UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 16 Penn State Women's Volleyball had No. 1 Nebraska on the ropes before falling 3-2 (15-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-20, 15-13) in a Big Ten match Friday night at Rec Hall. The match was played in front of a sold-out crowd of 6,645 fans.
The Nittany Lions fell to 15-7 overall and 9-4 in the Big Ten, while the Cornhuskers remained unbeaten at 22-0 overall and 13-0 in the conference.
Penn State battled back numerous times in the final set, first tying the score at 9-9 after falling behind 8-3. The Nittany Lions tied it again at 13-all after scoring back-to-back points, the second of which came on a block by Allie Holland and Zoe Weatherington. Nebraska scored the final two points on kills by Harper Murray and Merritt Beason.
Weatherington became the third Penn State player this season to reach 1,000 career kills, doing so with her first of the match. She went on to finish with nine kills and eight blocks.
Taylor Trammell had a huge match in the middle for Penn State, hitting .571 with nine kills and 10 blocks. Jess Mruzik also put up big numbers with 21 kills, eight digs, and four blocks. Holland hit .429 with seven kills, while Gillian Grimes did her part with 17 digs. Maddy Bilinovic and Anjelina Starck added nine and eight digs, respectively.
Mac Podraza guided the Penn State offense with 50 assists while leading the team to .298 hitting.
Merritt Beason was the star for Nebraska, hitting .426 with 27 kills. Harper Murray tallied 15 kills on .379 hitting. Bergen Reilly had 52 assists while leading the Huskers to .287 hitting. That's the highest hitting percentage allowed by Penn State this season.
Set 1
Five Penn State players had three or more kills as the team hit .552 behind 15 assists from Podraza in the Nittany Lions' 25-15 win in the opening set. Mruzik led the way with four kills. Penn State jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a kill by Mruzik and eventually went up 7-1 on another Mruzik kill. The Nittany Lions led by as much as 11 multiple times, including at 23-12 after a kill by Camryn Hannah. Mruzik went on to end the set with a kill.
Set 2
Penn State hit .394 behind 13 assists from Podraza in a 25-23 win in set two. The Nittany Lions led 24-21 after a kill by Mruzik. Nebraska fought off two set points before Mruzik struck again with her sixth kill of the set to give the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead in the match. Hannah had four kills in the set, while Trammell was perfect on her three swings and added three blocks.
Set 3
Nebraska held Penn State to .119 hitting in a 25-18 win in set three. Nebraska started fast with a 6-1 advantage. The Nittany Lions got as close as one at 7-6 on a kill by Mruzik, but the Huskers responded with a 3-0 run and led the rest of the way.
Set 4
Nebraska used a 5-0 run to go up 16-9 on its way to a 25-20 win in the fourth set. Beason was nearly perfect with six kills on seven swings. Mruzik was strong on the other side with five kills on six swings for Penn State.
Set 5
Nebraska took the final set 15-13. Penn State scored first, but Nebraska scored the next four points and eventually went up 8-3. Behind the loud Rec Hall crowd, the Nittany Lions fought back with a 4-0 run that included a huge block by Holland and Podraza, and eventually tied the score at 10-10 on a kill by Hannah. Trailing 13-11, Penn State tied the score again thanks to a Nebraska attack error and a block by Holland and Weatherington. Murray and Beason's kills closed the match.
Career Highs
Quinn Menger – assists (1)
Up Next
No. 16 Penn State goes on the road to play No. 19 Purdue on Sunday at 1 p.m.
