CORALVILLE, Iowa – No. 13 Penn State Women's Volleyball upped its winning streak to nine straight matches with a 3-0 (25-14, 25-18, 25-14) sweep over Iowa on Friday night at Xtream Arena.
The Nittany Lions remained in a three-way tie for first place in the conference standings as they moved to 13-3 overall and 7-0 in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes fell to 8-11 overall and 0-7 against conference opponents.
Alexa Markley hit .469 and led all players with a career-high 17 kills. Her previous career high was 15 kills and was set last match in a five-set win over then-No. 24 Ohio State.
Mac Podraza led Penn State to .373 hitting as a team with her 44 assists in just three sets. Jess Mruzik finished with nine kills, Camryn Hannah had eight on .400 hitting, Allie Holland had seven, and Taylor Trammell hit .833 with five kills. Zoe Weatherington contributed three kills in the final set and needs just 13 more to reach 1,000 for her career.
Penn State had 52 digs compared to 33 for Iowa while holding the Hawkeyes to .097 hitting. Gillian Grimes led the way with 19 digs, while Maddy Bilinovic joined her in double-digits with 13. Mruzik and Anjelina Starck chipped in with nine and six, respectively.
The Nittany Lions improved to 58-0 in the all-time series with the Hawkeyes.
Set 1
Markley got going early with six kills on .750 hitting as Penn State rolled to a 25-14 win in the first set. Holland and Hannah each had three kills on four swings, while Trammell and Podraza were both perfect on their two swings apiece. The Hawkeyes went up 3-1 early only to see the Nittany Lions respond with a 6-0 run that had kills from four different players, including three by Holland. It never got much closer as Penn State used a 4-0 run to pull away with an 11-4 lead. Mruzik had a pair of aces during that stretch.
Set 2
Podraza racked up 16 assists in the second set to lead Penn State to a 25-18 win. Markley added six more kills, and Mruzik was right behind her with five. Grimes and Bilinovic had eight digs apiece while helping hold Iowa to .000 hitting. Markley had three straight kills that gave the Nittany Lions a 10-3 advantage. The Hawkeyes got as a close as three at 13-10 and then cut the deficit to two at 20-18. The Nittany Lions scored the final five points, the last two of which came on kills by Markley.
Set 3
Markley hit .556 with five kills as Penn State never trailed on its way to another 25-14 win in set three. The Nittany Lions hit .500 behind 14 assists from Podraza. They distanced themselves early with a 4-0 run to go up 15-4. That run included a pair of aces by Holland. She also went on to score the final point with a kill off a set from Podraza.
Career Highs
Alexa Markley – kills (17)
Up Next
No. 13 Penn State heads to Lincoln to take on No. 2 Nebraska on Saturday at 8 p.m. ET. The match will air live on B1G Network. The Nittany Lions and Cornhuskers are in a three-way tie with No. 1 Wisconsin at the top of the Big Ten standings.