ORLANDO, Fla. – The 12th-ranked Penn State women's volleyball team split its first two matches of the 2021 season Friday at the UCF Challenge. The Nittany Lions (1-1) opened with a 3-1 (25-20, 25-16, 17-25, 25-19) loss to No. 24 Georgia Tech in the morning, but bounced back with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-9) sweep over St. John's later in the day.
Penn State is back at the The Venue at UCF on Saturday to take on the host Knights in front of a sellout crowd at 7:30 p.m. The match is available to watch live with a subscription on the ESPN+ app.
The Lions combined for 29 blocks in the two matches, including 15 in the three-set win over St. John's. They had numerous impressive numbers against the Red Storm, including a .359 hitting percentage and seven aces.
The win over St. John's was a team effort with no player reaching double-digit kills. Kaitlyn Hord and Jonni Parker were the closest with nine apiece. Hord came up just shy of a double-double, adding 10 blocks. Her nine kills came on .412 hitting.
Parker totaled her nine kills on .471 hitting and added four blocks and four digs. Erika Pritchard, who made her Penn State debut earlier in the day, joined Parker and Hord in hitting .400 or better, tallying seven kills with a .400 percentage.
Gabby Blossom did a large chunk of the team's damage from the service line, leading the way with four aces. Allie Holland had two apiece, while Adanna Rollins, who also made her Penn State debut earlier in the day, contributed one.
All four of Blossom's aces came in the final set. She served three straight at one point to give Penn State a 19-7 lead.
Holland had a solid all-around match from her spot at middle blocker, totaling four kills on eight swings with no errors, in addition to five blocks.
Rollins put up the most digs on the team with 11, while Jenna Hampton and Blossom each finished with six. Rollins scored the final point of the match with a kill to finish off the blowout in the final set.
St. John's is the defending regular season champion in the Big East and was an NCAA Tournament qualifier two seasons ago after winning the Big East Tournament.
The season-opening loss came to a strong Georgia Tech team that returned nearly its entire roster from a squad that made the NCAA Tournament Second Round last year. The YellowJackets, who have former Penn State All-American and four-time national champion Arielle Wilson on their staff, got the job done defensively with 62 digs compared to 44 for Penn State.
Hord paced Penn State with 11 kills on .579 hitting and added seven blocks. In the team's seven sets on the day, the senior finished with 20 kills on .500 hitting and had 17 blocks (2.43/set). Parker joined her in double-figures with 10 kills, Rollins and Pritchard had seven apiece, and Holland contributed six.
Hampton led the Lions in digs with 15 against Georgia Tech, while Blossom finished with 11 in addition to 28 assists for her first double-double of the season.
Penn State has another tough opponent when it closes the event against UCF on Saturday. The Knights are 68-14 overall and 40-2 in the AAC while winning three straight conference titles and making three straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
Saturday's match will be the first ever between Penn State and UCF.
The 2021 Penn State women's volleyball season is presented by McLanahan's.
