BATON ROUGE, La. – No. 21 Penn State women's volleyball stayed unbeaten through two non-conference tournaments as it improved to 6-0 with a 3-0 (25-20, 26-24, 27-25) win over LSU on Saturday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The Tigers dropped to 3-3 overall.
The Nittany Lions won all three of their matches at the Tiger Challenge, adding the win over the host Tigers to victories over Iowa State and Troy. They defeated UConn, Loyola (Md.), and West Virginia last weekend at the Penn State Invitational.
Junior libero Maddy Bilinovic tallied a career-high 21 digs despite the match going just three sets. That eclipsed her previous best of 19 she set last weekend against West Virginia. Her played helped hold LSU to .222 hitting after the Tigers hit .384 in their previous match.
Anjelina Starck led Penn State in kills with 13 and added six blocks. Kashauna Williams had 11 kills and reached the number on .375 hitting. Taylor Trammell also hit .375 while totaling eight kills. She shared the team lead in blocks with Katie Clark as both players finished with four.
Gillian Grimes and Bilinovic continued their strong stretch at the service line. Grimes had a pair of aces after serving for three in the team's previous match. Bilinovic had one ace, which gives her 11 over the past five matches.
Penn State had to prevail in two tough sets to get the sweep, winning both the second and third by just two points each.
Trammell and Seleisa Elisaia teamed up for a block on consecutive plays to put the Lions up 11-6 in the second set, but LSU battled back to take a 13-12 lead following three blocks of their own, all of which included Alia Williams, the sister of Penn State's Erika Williams. Neither team led by more than two points for the remainder of the set. The Lions eventually scored on their second chance at set point, taking a 25-24 lead on a kill by Starck before Clark and K. Williams teamed up for a block.
The third set featured strong runs by both teams. Penn State responded to a 4-0 run by LSU with a 6-0 run of its own to take a 14-12 lead. Trammell and K. Williams had two kills apiece during that stretch. The Lions eventually went up 19-15, but the Tigers tied it with their second 4-0 run of the set.
LSU had two chances at set point to force a fourth set. Elisaia came through with a kill to deny the first opportunity and then set Starck for a kill to stop the second chance and tie it up at 25-25. Bilinovic followed with an ace and Zoe Weatherington finished off the match with her sixth kill.
Elisaia guided the offensive effort with 40 assists. She added five kills, four digs, and three blocks.
Penn State faces a tough test when it next returns to the court. The Lions will play No. 12 Stanford and No. 18 Oregon on Sept. 9-10. The matches are part of the Big Ten/Pac 12 Challenge and will be played at Minnesota's Maturi Pavilion. The match against the Cardinal will air live on the Big Ten Network.
