BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – No. 14 Penn State women's volleyball improved to 11-3 overall and 4-0 in the Big Ten with a 3-1 (26-24, 20-25, 25-16, 25-22) win over Indiana on Saturday night at Wilkinson Hall. It was the sixth-straight win for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State continued to win the battle at the net, totaling 13 blocks in the match. The Lions entered as the top blocking team in the nation. Kaitlyn Hord led Saturday's effort with six blocks, while Allie Holland and Gabby Blossom added five apiece. Six players were a part of at least one block in the match. Anastasiya Kudryashova had four, Jonni Parker finished with three, and Adanna Rollins contributed two.
The Lions started slow but still managed to pull out an important win in set one. Penn State led by as much as four, 17-13, in the set, but Indiana rallied to tie it at 18-18. The Hoosiers eventually took a 23-22 lead before Kudryashova tied it up with a kill, and then went up 24-23 with the next point. Hord started a 3-0 run by the Lions with a kill. Parker followed with back-to-back kills of her own to put her team up 1-0 in the match.
Holland, Hord and Parker carried Penn State to the win in the first set. Holland had five kills on her first six swings and finished with six on .667 hitting in the set. Parker tallied five kills on .455 hitting, while Hord totaled three kills on four attacks.
Libero Jenna Hampton picked up right where she left off last match when she had an impressive 23 digs in a 3-2 win at Maryland, piling up seven digs in the first set against Indiana. She had 20 for the match, giving her 43 (4.78/set) in the two wins this week.
Following a 25-20 loss in set two, Penn State came out a different team after the five-minute break between sets two and three. The Lions hit just .077 on its 11 kills in set three, but accumulated seven blocks. They also had 20 digs while holding the Hoosiers to -.077 hitting.
The Lions finished strong, hitting at a .350 clip with 18 kills in the final set. They broke a 22-22 tie with three straight points to close the match. Rollins had a kill to make it match point, and Parker followed with a kill to keep the Lions winning streak intact.
Parker posted her second-straight double-double and third of the season, finishing with 19 kills and 11 digs. Penn State had four players reach double digits in digs as Cassie Kuerschen and Rollins joined Parker and Hampton with 11 and 10 digs, respectively. Rollins just missed a double-double, adding nine kills and a pair of aces.
Holland did a little bit of everything for Penn State. She hit .333 with 10 kills and four aces in addition to her five blocks. Hord hit .455 with seven kills from her spot in the middle, while Kudryashova had eight kills. Blossom led all players with 45 assists and contributed seven digs.
Breana Edwards played well for Indiana, hitting .349 with 18 kills and two blocks. The Hoosiers dropped to 7-9 overall and 1-3 in the conference.
Penn State Is on its home court at Rec Hall for its next match, a key Big Ten contest with Nebraska on Friday at 8 p.m. The match will air on Big Ten Network and is the Lions' Wear White match.
Just three teams remain unbeaten in Big Ten play. Penn State is the lone team at 4-0, while Nebraska and Illinois are 3-0. Both of the 3-0 teams are in action on Sunday with the Cornhuskers hosting Michigan State and the Illini hosting Wisconsin.
The 2021 Penn State women's volleyball season is presented by McLanahan's.