ANN ARBOR, Mich. – No. 15 Penn State women's volleyball kept pace near the top of the Big Ten standings with a 3-1 (26-24, 23-25, 25-19, 25-22) win at Michigan on Friday night at Cliff Keen Arena. Erika Pritchard totaled a season-high 18 kills and Jenna Hampton matched a career-high with 27 digs to help the Nittany Lions improve to 18-7 overall and 11-4 in the conference.
Penn State is tied with Purdue for fourth in the Big Ten standings, sitting just one loss behind Wisconsin, Nebraska and Minnesota, which are in a three-way tie for first place with five matches left in the regular season.
Pritchard's final kill clinched the match for the Lions. She hit .368 and added seven digs, two aces and one block. She didn't have an attack error through the first three sets, hitting .542 with 13 kills during that stretch.
Adanna Rollins recorded a double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs. Those numbers are notable for the senior outside hitter as she entered the match needed 15 kills and 13 digs to reach 1,000 for her career in both categories. She leaves Ann Arbor with 999 career kills and 999 career digs.
Penn State had trouble closing in the first two sets. The Lions led 21-14 in set one after a kill by Gabby Blossom before Michigan stormed back to tie it at 23-23. Anjelina Starck broke the tie with a kill. Michigan evened the score again, but Pritchard gave the Lions a chance at set point with a kill and the set ended on a Michigan attack error.
The second set is one Penn State will want to forget as it readies for its next match. The Lions again held a big lead, going up 21-13 on a Michigan service error. The Wolverines went on an 8-0 run to tie it at 21-all. Kaitlyn Hord ended the run with a kill for the Lions, but Michigan responded with the next two points to take the lead. Following a kill by Jonni Parker that tied the score at 23-23, the Wolverines took the set with a kill and an ace, both by May Pertofsky.
That change in momentum didn't keep Penn State down for long. The Lions pulled away late in a close third set, breaking an 18-18 tie with a 5-0 run that was capped by back-to-back aces from Pritchard, and went on to win by six. They took a 3-2 lead in set four and never trailed again. They led by as much as six, 22-16. The Wolverines battled back to within two, 24-22, before Pritchard closed the match with a kill.
Penn State hit .291 in the match behind 55 assists from Gabby Blossom, who also added seven digs
Senior libero Jenna Hampton continued to excel in conference play. Her 27 digs are the program's third most in a four-set match during the 25-point rally scoring era (2008-present). She has eclipsed 20 digs in eight of the past 13 matches. She leads all Big Ten players in digs/set in conference play, averaging 4.83. That is easily better than the second-place libero, which averages 4.65.
Penn State held Michigan to .203 hitting. Starck contributed to that defensive effort with nine digs. The Lions had nine blocks in the match, led by Hord with seven and Parker with four.
As usual, the Penn State middles were efficient. Hord hit .417 with 12 kills, while Allie Holland had eight kills and no errors while hitting .571.
Michigan was led by Jess Mruzik with 14 kills and 12 digs. Paige Jones also had a double-double with 13 kills and 12 digs.
Penn State stays in the state of Michigan as it heads to East Lansing to take on Michigan State on Saturday. The match is scheduled for 8 p.m. and will stream on B1G+.