No. 3 Penn State women’s volleyball (7-0) swept Princeton (2-4) 3-0 on Saturday morning in the squad’s second game of the Penn State Invitational.

The Nittany Lion defense stymied the Princeton offense as Penn State put together multiple long scoring runs throughout the game. Maggie Mendelson led the Nittany Lion offense with nine kills.

How It Happened

Penn State grabbed the first point of the game on a kill from Jess Mruzik but Princeton answered with a kill of its own before a service error gave the Nittany Lions serve again.

Mruzik made an impact fast for the Nittany Lions, following up her kill with a block that put Penn State up 4-2 early. After an unforced error from Princeton, a block from Izzy Starck and Mendelson pushed the lead to 7-2 and forced a Princeton timeout with Mruzik still back to serve.

The Nittany Lions took the first point out of the timeout and continued to dominate as a kill from Starck made it 9-2. Princeton finally broke the 7-0 run on a Kamryn Chaney kill that brought the score to 10-3.

The teams traded points until the Tigers put together a 3-0 run that got them back to within five points at 14-9. The run ended on a service error from Chaney, and Penn State took the next three and forced another Princeton timeout.

Mendelson began to take control of the game after the timeout, registering two consecutive kills that made it 19-10 in favor of the Nittany Lions. Two points later, she recorded another kill as Penn State stretched its lead.

Princeton managed just five more points before the end of the set as a kill from Taylor Trammel gave Penn State the first set 25-15.

Princeton opened up the scoring in the second set after a kill from Chaney. Penn State evened the game on the second point and took the lead on a Starck and Trammell block on the next point.

Princeton kept the pressure on early and retook the lead at 5-4 before miscommunication from the Nittany Lions on offense gave the Tigers another point. The Nittany Lions put two points together, though, and tied the set back up at seven after a Mendelson kill. The Nittany Lion front lines held strong and delivered two consecutive blocks as Penn State took a 9-7 lead.

Princeton came back on two attacking errors from the Nittany Lions and tied the game at 10 on a Chaney kill, her fifth of the match. The Nittany Lions followed the Princeton run with a 4-0 run of their own and pushed the lead to 14-10.

The Tigers tied the game at 15 before Starck got Penn State back on the board with a kill that made it 16-15. Princeton called another timeout as Penn State went back up 19-16 on a Tiger attacking error.

Penn State continued the run and didn’t surrender a point out of the timeout as it took the second set 25-16, capped off by a 9-1 scoring run.

Mendelson opened up the third set with a kill, but Princeton answered as the teams went even through the first two points. The Nittany Lions opened up the gap with a 5-0 run that put them up 6-1.

Princeton got back to within three as the teams began trading points through the middle of the set. The lead ballooned to five after an Anjelina Starck kill that was followed up by two kills from Alexa Markley, pushing the score to 17-10 and forcing a Princeton timeout.

After trading points, Penn State was the first to reach 20 with a score of 20-15, but Princeton moved closer by taking the next point.

Karis Willow got on the board with a kill that moved Penn State out to a 22-16 lead and Caroline Jurevicius delivered a massive kill two points later to make it 23-17.

Penn State needed four match points before Jordan Hopp delivered the final kill as Penn State took the third set 25-21.

Takeaways

• Mendelson quickly made an impact on Saturday morning, leading the Penn State attack with nine kills.
• The Nittany Lions front line controlled the game as Princeton’s attack struggled to score. Penn State finished with 18 assisted blocks.
• Trammel and Anjelina Starck were also pivotal to Penn State’s attack, registering six and seven kills respectively.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions close out their Penn State Invitational slate at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday against St. John’s inside Rec Hall.