No. 13 Penn State women’s volleyball (16-4, Big Ten 5-4) defeated Maryland (12-9, Big Ten 3-6) in four sets on Friday night in College Park.

How It Happened

The first set between the Terps and the Nittany Lions started pretty mellow, with the score staying relatively close and giving Penn State a 9-8 lead. Taylor Trammell, Penn State’s middle hitter, was injured with what appeared to be a leg injury. Katie Clark went in for Trammell, and the Nittany Lions, perhaps shaken up by the injury, gave up four points to Maryland, forcing a Penn State time out.

Following the time out, the Nittany Lions caught back up to the Terps and the teams traded points until Penn State took the lead again 19-18. Maryland took its first time out of the set and then proceeded to take the lead back. Supported by plenty of kills from Kashauna WIlliams and Alexa Markley, the Nittany Lions reached set point as Maryland took their final time out. It proved useless, though, as a Maryland attack error gave the first set to the Nittany Lions 25-22.

The second set started with some dominance from Maryland player Sam Csire. Three kills in a row from Csire led to an 8-4 Terps lead and a Penn State time out. Both teams relied heavily on kills during this set, and a few attack errors from the Lions plus kills extended the Maryland lead to 19-12, prompting a Penn State time out. Following the time out, the Nittany Lions went on a 4-0 scoring run. Several impressive service aces left Penn State trailing 23-22. Maryland took a time-out, and it was enough to throw Penn State off its rhythm. The Nittany Lions dropped the second set 25-23.

The Nittany Lions came out swinging in the third set, quickly putting up a 8-3 lead over the Terps and forcing their first time out. Following Maryland’s second time out, the Terps went on a 3-0 scoring run, but it wasn’t enough to catch them up to the Nittany Lions and they still trailed 14-10.

Following Penn State’s first time out, the Nittany Lions continued to lead by 3 points. Though Maryland tried to close the gap a few times, the Nittany Lions simply refused to let it happen, and they took the third set easily with a kill from Allie Holland, 25-21.

Looking to wrap things up in four sets, the Nittany Lions wasted no time taking a 9-6 lead, relying on a handful of kills from Kashauna Williams and a few service aces. The Terps took a time out as they trailed by four and then got dangerously close to taking the lead. Three kills in a row from Katie Clark allowed Penn State to pull away 15-10.

A few too many attack errors from the Nittany Lions and more kills from Maryland’s Sam Csire let the Terps tie things up at 19-19. Allie Holland pulled out a service ace when it mattered most, forcing a Maryland timeout as they trailed by two. A final kill from freshman Alexa Markley wraps up set four 25-22, giving Penn State its 28th consecutive win against Maryland.

Takeaways

• Maryland was coming off of a dominant streak; they hadn’t lost a set since October 7, and swept No. 9 Purdue on the road. Even though the Terps were unranked, they definitely looked good. However, Penn State has a 27 game win streak against Maryland, and it wasn’t willing to give that up. The Terps fought hard, but the Nittany Lions fought even harder, and even with a starting player injured in the first set, the team was able to communicate to give themselves a winning record in conference play.

• In this game against Maryland, we saw a high number of service aces compared to previous matches, which is slightly unusual for the team, but definitely worked in their favor. It’ll be interesting to see if this is a trend that continues or if it was a one-game coincidence.

What’s Next

Penn State will be back in action on Sunday, October 23 in Rec Hall against Rutgers. First serve is scheduled for 1 p.m.