No. 8 Penn State women’s volleyball returned to Rec Hall in impressive fashion Friday night when it swept Indiana.

Kaitlyn Hord, Tori Gorrell, and Serena Gray each recorded more than 10 kills in the 25-21, 25-13, 25-18 win over the Hoosiers.

How It Happened

Defensive specialist Jenna Hampton started once again Friday night, joining outside hitters Allyson Cathey and Jonni Parker, middle blockers Serena Gray and Kaitlyn Hord, setter Gabby Blossom, and libero Kendall White in Russ Rose’s starting seven.

By the time Friday’s match began, the Nittany Lions hadn’t seen any action in nearly a week, and it definitely looked that way when they stepped onto the course. They muddled through an opening set against Indiana and eventually edged out a 25-21 win, but not without five total errors. Serena Gray put an exclamation on the set with an emphatic kill.

Penn State looked much-improved to begin the second set, as it jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead thanks to solid hitting and even better defense. The Nittany Lions didn’t let up and went on to comfortably win the set 25-13.

The Nittany Lions’ momentum carried easily into their third set, as they quickly took care of business and won the third set 25-18, completing their sweep over the Hoosiers.

Penn State’s middle blockers performed in full force against Indiana. Hord led the team with 12 kills, while Gray and Gorrell each notched 10. The trio also combined for eight total blocks and just six hitting errors in the contest.

Setter Gabby Blossom dished out 37 assists in the sweep over the Hoosiers. The Saint Louis native also totaled 12 digs and a kill in the match.

Kendall White recorded 14 digs in the match, bringing her career total up to 1,832. The star libero now needs just 126 more to become Penn State’s all-time digs leader.

With the win over the Hoosiers, Penn State is now 54-1 all-time against Indiana. The Nittany Lions have won 14 matches in a row against the team and 33 consecutive sets dating back to 2014.

“This was a match that I thought we got really good production from our middle [blockers],” head coach Russ Rose said. “I thought Gabby [Blossom] did a nice job of distributing the ball and Kendall [White] did a nice job bouncing back. We had a couple kids who were dinged up this week, so it was a nice effort. We’re going to have to be much better tomorrow [against Purdue].”

“We knew that we couldn’t sit in this loss [against No. 7 Nebraska] for too long, because the Big Ten is one of those conferences where you never get a break,” Gray said.

“Coach [Rose] always says: ‘Don’t let a loss beat you twice,'” Blossom said.

Player Of The Match

Kaitlyn Hord | Middle Blocker

Hord tallied a team-high 12 kills on .611 hitting in the sweep over Indiana Friday night. She also recorded a match-high six total blocks and just one hitting error in the contest.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions (18-4, 11-2 Big Ten) will return to Rec Hall on Saturday, November 9 to take on No. 15 Purdue. First serve is set for 7 p.m.