EVANSTON, Ill. – No. 15 Penn State Women's Volleyball hit .453 on its way to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-21) win over Northwestern in a Big Ten match Sunday afternoon at Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Nittany Lions improved to 8-3 overall and 2-0 in the conference with their second Big Ten sweep, while the Wildcats fell to 6-6, 0-2 B1G.
Camryn Hannah and Jess Mruzik led a potent offensive attack as Penn State hit .453 behind 36 assists from Mac Podraza. Hannah hit .750 with 16 kills, while Mruzik led all players with 18 kills on .517 hitting.
The Nittany Lions saw an improvement in their service game as they tallied five aces. Gillian Grimes had two, while Podraza, Mruzik, and Cassie Kuerschen contributed one apiece.
Penn State held Northwestern to .185 hitting thanks to 42 digs compared to 29 by the Wildcats. Grimes led all players with 12. Joining the defensive effort for the Nittany Lions were Kuerschen with nine digs and Anjelina Starck with seven.
Leilani Dodson paced Northwestern with six kills on .308 hitting and served for three aces. Julia Sangiacomo led the team with nine kills.
Set 1
Penn State hit .471 in a 25-18 win in the first set. Mruzik tallied seven kills on .667 hitting, while Hannah hit .750 with six kills. Podraza racked up 12 assists. The score was tied as late as 14-14 and was still a one-point difference at 16-15 before the Nittany Lions went on a 7-0 run to go up 23-15. Hannah recorded the final three kills of the run. Taylor Trammell eventually had a kill for the set-clinching point.
Set 2
Mruzik added six more kills on .455 hitting and Hannah tallied four on .500 hitting to lead Penn State to a 25-15 win in set two. Podraza tallied 10 assists while leading the team to .393 hitting. Grimes led the defense with five digs. Northwestern started fast with a 3-0 run, but Penn State responded with a 6-0 run that was sparked by two kills apiece from Mruzik and Hannah. The Wildcats cut their deficit to one at 11-10, but the Nittany Lions pulled away with seven of the next nine points to go up 18-12. This time it was Alexa Markley that went on to score the set-clinching point with a kill.
Set 3
Hannah kept her foot on the gas in the final set with a perfect six kills on six swings to power Penn State to a 25-21 win. Podraza tacked on 14 more assists as the Nittany Lions hit .485 as a team. Mruzik added five more kills on .444 hitting, while Kuerschen paced the back row with five digs. Penn State jumped out to a 7-2 lead following a kill by Allie Holland, but Northwestern rallied back to take a 9-8 edge. With the score tied 14-all, the Nittany Lions pulled away with a 4-0 run. The final set was eventually clinched with a kill by Hannah.
Career Highs
Camryn Hannah – hitting percentage (.750)
Up Next
No. 15 Penn State goes on the road for a pair of Big Ten matches. The Nittany Lions play at Illinois on Friday at 9 p.m. ET, and then play at No. 12 Minnesota on Saturday at 9 p.m. ET.