UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 9 Penn State women's volleyball upped its winning streak to five straight matches with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 26-24) sweep over visiting South Florida in the opening match of the Penn State Classic on Friday at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions are 8-1 on the season, while the Bulls are 1-8.
Kennedy Martin hit .609 with a match-high 15 kills and added eight digs and two blocks for Penn State. When not going to Martin, the Nittany Lions again found success in the middle with Gabrielle Nichols hitting .357 with seven kills and Ryla Jones hitting .556 with six kills.
Nichols fueled a great Penn State defensive effort at the net as the sophomore was in on six of the team’s nine blocks. That, along with a match-high 12 digs by Ava Falduto, helped hold South Florida to .133 hitting. Jones had a pair of blocks and served for two of the team’s four aces, giving her a team-best 10 aces on the season.
South Florida struggled with its attack but stayed in sets thanks to 11 aces. Four of those came from Amelia Wass de Czege, while Nina Jioshvili-Ravva and Addy Brus contributed three apiece.
Penn State improved to 5-0 in the all-time series with South Florida, including a 3-1 win in the NCAA First Round last season.
Set 1
Penn State racked up six blocks on its way to a 25-18 win in the first set. Nichols was in on five of those blocks and added one kill. The Nittany Lions trailed 10-8 before going on a 6-0 run to take a 14-10 advantage. Nichols had three blocks during that stretch, teaming up with Whitney Lauenstein on the first two and Kennedy Martin on the third. Penn State controlled the rest of the set before ending it on an ace by Jones.
Set 2
Martin took over in set two, hitting .700 with seven kills and two digs to lead Penn State to a 25-23 win. South Florida took a late lead at 22-21 following a 5-0 run. The Nittany Lions responded with a 3-0 run, getting a kill by Nichols and then back-to-back kills by Lauenstein to take a 24-22 lead. The Bulls stopped the first chance at set point with a kill by Paula Tomasa but followed it with a service error for set point.
Set 3
Martin stayed hot in the third set, hitting .571 with five kills as Penn State edged South Florida 26-24 to finish the sweep. The Nittany Lions looked to be on their way to an anxiety-free final set as they took a 12-6 lead early on and still led by four at 15-11 following a block by Nichols and Stucky. The Bulls fought back to take a lead of their own at 18-17 after back-to-back kills by Brus. The Bulls took the lead again at 20-19 on ace by Brus, but this time Penn State answered with a 3-0 run that started with a kill by Finley Krystkowiak. The Nittany Lions still led by two at 23-21 following a kill by Martin. They later had their first chance at set point while leading 24-23 but were stopped with a kill by Mora Pompin. Lauenstein then came through in the clutch scoring Penn State’s final two points on kills.
Career Highs
Finley Krystkowiak – assists (1)
Up Next
No. 9 Penn State wraps up play at the Penn State Classic with a match against No. 16 Tennessee on Sunday at 2 p.m.