MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – No. 20 Penn State wrapped up non-conference play in women's volleyball with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-13, 25-20) win over West Virginia on Friday night at the WVU Coliseum. The Lions improved to 7-3 with their seventh sweep of the season and second of the day.
It was the first loss of the season for West Virginia as it fell to 10-1. Included in the Mountaineers 10-0 start to the season was a sweep of Michigan in their lone match against a Big Ten opponent.
Penn State went 2-0 at the Mountaineer Invitational. The Lions swept Robert Morris earlier in the day by scores of 25-13, 25-15, 25-12.
Jonni Parker led all players with 11 kills and did so with a hitting percentage of .346. The six-rotation player is hitting .342 while averaging 3.67 kills/set this season. She has hit better than .300 in eight of the team's 10 matches this season.
Anastasiya Kudryashova picked up her first start of the season at outside hitter and was right behind Parker with nine kills. No player on West Virginia had more than eight kills as the Lions held the Mountaineers to .083 hitting.
Adanna Rollins continued to be a versatile six-rotation player herself as she led all players with 10 digs in addition to six kill and two blocks. Freshman Cassie Kuerschen was solid in the back row with five digs.
In the middle, sophomore Allie Holland continued to improve in her first season as a starter for Penn State. She tallied five blocks, including three solo stops. She was dominant earlier in the day against Robert Morris, hitting .688 with 11 kills and five blocks. Kaitlyn Hord gave the Lions a strong duo up front with five kills and four blocks against West Virginia.
The first set was the most competitive even though Penn State never trailed. West Virginia managed to tie the score midway through at 15-15 and then again at 21-21. Kudryashova broke the tie with a kill and then added another a few points later to put her team up 24-22. With Kuerschen at the service line, the Lions secured set point on an attack error by the Mountaineers.
Penn State was dominant in set two, leading by as much as 13 at 20-7 following three straight attack errors by West Virginia. It was a team effort at the end of the set with four different players scoring the final five points. Kudryashova and Rollins had kills during that stretch, while Hord had a block. Holland tallied the 25th point on a kill to put the Lions up 2-0 in the match.
West Virginia was resilient in battling back from an early deficit of 7-2 to eventually tie set three at 13-13. A kill by Kudryashova put Penn State back up and it didn't relinquish the lead again. Parker came through in the clutch late in the set with five kills in the final nine points for the Lions.
Kristen Lux led the Mountaineers with eight kills, while Adrian Ell finished with seven kills and five digs.
Penn State improved to 30-0 all-time against West Virginia as the two teams squared off for the first time since 2017.
A trip to Rutgers awaits Penn State to open Big Ten play. The Lions take on the Scarlet Knights at the Rutgers Athletic Center (RAC) on Friday at 7 p.m.
