UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 14 Penn State Women's Volleyball celebrated Senior Day with a 3-0 (25-15, 25-23, 25-22) sweep over Northwestern in a Big Ten match Saturday night at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions improved to 19-8 overall and 13-5 in the conference with their fourth-straight win, while the Wildcats fell to 13-15, 7-11.
Zoe Weatherington was perfect on her first seven swings of the match and finished with eight kills on .545 hitting in addition to seven blocks and three digs. Jess Mruzik tallied a team-high 15 kills on .364 hitting. Camryn Hannah had nine kills, while Taylor Trammell contributed six to go along with her six blocks. One night after she registered her 5,000th career assist, Mac Podraza tacked on 40 more while leading the team to .298 hitting.
Penn State racked up 11 blocks, including a pair by Allie Holland. Gillian Grimes and Mruzik each came up with a team-high eight digs. Maddy Bilinovic had five digs.
Julia Sangiacomo was the lone Northwestern player to reach double-digits with her 10 kills. The Nittany Lions held the Wildcats to .175 hitting.
Set 1
Penn State never trailed and cruised to a 25-15 win behind 16 assists from Podraza and a team hitting percentage of .483. Mruzik had five kills on .714 hitting, Hannah tallied four kills, and Weatherington and Holland contributed three kills apiece. The Nittany Lions opened with a 4-0 run that included kills by Weatherington, Holland, and Hannah. They led by at least three points the rest of the way until closing the set with a kill by Hannah.
Set 2
Six players combined for 15 kills, led by Mruzik with four, as Penn State took the second set 25-23. The teams battled close the entire set before Northwestern took a 23-22 lead with an ace. The Nittany Lions responded with a set-closing 3-0 run. It started with a kill by Trammell and ended with a kill by Mruzik.
Set 3
Mruzik added six more kills to lead Penn State to a 25-22 win in the final set. It was again tied late as Northwestern tied it at 22-22 with a kill by Alexa Rousseau. And the Nittany Lions again closed it out with a 3-0 run. After a service error by the Wildcats, Trammell and Mruzik came through with a clutch block. Mruzik followed with a match-clinching kill.
Career Highs
Macy Van Den Elzen – digs (1)
Up Next
Penn State closes the regular season with a pair of road matches. The Nittany Lions play at Maryland on Wednesday at 7 p.m., and at Ohio State on Friday at 7 p.m.
