No. 16 Penn State women’s volleyball (20-6, 9-6 Big Ten) took down Indiana (13-14, 6-9 Big Ten) in three sets (25-22, 25-23, 25-22) on Friday night in Bloomington.

Allie Holland led the Nittany Lions with 10 kills followed by Katie Clark, Alexa Markley, and Kashuana Williams each with eight kills apiece.

How It Happened

A service ace gave Indiana the opening advantage and the Hoosiers went up 3-1 in the first points of the match. The teams traded points until a block from Zoe Weatherington allowed Penn State to tie the score at eight all. However, every time Penn State tied the score, Indiana lengthened its lead in the back-and-forth game.

After increasing their lead to four points, the Hoosiers forced Penn State’s first timeout as Katie Schumacher-Cawley’s team trailed 10-14. Coming out of the timeout, the Nittany Lions gained some momentum and rallied together to tie the score 18-18.

Finally, with a block, Penn State retook the lead 21-20. A scoring review in Penn State’s favor gave the Nittany Lions an advantage 24-22, and an Indiana attack error wrapped up set one 25-22.

Set two began quite similarly to the first, with both teams trading points and remaining competitive. A strange run of service errors from both teams took the score to 9-9. The Nittany Lions fought for the lead for the next several serves until they capitalized on back-to-back kills from Williams to increase their lead to 17-14. The momentum from Williams forced the Hoosier to call a timeout.

Indiana tried to catch up, but its defense was no match for Williams’ kills. The teams continued to trade points, but another kill put the Nittany Lions up 23-21. The Hoosiers refused to give up, tying the set at 23, but Penn State wrapped the second set up 25-23.

Penn State finally found its footing in the third set, quickly jumping into a 6-1 lead. Kills and service aces from various Nittany Lions let them keep hold of a dominant 10-4 lead.

A handful of Indiana kills tried to make up for lost points, reducing Penn State’s lead to only three points, 16-13. A 4-0 scoring run for the Nittany Lions peppered with Holland kills and a block stretched the lead back out to 20-14. Indiana answered with its own 3-0 scoring run, but it wasn’t nearly enough to regain the lead.

The Hoosiers rallied to nearly tie the score, forcing a Penn State timeout as the Nittany Lions hung onto the 21-20 lead. Coming out of the break, Indiana tied things up at 21 all. Two scoring reviews in a row both ruled in Penn State’s favor, giving the Nittany Lions the edge to take the third set and the match, 25-22.

Takeaways:

• Indiana absolutely gave Penn State a run for its money in this match. Up until the third set, Indiana held the lead for the majority of the game. Every team needs a challenge once in a while and the Hoosiers provided one.
• Four Nittany Lions had at least eight kills throughout the match. It was a team effort all around and Penn State rallied to do what it does best. After all, it’s always the Penn State volleyball show.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will travel to West Lafayette, Indiana, to take on No. 15 Purdue for a top-20 matchup at 8 p.m. on Saturday, November 12. Folks can stream the game live on the Big Ten Network.