No. 2 Women's Volleyball Hosts Marquette for NCAA Regional Semifinal Friday
The match will start 30 minutes following the 1 p.m. match between Creighton and Texas
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- No. 2 Penn State Women's Volleyball is set to host an NCAA Regional at Rec Hall for the first time since 2017 as it welcomes Marquette to Happy Valley for a Regional Semifinal match Friday. The match will start thirty minutes following the completion of the first contest if the day between Creighton and Texas at 1 p.m..
The winners of the two matches on Friday will meet in the Regional Final at Rec Hall on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. Both matches Friday will air on ESPN2, while the Sunday night final will air on ESPN.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Regional Semifinal | Friday, Dec. 13
1 p.m. | #3 seed Texas (20-6, 13-3 SEC) vs. #2 seed Creighton (31-2, 18-0 Big East) | Live Stats | ESPN2
30 minutes following | #5 seed Marquette (25-8, 16-2 Big East) at #1 seed Penn State (31-2, 19-1 B1G) | Live Stats | ESPN2
Regional Final | Sunday, Dec. 15
8:30 p.m. | Winner of Texas/Creighton vs. Winner of Marquette/Penn State
PARKING ADVISORY
• PARKING INFO - Please see this link for important parking information related to this weekend's event
OPENING NOTES
• Penn State is set to compete in the NCAA Regional Semifinal for the 36th time out of a possible 44 NCAA Tournaments.
• It is the first NCAA Regional to be held at Rec Hall since 2017.
• The Nittany Lions are the only program to compete in all 44 NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Tournaments.
• Friday marks Penn State’s third NCAA Regional Semifinal appearance under head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley, who is in her third season as Penn State head coach. It will be the ninth NCAA Tournament match overall with Schumacher-Cawley as head coach. They are 6-2 in the postseason during that time.
PENN STATE NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• Penn State, which has won seven national titles, is 112-35 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
• The Nittany Lions are 71-3 in NCAA Tournament matches played at Rec Hall.
• Penn State has made the National Semifinal 13 times and the National Championship match 10 times.
PENN STATE IN REGIONAL SEMIFINAL
• The Nittany Lions are 20-15 all-time in the Regional Semifinal (Round of 16). They have beaten 19 different teams in the round.
• Counting this season, Penn State has played in the Regional Semifinal in 21 of the last 22 years.
SERIES HISTORY
• Penn State is 1-0 in the all-time series with Marquette, winning the only meeting between the teams in 2013. The Nittany Lions won that match 3-0 at the FGCU Hilton Garden Inn in Fort Myers, Florida.
HOW THEY GOT HERE - PENN STATE
• Penn State earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after going 29-2 overall and 19-1 in the Big Ten on its way to its first conference title since 2017.
• The Nittany Lions received one of the four top seeds and the right to host their matches through the Regional Final.
• Penn State opened with a 3-0 sweep of MEAC champion Delaware State and followed that with a 3-1 win over North Carolina behind 21 kills from Jess Mruzik.
HOW THEY GOT HERE - MARQUETTE
• Marquette earned an at large-bid to the NCAA Tournament after going 23-8 overall and 16-2 in the Big East. The Golden Eagles advanced to the championship match of the Big East Tournament, where they fell to Creighton.
• The Golden Eagles, the five seed in the State College Region, improved to 25-8 overall with a sweep of Florida Gulf Coast in the NCAA First Round and a five-set win over 17th-ranked Utah in the NCAA Second Round. Aubrey Hamtilon recorded a double-double with 20 kills and 14 digs in the win over the Utes.
• Marquette put three players on the All-Big East Team this season -- graduate student setter Yadhira Anchante, senior middle blocker Hattie Bray, and redshirt senior outside hitter Aubrey Hamilton.
PENN STATE VS. BIG EAST
• Penn State is 67-6 all-time against current members of the Big East.|• The Nittany Lions have played eight of the 11 teams in the conference and have a winning record against all eight of them. They are unbeaten against six Big East opponents, going a combined 37-0 against DePaul, Marquette, Providence, St. John’s, Seton Hall, and Villanova.
STREAKS TO WATCH
Ava Falduto
· 3 straight matches with at least one ace
Gillian Grimes
· 6 straight matches with double-digit digs
Camryn Hannah
· 15 straight matches with double-digit kills
Jess Mruzik
· 7 straight matches with double-digit kills
Team
· 22 straight wins at Rec Hall
REC HALL SUCCESS
• Penn State is 727-55 (.930) all-time at Rec Hall.
• The Nittany Lions are 347-38 (.901) against current Big Ten opponents and 380-17 (.957) against non-conference opponents.
REC HALL STREAK
• The Nittany Lions take a lengthy Rec Hall winning streak into the NCAA Tournament, winning 22 straight at home dating back to last season. The Nittany Lions’ last home loss came to Nebraska on Nov. 3, 2023.