UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State Women’s Volleyball racked up awards from the Big Ten on Wednesday, highlighted by Katie Schumacher-Cawley as the league’s Coach of the Year and setter Izzy Starck as the Freshman of the Year. Additionally, the Nittany Lions placed four players on the All-Big Ten First Team, one on the Second Team, and two on the All-Freshman Team.
Joining Starck on the first team were graduate student outside hitter Jess Mruzik, graduate student outside hitter Camryn Hannah, and senior middle blocker Taylor Trammell. Junior libero Gillian Grimes earned a spot on the second team. Carolina Jurevicius joined Starck on the All-Freshman Team, while freshman defensive specialist Ava Falduto was selected as the team’s Sportsmanship Award honoree.
Schumacher-Cawley was selected as the Big Ten Coach of the Year by both the conference coaches and the media after leading the Nittany Lions to their first Big Ten title since 2017 with a 29-2 overall record and 19-1 mark in the conference. They earned the No. 3 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and a one seed in their region. After going since 2019 without cracking the top five of the AVCA Poll, the Nittany Lions closed the regular season with 13 straight weeks in the top five, including a No. 2 rank in the most recent poll.
Starck established herself as one of the best setters in the nation in her first collegiate season, earning five Big Ten Setter of the Week awards and six Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors. She ranks 11th in the nation overall and first among freshmen in assists/set (11.05) while leading Penn State to .282 hitting. She contributed way beyond her setting, as evident by her 14 double-doubles with assists and digs. Starck is the 14th Penn State player to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. She is the first Nittany Lion to receive the award since Jonni Parker in 2018 and is the program’s first setter to earn the honor since Micha Hancock in 2011.
Mruzik is now a four-time All-Big Ten First Team honoree, including each of her two seasons at Penn State, after being one of seven unanimous selections. The outside hitter is one of 14 semifinalists for the AVCA National Player of the Year award thanks to her 4.18 kills and 2.40 digs per set for the second-ranked team in the country. A three-time Big Ten Player of the Week winner this season, Mruzik recorded double-digit kills 26 times, including a season-high 29 in a four-set win over Michigan State and then again in a five-set win over Ohio State. She tallied 12 double-doubles, including each of the last five matches of the regular season.
Hannah earned All-Big Ten recognition in each of her two seasons with Penn State, adding the first-team award to the second-team accolade she picked up last season. Just like she did last season, Hannah got stronger as the season went on, totaling double-digit kills in each of the final 12 regular season matches. She hit .284 while averaging 3.59 kills/set during the regular season, which was highlighted by 22-kill, .469 hitting performance in a reverse sweep win at nationally-ranked Kentucky. Hannah also won two All-ACC awards during her collegiate career.
Trammell’s final collegiate season was the best of her career as she excelled both offensively and defensively from her middle blocker position. She currently ranks eighth in the nation and second in the Big Ten in hitting percentage (.435) while averaging 2.07 kills/set. She reached double-digit kills seven times during the regular season and six of those occurrences came with better than .400 hitting. Defensively, she averaged 1.04 blocks/set while helping to hold opponents to a combined .177 hitting. At the midpoint of the season, Trammell was named to the AVCA Player of the Year Watch List.
Grimes landed a spot on an All-Big Ten Team for the first time in her career after anchoring Penn State’s back-row defense. She tallied double-digit digs 24 times and also contributed from the service line with a team-high 35 aces. The libero snagged one Defensive Player of the Week award this season after averaging 5.29 digs/set in wins over No. 8 Purdue and Washington.
With Jurevicius and Starck earning the award, Penn State was one of just two schools to put two players on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. Jurevicius averaged 1.90 kills/set and registered double-digit kills four times. She saved her best for last in the regular season, hitting .414 with a career-high 18 kills in a 3-1 win over No. 2 Nebraska to help the Nittany Lions secure a share of the Big Ten title. She was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for that performance.
Falduto, who could start a libero on numerous other teams in the conference, excelled in her defensive specialist role as a freshman this season, averaging 2.28 digs/set. She had 10 digs in each of the final two matches of the season, including the win over No. 2 Nebraska, to give her 11 matches with double-digits. Her season high was 24 in a four-set win over Northwestern. Falduto also contributed 25 aces.
Penn State now turns its attention to the NCAA Tournament, where it opens play against Delaware State on Friday at Rec Hall. The match is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The winner advances to take on the winner between North Carolina and Yale in the second round on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.