bucknell on Wednesday. All-American goalie Alyssa Naeher earned her third consecutive shutout, but the Lion attackers were unable to get one in the net either.

State’s field hockey team had a 16-11 shooting advantage at Michigan Sunday, but two Wolverine goals within 1:44 early in the second half gave the home team the victory in the Big Ten opener. On Wednesday, the Lady Lions were shut out, 3-0, at No. 7 Princeton, despite a career-high 14 saves by goalkeeper Ali Meves.