EAST LANSING, Mich. – No. 15 Penn State women's volleyball completed a four-match, two-weekend sweep of the state of Michigan with a 3-1 (25-17, 21-25, 26-24, 25-13) win over Michigan State on Saturday night at the Jenison Field House. The Nittany Lions defeated Michigan the night prior and had beaten both teams at Rec Hall the previous weekend.
Penn State improved to 19-7 overall and 12-4 in the Big Ten with its fourth-straight win. Michigan State dropped to 11-14 overall and 4-12 in the conference.
Senior Adanna Rollins, who spent her first three seasons at Minnesota before transferring to Penn State prior to this season, reached two career milestones in the same set. She recorded her 1,000th career kill put Penn State up 7-6 in the opening set. She then registered her 1,000th career dig on a rally that was eventually finished by a kill from Kaitlyn Hord that put the Lions up 11-8.
Michigan State battled Penn State close for the second-straight weekend, but the Lions were able to finish the second matchup in four sets compared to the five-set thriller they had in the first matchup. The Lions made sure a fifth set wasn't needed with a dominant performance in set four, hitting .357 with 14 kills on their way to a 12-point victory.
Penn State also cruised through the first set, hitting .367 on its way to the 25-17 win. Kaitlyn Hord was perfect in the set with six kills on her six attacks. Rollins added three more kills after her 1,000th to give her four on .500 hitting in the set. Gabby Blossom tallied 13 assists and five digs.
The Lions got tripped up in the second set and nearly found themselves down 2-1 in the match but came through with the 26-24 win in set three. Michigan State went on a 3-0 run to tie the score at 22-22 before the teams traded points to even the score at 24-24. Hord broke the tie with a kill and Jenna Hampton finished off the set with an ace.
Three players combined for Penn State's six aces in the match. Hampton, Rollins and Jonni Parker contributed two apiece.
Rollins recorded her second double-double in as many days and her sixth of the season with a match-high 16 kills and 10 digs. Blossom also had a double-double, her 14th of the season with 53 assists and 18 digs. Parker nearly made it three players with double-doubles, finishing with 10 kills and nine digs. Erika Pritchard had nine kills.
Kaitlyn Hord was strong from start to finish, hitting .500 with 14 kills and five blocks. She leads the Big Ten in hitting percentage in conference games, hitting .469. Allie Holland, who had 10 kills on .316 hitting against Michigan State, is fourth at .400.
Penn State held the Spartans to .143 hitting, including a -.071 clip in the fourth set. Hampton matched Blossom with a match-high 18 digs. Anjelina Starck chipped in with six.
Sarah Franklin paced the Spartans with 14 kills and 11 digs. They finished with 11 blocks as a team, led by Naya Gros with six.
It's not an easy road for Penn State in the final stretch of the regular season. The Lions go on the road to play No. 11 Nebraska on Friday at 9 p.m., and then make the trip to Columbus to play No. 10 Ohio State on Sunday at 3 p.m. They wrap up the regular season with home matches against No. 8 Minnesota and Iowa the following weekend. All three matches against the nationally-ranked opponents will air on Big Ten Network.
