UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Freshman Kendall Northern hit .923 with a career-high 12 kills to lead No. 18 Penn State to a 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-19) sweep over Northwestern in Big Ten women’s volleyball action Friday night at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions improved to 11-4 overall and 3-2 in the conference, while the Wildcats fell to 7-9, 0-5.
Northern’s 12 kills came with no errors on her 13 attacks. She added three blocks in the best performance of her young career. She led the way as the Nittany Lions hit .421 as a team behind 45 assists from Alexis Stucky. Kennedy Martin led all players with 15 kills, doing so on .560 hitting. Whitney Lauenstein hit .500 with nine kills, while Gabrielle Nichols hit .467 with eight kills in addition to her match-high four blocks.
Penn State held Northwestern to .169 hitting. Haley Burgdorf and Lexi Gin tallied six digs apiece, while Ava Falduto was right behind them with five. Falduto also had two of the team’s six aces.
Maya Stillwell was the top player for Northwestern, hitting .556 with seven kills and one block.
Penn State improved to 61-9 in the all-time series with Northwestern, including a perfect 6-0 record under head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley.
Set 1
Northern was perfect in set one with five kills on five attacks as Penn State cruised to a 25-18 win. Lauenstein was also flawless on the attack with three kills on three swings. Stucky totaled 16 assists while guiding the Nittany Lions to .469 hitting. Penn State trailed 1-0 but went on a 4-0 run and held a sizable lead the rest of the set. The Nittany Lions’ largest lead was 10 at numerous points, including as a late as 23-13 after a kill by Northern. Martin later came through with a kill for set point.
Set 2
Martin hit .636 with seven kills, while Lauenstein contributed four kills on .571 hitting to lead Penn State to a 25-17 win in set two. The Nittany Lions never trailed in the set. They started to pull way after breaking an 8-8 tie with a 4-0 run that included four kills by four different players. They went on to lead by as much as eight multiple times, including at the end of the set following a kill by Lauenstein.
Set 3
Northern was perfect again with four kills on four swings as Penn State finished the sweep with a 25-19 win in set three. The Nittany Lions pulled away early in the final set, jumping out to a quick 5-1 lead after a kill by Burgdorf. Shortly after that they added a 3-0 run to go up 8-2. Martin was in on a pair of blocks during that run, while Falduto had an ace. Penn State looked to be on its way to an easy win with an 18-9 lead before Northwestern went on an 8-0 run to get within one at 18-17. A kill by Martin put an end to the Wildcats’ run and was the start of a 5-0 run for the Nittany Lions. Match point was later scored on Northern’s career-high 12th kill of the night.
Career Highs
Lexi Gin – digs (6)
Ava Jurevicius – digs (2)
Kendall Northern – kills (12)
Up Next
No. 18 Penn State hosts No. 20 Washington on Sunday at noon. The Huskies are 13-1 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten following back-to-back sweeps over then-No. 10 Purdue and Ohio State.