ORLANDO, Fla. – Senior Jonni Parker was strong from start to finish while leading the No. 12 Penn State women's volleyball team to a 3-0 (27-25, 25-21, 25-19) win over three-time defending American Athletic Conference champion UCF on Saturday at The Venue at UCF.
Parker led all players with 19 kills, doing so with just one error on 30 swings for a .600 hitting percentage. She joined teammate Kaitlyn Hord on the UCF Challenge All-Tournament Team as the pair helped the Nittany Lions finish 2-1.
The first set was a close battle that went Penn State's way thanks in large part to the right arm of Parker. She had nine kills in the opening set, including five of the team's first eight points. Five of her nine kills in the set either tied the score or gave the Lions the lead. The final kill put her team up 26-25, setting the stage for a kill by Hord to give Penn State the 1-0 lead in the match.
After a respectable four kills in the second set, Parker took over again in the third and final set. She totaled six more kills to bring her to her total of 19 for the match. That puts her just four away from reaching the 1,000-kill milestone for her career. That will likely come at Rec Hall when the Lions host Iowa State, Oregon State and LSU for the Penn State Classic on Sept. 3-4.
Penn State hit .337 for the match, bolstered by a .442 percentage in the opening set, and held UCF to .181. The Lions finished with seven blocks, giving them 36 blocks (3.60/set) over three matches on the weekend.
Sophomore Allie Holland led Penn State in blocks with three and added five kills on .444 hitting. She also contributed from the service line with a pair of aces and chipped in with two digs.
Erika Pritchard tallied nine kills and six digs. She had 23 kills on the weekend as she remained the Big Ten's active career kills leader with 1,549.
Jenna Hampton led Penn State with 12 digs, while Adanna Rollins chipped in with seven. Setter Gabby Blossom had five in addition to her 39 assists while guiding the Lions to the high hitting percentage.
Freshman Cassie Kuerschen made an impact in just her third match for the Lions, serving for two aces. Sophomore Annie Cate Fitzpatrick, who came to Penn State from Ocala, Florida, entered in the third set and turned in a pair of kills and a block in front of a large crowd of family and friends behind the team's bench.
UCF, which went 40-2 in AAC play and qualified for the NCAA Tournament three times over the past three seasons, dropped to 1-2 in the tournament. McKenna Melville, the reigning AAC Player of the Year and the Preseason Player of the Year in the conference this year, led the Knights with 11 kills and 11 digs.
Saturday's match was the first ever between Penn State and UCF.
Penn State now turns its attention to the Penn State Classic, where it will have fans in attendance for the first time since the 2019 season. The Lions open the event against Iowa State on Friday at 8 p.m. They take on Oregon State on Saturday at 11 a.m., and LSU later that night at 8 p.m.
