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No. 3 Women's Volleyball Hosts Duke, Princeton, St. John's for Penn State Invitational

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- No. 3 Penn State Women's Volleyball welcomes Duke, Princeton, and St. John's to Rec Hall for the Penn State Invitational this weekend. The Nittany Lions open play at the event with a match against Duke on Friday at 6:30 p.m. That match is set to air live on FS1.

The Nittany Lions play two matches on Saturday, taking on Princeton at 10:30 a.m., before turning their attention to St. John's for a 6:30 p.m. matchup. Both of those matches will stream on B1G+.

PROMOS
• Buy Three Tickets, Get One Free!

HOW TO FOLLOW
Friday, Sept. 13
10 a.m. - Princeton (2-1) vs. Duke (3-3) | Live Stats | Watch
4 p.m. - St. John's (4-2) vs. Princeton (2-1) | Live Stats | Watch
8:30 p.m. - Duke (3-3) at #3 Penn State (5-0) | Live Stats | FS1

Saturday, Sept. 14
10:30 a.m. - Princeton (2-1) at #3 Penn State (5-0) | Live Stats | Watch
12:30 p.m. - Duke (3-3) vs. St. John's (4-2) | Live Stats | Watch
6:30 p.m. - St. John's (4-2) at #3 Penn State (5-0) | Live Stats | Watch

OPENING NOTES
• Friday’s match against Duke is Penn State’s fourth time on TV in its first six matches. The Nittany Lions played Tennessee on ESPNU, Louisville on B1G Network, Kentucky on SEC Network, and now the Blue Devils on FS1.
• The Nittany Lions are 26-3 against non-conference opponents, including postseason, during Katie Schumacher-Cawley’s time as head coach. Eight of those wins came against nationally-ranked opponents.
• Penn State has won nine straight matches against non-conference opponents, including postseason, dating back to last season.

LAST TIME OUT
• Penn State won the Kentucky Invitational with a 3-2 reverse sweep win over No. 9 Kentucky and a sweep over Ball State.
• Taylor Trammell was named the MVP of the Invitational after hitting .600 with 23 kills and six blocks over the two matches. She was nearly perfect against Ball State with 11 kills and no errors on 12 attacks.
• Camryn Hannah made the All-Invitational Team after hitting .290 with 31 kills and four blocks over the two wins. She was the star against Kentucky with 22 kills on .469 hitting.
• Izzy Starck made the All-Invitational Team after Penn State hit .307 behind her 11.25 assists/set. She put up huge numbers against Kentucky with 47 assists, 17 digs, five kills, five blocks, and one ace.

SERIES HISTORY - DUKE
• Penn State is 10-0 in the all-time series with Duke, but Friday marks the first meeting between the teams since 2010.
• The Nittany Lions are 5-0 against the Blue Devils at Rec Hall, including the 2010 win in the NCAA Regional Final.
• Two players on the roster have played against Duke. Jess Mruzik hit .368 while averaging 4.67 kills and 2.44 digs per set over two matches against the Blue Devils while playing for Michigan. Camryn Hannah hit .255 while averaging 2.38 kills and 1.00 digs per set over two matches while playing for Clemson.

SCOUTING DUKE
• Duke is 3-3 overall after back-to-back wins over Davidson (3-1) and FIU (3-0).
• The Blue Devils are coming off a season in which they recorded 19 wins, the most for the program since 2017.
• Duke was picked ninth out of 18 teams in the Preseason ACC Poll.
• Middle blocker Breonna Goss is the reigning ACC Freshman of the Week. She posted 27 kills over matches against LSU, Davidson and FIU. Goss is hitting .405 on the season.

SERIES HISTORY - PRINCETON
• Penn State is 8-2 in the all-time series with Princeton. The teams first played in 1977.
• The Nittany Lions have won seven straight matches in the series, including the most recent in in the 2019 NCAA First Round.
• Penn State is 3-0 against the Tigers at Rec Hall.
• No current Penn State player has every played against Princeton.

SCOUTING PRINCETON
• Princeton is 2-1 following a 3-0 loss to Villanova. The Tigers have wins over Old Dominion (3-2) and Loyola Md. (3-2).
• The Tigers were picked second out of eight teams in the Ivy League Preseason Poll. 
• Princeton has put together eight straight winning seasons.

SERIES HISTORY - ST. JOHN'S
• Penn State is 4-0 in the all-time series with St. John’s. The teams first played in 2007.
• The Nittany Lions are 2-0 against the Red Storm at Rec Hall.
• The teams last played in 2021 at the season-opening UCF Challenge, with Penn State winning 3-0. No current player for the Nittany Lions appeared in that match.

SCOUTING ST. JOHN'S
• St. John’s is 5-2 following a 3-0 sweep over NJIT in its most recent match.
• The Red Storm were picked third out of 11 teams in the Preseason Big East Poll. Junior setter Erin Jones and junior outside hitter Lucrezia Lodi were selected to the Preseason All-Big East Team. Jones was an All-Big East honoree last season.
• St. John’s has recorded 20 or more wins in four of the past six seasons.

STREAKS TO WATCH
Gillian Grimes
· 5 straight matches with at least one ace to open this season
Jess Mruzik
· 3 straight matches with double-digit kills
Team
· 9 straight wins against non-conference opponents (including postseason) dating back to last season

MILESTONES
• Jess Mruzik recorded her 1,000th career kill during the first set of a 3-0 home win over Colgate on Sept. 2, 2023. She enters the match with 1,534 career kills and 911 digs.
• Camryn Hannah recorded her 1,000th career kill during the first set of a 3-0 home win over UMBC on Sept. 15, 2023. She enters the match with 1,347 career kills.
• Taylor Trammell enters the match with 466 career blocks, needing just 34 to reach 500.

REC HALL SUCCESS
•  Penn State is 710-55 (.928) all-time at Rec Hall.
•  The Lions are 333-37 (.900) against Big Ten opponents at Rec Hall and 377-18 (.954) against non-conference opponents.

UP NEXT
• Up next for Penn State is a match at No. 1 Pittsburgh on Wednesday at 7 p.m.