MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – No. 20 Penn State women's volleyball picked up the first ranked win of the Katie Schumacher-Cawley era on Friday night, taking down No. 11 Stanford 3-2 (25-16, 25-22, 17-25, 23-25, 15-10) at Minnesota's Maturi Pavilion. The match was part of the Big Ten/Pac-12 Challenge.
The Nittany Lions, who entered the day as one of 28 unbeaten teams in the nation, improved to 7-0 with the win. They take on another ranked opponent, No. 18 Oregon, on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. (ET). The match will stream on B1G+.
Penn State ended a five-match losing streak to Stanford and improved to 13-14 in the all-time series between the two historic programs. The match featured two programs that have combined for 16 of the 41 national titles in the history of NCAA Division I women's volleyball.
The Lions' defensive effort fueled the victory. Their 21 blocks set a program record for a four-set match during the 25-point rally scoring era (2008-present). Six players contributed to that record, led by Taylor Trammell with 11 and Allie Holland with nine. Zoe Weatherington was in on eight blocks, while Seleisa Elisaia contributed on seven. Kashauna Williams and Anjelina Starck chipped in with two apiece.
After rolling through the first two sets, including an impressive .478 hitting percentage in set two, Penn State faced some adversity with back-to-back set losses that sent the match to a fifth. The teams went back and forth in the first half before the Lions took an 8-7 lead at the midway point. It remained close up to an 11-10 score before Penn State went on a 4-0 run to secure the victory.
Williams came up big in the fifth set with three kills on six swings. Weatherington had two on her only two attacks in the set. Penn State had three players come through with clutch serves in the set. Holland's ace put the Lions up 3-2 early, Quinn Menger had an ace that put them up 10-8, and Elisaia added an ace to make it a 13-10 lead.
Elisaia had three of Penn State's eight aces for the match. Holland was right behind her with two, while Menger, Gillian Grimes, and Cassie Kuerschen had one apiece. The Lions allowed just three aces by a tough serving Stanford team
It initially appeared Stanford was going to stave off Penn State's first attempt at match point with a kill, Schumacher-Cawley pulled out the green card to challenge the amount of hits by the Cardinal early in the rally. It was determined that the Cardinal had four hits and the Lions were able to celebrate the big win.
Williams paced Penn State's offensive attack with a team-best 16 kills on .361 hitting. Starck also reached double-digits with 12 kills.
But it was the defense that carried the Lions to the win. Three players reached double-digit digs, led by Maddy Bilinovic and Grimes with 11 apiece. Elisaia flirted with a triple-double, adding 35 assists and 10 digs to her seven blocks and three aces. Starck finished with nine digs, while Kuerschen contributed five.
Kendall Kipp recorded a double-double for Stanford with 20 kills on .395 hitting and 10 digs. Kami Miner compiled 53 assists and seven digs.
Stanford dropped to 3-2 overall, with its other loss coming to No. 1 Texas. The Cardinal have a win over then-No. 13 Florida. They will play No. 3 Minnesota on Saturday.