No. 15 Penn State women’s volleyball (18-6, Big Ten 7-6) took down Maryland (13-12, Big Ten 4-9) in four sets (25-21, 25-20, 25-21, 25-21) Wednesday night.

The defense was a major factor in this win with 52 digs and 17 blocks to keep the Terrapins locked down. This is also a major conference win before the Nittany Lions will have four ranked matchups in their final seven games of the regular season.

How It Happened

The first set started with a 1-1 tie, but a Penn State ace from Maddy Bilinovic provided the spark. Penn State then faced back-to-back blocks against its hits, and the score was tied 5-5.

The Nittany Lions went up 7-6 after a long rally that was soon challenged by Maryland, but the call stood. The team started to liven up after an ace from Gillian Grimes and a kill from Zoe Weatherington that made the score 12-8. Penn State held onto the lead until a 4-0 scoring run for the Terrapins tied the score 19-19.

Penn State then had a 3-0 scoring run of its own to go up 22-20. The Nittany Lions were able to hold on and take set one 25-20.

Set two began with a 3-3 tie and remained a back-and-forth affair until Penn State took over with an 8-6 lead. The Nittany Lions were able to widen the gap 15-11 after a Cassie Kuerschen ace and a powerful Alexa Markley kill.

The two teams kept the set tight, as it was 20-19 Penn State heading into the final points of the set. Penn State gained momentum and finished off the set 25-20.

The third set of the game started off with a 4-2 Penn State lead, but Maryland quickly tied it 4-4. The teams battled and were consistently within one point of one another. Penn State was finally able to pull away 15-13 heading into a media timeout.

Maryland then found itself on a hot streak, topping Penn State 19-16 before Katie Schumacher-Cawley called a timeout.

The Nittany Lions brought the set within two at 22-20. However, the Terrapins were the first to set point at 24-21, and they took set three 25-21.

The final set once again had the Nittany Lions up 4-2 to start. The Terrapins were swift with the turnaround as they tied it up 9-9. Penn State attained a four-point lead at 15-11, but Maryland came back again within two.

The set was tied again 18-18 and 19-19, but Penn State pulled away 22-20. Despite a strong attempt from Maryland, an ace from Allie Holland and an attack error on Maryland ended the final set 25-21 as Penn State took the game 3-1/

Player Of The Game

Katie Clark | Middle Blocker/Right Side

Clark began the night with the starting position, and she surely made the most of it.

The grad student had 13 kills with a dominant .524 hitting percentage. More notably, she had two of Penn State’s 17 blocks. But the numbers don’t even do Clark’s performance justice, as she was an absolute wall at the net.

What’s Next

The Nittany Lions will start a stretch of away games beginning at 1 p.m. on Sunday, November 6, in Piscataway against Rutgers.