Topics

More

No. 15 Penn State Women’s Volleyball Tops Rutgers 3-0 In Big Ten Opener

No. 15 Penn State women’s volleyball (7-3, 1-0 Big Ten) blanked Rutgers (8-3, 0-1 Big Ten) at Rec Hall Wednesday night to open up Big Ten play.

The offense was on fire as the team racked up 52 kills with a collective .390 hitting percentage. The Nittany Lions didn’t disappoint a packed Rec Hall and began the week and conference slate 1-0.

How It Happened

The game started off 3-2 with kills from Camryn Hannah and Allie Holland. Penn State’s Jess Mruzik then added to the stat line with three kills before the Scarlet Knights got the ball back.

Rutgers went on a 3-0 scoring run to tie the game at seven before another set of massive kills from Hannah and Mruzik. The offense was explosive as it jumped up 15-11 before a media timeout.

Despite the electric energy in favor of the Nittany Lions, Rutgers kept the score within five before calling its first timeout. Mruzik and Hannah continued to grind and combined for 11 kills before the end of the set.

Penn State reached set point at 24-14, and the set finished with a kill from Holland.

Set two once again opened with a 2-2 tie, but Penn State pulled away 7-4. The Scarlet Knights kept pushing, but the Nittany Lions accomplished another 3-0 run, forcing a timeout from Rutgers.

Even with the break, Rutgers couldn’t keep up as Penn State extended its lead 14-8. Holland also ran up her kill count to five. The Nittany Lions also had a 17-10 lead going into a second timeout.

Sophomore Alexa Markley made her presence known with back-to-back kills, and a solo block from Taylor Trammel let the Nittany Lions lead by 10. Markley registered her fourth kill of the night to bring set point, and Mruzik closed out the set with another kill to end the set at 25-15.

The final set brought another tie to start at 5-5. Rutgers then earned its first lead of the night 7-6, but was quickly squashed by a kill from Hannah that sparked an 8-0 scoring run.

The dominance continued as Penn State upped the score to 16-8. The Nittany Lions then reached 20 with a kill by Markley and rolled on to set point with a kill from Mruzik.

The game then finished with a set-three score of 25-17.

Player Of The Game

Jess Mruzik | Outside Hitter

Mruzik’s arm was hot Wednesday night as she finished her first Big Ten game as a Nittany Lion with 18 kills and and .533 hitting percentage. After a rough stretch against No. 2 Louisville and two non-conference games at home, this type of dominance sets the precedent for the conference slate ahead.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will hit the road to face Northwestern at 2 p.m. on Sunday, September 24, in Evanston, Illinois.

Your ad blocker is on.

Please choose an option below.

Sign up for our e-mail newsletter:
OR
Support quality journalism:
Purchase a Subscription!

About the Author

Mara McKeon

Mara is a senior staff writer majoring in English and public relations. She loves all things sports and anything that has peanut butter. You can usually find her obsessing over country music or Penn State wrestling and counting down the days until she gets to see Luke Combs in Beaver Stadium. Feel free to reach her on Twitter @MckeonMara, and for more formal affairs, her email is [email protected].

Gameday Coverage: No. 4 Penn State vs. USC

The Nittany Lions are 4.5-point favorites for the cross-country battle.

Your College Big Sis: Penn State Student Riley Ruberton Growing TikTok Fame

“I think the biggest thing I’ve gotten out of it is community and the community that I’ve built.”

Penn State Football Sticking To Routine During Travel Ahead Of USC

After unprecendeted travel, the Nittany Lions are keeping things normal before their game against the Trojans.

113kFollowers
164kFollowers
61.3kFollowers
4,570Subscribers