BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 21 Penn State women's volleyball opened the Tiger Challenge with a 3-1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-22, 25-15) win over Iowa State on Friday afternoon at LSU's Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Zoe Weatherington led the way for the Nittany Lions, hitting .500 with 15 kills.
Penn State improved to 4-0 with the win. The Lions are back in action today with a 6 p.m. (ET) match against Troy.
Weatherington was one of four Penn State players with double-digit kills. Katie Clark, a two-time second-team All-Big 12 selection when she played for TCU, made her first start for the Lions and hit .409 with 11 kills and four blocks. Kashauna Williams totaled 13 kills, while Anjelina Starck was right behind her with 12.
The win came over an Iowa State team that played in last year's NCAA Tournament. The Cyclones fell to 1-3 this season.
Penn State started strong with the first set win before things changed dramatically early in the second set. Iowa State jumped out to a 15-6 lead and still led by nine at 17-8. The Lions made an impressive comeback attempt getting as close as one at 23-22 following a kill by Clark and an ace by Maddy Bilinovic, but the Cyclones held on to tie the match.
Iowa State got off to a quick start in the third set, as well, with a 3-1 lead. Penn State quickly responded this time, keeping it close until taking its first lead of the set at 10-9. Williams and Clark played pivotal roles in the lead change, teaming up for back-to-back blocks.
The Lions went on to trail 13-11 before going on a 4-0 run. They didn't fall behind in the set again. The Cyclones did make it a one-point set at 23-22. Setter Seleisa Elisaia came through with a kill and followed it with an assist on a Weatherington kill to give her team a 2-1 advantage in the match.
The fourth and final set was never in doubt. Williams had four kills in the set. Weatherington added three on four swings, including one to clinch the match.
Weatherington's 15-kill performance comes just one week after she was named the MVP of the season-opening Penn State Invitational, where she helped the Lions defeat UConn, Loyola (Md.), and West Virginia in Katie Schumacher-Cawley's first matches as head coach.
Elisaia tallied 49 assists while leading the Lions to .310 hitting against Iowa State. Bilinovic led the team with 13 digs while adding a pair of aces. She has eight aces over the past three matches. Taylor Trammell paced the team in blocks with five.
Iowa State was led by Mariah Mitchell with 13 kills on .360 hitting and Jordan Hopp with 12 kills on .409 hiting.
Penn State improved to 4-0 in the all-time series with Iowa State. Three of those wins have come since 2019.