After rolling into Big Ten play, Penn State women’s volleyball holds a consistent spot at No. 15 in the AVCA poll for the second week.

The Nittany Lions picked up two sweeps over Rutgers and Northwestern to jump to an 8-3 overall record and 2-0 debut in conference play.

Held strong at 15 this week#WeAre
pic.twitter.com/6dh5wcxaYv

— Penn State Women’s Volleyball (@PennStateVBALL) September 25, 2023

A combined 82 kills across the two games led to overall dominance on the court for Katie Schumacher-Cawley’s roster. Jess Mruzik attributed 36 of her own kills to the team total, helping her land the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honor.

With 18 kills apiece in back-to-back sweeps of Rutgers and Northwestern, @PennStateVBALL OH @voll_jess has been named B1G Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. pic.twitter.com/FPBXmi0iJC

— B1G+ (@BigTenPlus) September 25, 2023

This is Mruzik’s second Big Ten honor after she was named the conference’s Player of the Week earlier this month. The Michigan transfer now holds claim to 164 kills across 11 games and 4.56 kills per set.

The Nittany Lions will hit the road for their next conference opponent and face Illinois at 9 p.m. on Friday, September 29, in Champaign. Folks can tune in to the game on the Big Ten Network.