UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Katie Schumacher-Cawley era of Penn State women's volleyball is off to a good start as the Nittany Lions opened the 2022 season with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-15, 28-26) win over Connecticut on Friday night at Rec Hall. The match was the first of three for the Lions in the Penn State Invitational.
Schumacher Cawley, a national champion and two-time All-American during her playing career at Penn State from 1998-2001, was making her debut as the Lions' head coach. She is just the third head coach in the 47-year history of the program.
Penn State fed off the energy of a large student section and more than 3,000 fans overall as it rolled to an early 11-4 lead in the opening set. The Lions went on to hit .424 in the set while cruising to a 12-point win. It was a team effort from the start as six players had a kill in the set, led by Allie Holland with four and Taylor Trammell, Anjelina Starck and Anastasiya Kudryashova with three apiece.
The Lions continued their dominant effort with a 10-point win in the second set but were challenged in set three by a UConn team that is fresh off a 24-win season in 2021. The set was evenly contested throughout with the Huskies holding the largest lead at 20-17. Penn State eventually took the lead at 23-22 following kills by Holland and setter Seleisa Elisaia and an ace by Holland.
Penn State had chances at match point with leads of 24-23 and 26-25, but UConn staved off defeat both times. The Huskies lone chance at set point was stymied by Kudryashova's kill that tied the match at 25-25. The Lions eventually took the lead on a kill by Starck and secured the season-opening win with a kill by Zoe Weatherington.
Weatherington was the closer for the Lions all night, delivering set-clinching kills in all three sets. She finished with eight kills.
Holland led Penn State in kills with 10 and added a pair of blocks. Trammell hit .471 with nine kills while also contributing a team-high four blocks. Kudryashova hit .444 with eight kills. The Lions hit .313 with Elisaia doing the work at setter. She tallied 36 assists in her Penn State debut.
Maddy Bilinovic donned the libero jersey for Penn State and led the team with 12 digs. Starck and Elisaia had seven digs apiece, while freshman Gillian Grimes started in the back row and came through with six digs.
The Lions totaled five aces with Grimes, Elisaia, Weatherington, Holland, and Cassie Kuerschen serving for one apiece.
Penn State held UConn to .105 hitting. The Huskies were paced by Allie Garland with seven kills on .333 hitting.
The Lions are back at Rec Hall for a pair of matches on Saturday. They take on Loyola (Md.) at 11 a.m., and play West Virginia at 7 p.m. Both teams recorded wins over Duquesne on Friday. The teams also played each other. The Mountaineers won that matchup in five sets.
