PISCATAWAY, N.J. – No. 20 Penn State hit .407 while holding Rutgers to a .073 clip on its way to a 3-0 (25-10, 25-12, 25-20) win in the Big Ten women's volleyball opener for both teams. The Nittany Lions improved to 8-3 overall, while the Scarlet Knights dropped to 8-4.
Penn State started fast in all three sets, opening the first with a 5-0 run, the second with a 4-0 run, and the third with a 3-0 run. The Lions never trailed at any point in any set. Their 25-10 win in set one was their second most lopsided set win of the season, coming in behind a 25-9 victory in the third set against St. John's.
Jonni Parker continued her great start to the season, hitting .421 with a match-high 11 kills and added six assists, four blocks, three digs and an ace. For the season, Parker is hitting .347 while averaging 3.67 kills/set and 1.00 blocks/set.
Erika Pritchard and Adanna Rollins had nine kills apiece in the win, with Pritchard hitting .368 and Rollins hitting .353. Kaitlyn Hord tallied six kills with no errors on .500 hitting, Allie Holland totaled four kills on five swings, and Anastasiya Kudryashova contributed two kills.
Penn State, which ranks first in the nation in blocks/set, totaled nine against Rutgers. Hord led the way with three solo and four block assists.
Libero Jenna Hampton paced the defensive effort with a team-high eight digs. Gabby Blossom had six and guided the Lions' offense with 30 assists.
The Lions have hit better than .300 in six matches this season, including better than .400 in two of the last three matches. Defensively, they have held their past three opponents under .100 hitting – Robert Morris (.054), West Virginia (.083) and Rutgers (.073).
Beka Kojadinovic put together a solid match for Rutgers with 10 kills on .304 hitting.
Penn State has won 29 straight matches in the series with Rutgers, including the last 16 by 3-0 scores. The Lions last loss to Rutgers came in 1982.
Up next for Penn State is a matchup between two top-25 teams. The Lions host No. 3 Ohio State on Sunday at 4 p.m. The match will air live on Big Ten Network.
Ohio State is 10-1 on the season after suffering its first loss in its Big Ten Opener against Maryland on Friday night.
