UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- No. 2 Penn State Women's Volleyball is back in the National Semifinal for the first time since 2017 as it takes on No. 3 Nebraska at Louisville's KFC Yum! Center on Thursday. The match will start 30 minutes following the completion of the first semifinal and will air live on ESPN>
The winner of Thursday's match advances to the National Championship, where it will take on the winner between No. 1 Pitt and No. 4 Louisville on Sunday at 3 p.m. That match will air live on ABC.
HOW TO FOLLOW
National Semifinal | Thursday, Dec. 19 | 30 minutes following the completion of the first semifinal
#1 seed Nebraska (33-2) vs. #1 seed Penn State (33-2) | Live Stats | ESPN
OPENING NOTES
• Penn State is set to compete in the NCAA National Semifinal for the 14th time out of a possible 44 NCAA Tournaments.
• It is the Nittany Lions’ first NCAA National Semifinal appearance since 2017.
• The Nittany Lions are the only program to compete in all 44 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Tournaments.
• Thursday marks Penn State’s first NCAA National Semifinal appearance under head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley, who is in her third season as Penn State head coach. The Nittany Lions lost in the Regional Semifinal in each of her first two seasons. It will be the 11th NCAA Tournament match overall with Schumacher-Cawley as head coach. They are 8-2 in the postseason during that time.
PENN STATE NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Penn State, which has won seven national titles, is 114-36 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Nittany Lions are 73-3 in NCAA Tournament matches played at Rec Hall.
• Penn State has made the National Semifinal 13 times and the National Championship match 10 times.
PENN STATE IN NATIONAL SEMIFINAL
• The Nittany Lions are 10-3 all-time in the National Semifinal. They have beaten nine different teams in the round -- Nebraska (2x), BYU, Cal, Florida, Hawaii, Pacific, Stanford, Texas, and Washington.
• Penn State will play in the National Semifinal for the first time since 2017 when it lost in five sets to Nebraska in Kansas City.
• The Nittany Lions are 2-1 against Nebraska in the National Semifinal, winning in 1998 and 2008.
SERIES HISTORY
• Penn State is 12-28 in the all-time series with Nebraska. The teams first played in 1981.
• The Nittany Lions won the most recent matchup between the teams 3-1 at Rec Hall on Nov. 29 of this season. Redshirt freshman Caroline Jurevicius had her best match of the season in the win, hitting .414 with 18 kills and two blocks. Jess Mruzik had a double-double with 10 kills and 10 digs, while Izzy Starck had a double-double with 46 assists and 11 digs. Maggie Mendelson contributed eight kills and six blocks.
• Penn State is 3-8 against Nebraska in the NCAA Tournament. The Huskers won the most recent postseason matchup 3-2 in 2017. That match was played at the Sprint Center in Kansas, City, Mo.
HOW THEY GOT HERE - PENN STATE
• Penn State earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after going 29-2 overall and 19-1 in the Big Ten on its way to its first conference title since 2017.
• The Nittany Lions received one of the four top seeds and the right to host their matches through the Regional Final.
• In the opening weekend of the tournament, Penn State started with a 3-0 sweep of MEAC champion Delaware State and followed that with a 3-1 win over North Carolina behind 21 kills from Jess Mruzik.
• Penn State upped its record to 33-2 with a 3-1 win over Marquette in the NCAA Regional Semifinal and a 3-2 win over sixth-ranked Creighton in the NCAA Regional Final. Camryn Hannah hit .476 with 24 kills, while Jess Mruzik recorded a double-double with 20 kills and 13 digs against the Golden Eagles. Mruzik tallied 20 kills, eight digs, and four blocks, while Caroline Jurevicius added 11 kills and Gillian Grimes contributed 17 digs in the win over the Bluejays.
HOW THEY GOT HERE - NEBRASKA
• Nebraska earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament after sharing the Big Ten title with Penn State but losing the automatic bid tiebreaker due to a head-to-head loss. The Cornhuskers went 29-2 overall and 19-1 in the conference during the regular season.
• The Huskers, the overall No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, opened the postseason with back-to-back sweeps over Florida A&M and Miami in the First and Second Rounds.
• Nebraska then upped its record to 33-2 overall with a 3-1 win over 23rd-ranked Dayton in the Regional Semifinal and a sweep of seventh-ranked Wisconsin in the Regional Final. Andi Jackson hit .474 with 10 kills and five blocks in the win over the Badgers. Lexi Rodriguez led all players with 17 digs.
• The Huskers advanced to the National Championship match last season, where it fell to Texas in three sets.
STREAKS TO WATCH
Ava Falduto
· 5 straight matches with at least one ace
Gillian Grimes
· 8 straight matches with double-digit digs
Camryn Hannah
· 3 straight matches with at least one ace
Jess Mruzik
· 9 straight matches with double-digit kills
UP NEXT
• The winner of Thursday's match advances to the National Championship on Sunday, where Penn State would go for its eighth National Title and Nebraska would try for its sixth.