No. 4 Penn State women’s volleyball (11-1, 1-0 Big Ten) swept No. 10 Purdue (9-3, 0-1 Big Ten) in Holloway Gymnasium on Wednesday night. This was the Nittany Lions’ first game in Big Ten play.

The Nittany Lions handled the Boilermakers in three sets and responded in their first away game since being swept by Pitt last week. Penn State’s hitting percentage of .369 compared to Purdue’s .176 played a huge factor in this sweep.

How It Happened

The first set started with Penn State winning the first two points on a recorded kill by Jess Mzurik and an attack error by Purdue’s Chloe Chicoine. Purdue got on the board for the first time set with a kill by Raven Colvin.

After Colvin’s kill, the Nittany Lions recorded back-to-back kills to take a 4-1 lead in the set. On the next point, the Boilermakers trimmed the deficit to two on another kill by Colvin. However, Penn State responded by recording three straight kills to increase its lead to five and forced Purdue to take its first timeout of the set. This run was highlighted by kills from Izzy Starck, Camryn Hannah, and Mzurik.

Out of the timeout, the Nittany Lions extended their run to four on a recorded kill by Maggie Mendelson to take an 8-2 lead. This run ended when Purdue’s Eva Hudson recorded a kill to reduce the deficit to five. After both teams exchanged points, the Nittany Lions kept riding their momentum and went on another 4-0 run to increase their lead to nine. This run ended with a kill by Hudson.

Both teams exchanged points before two straight kills by Taylor Trammell and Mzurik increased Penn State’s lead to 10 and forced Purdue to take another timeout, hoping to stop Penn State’s momentum.

After the timeout, the Boilermakers could not stop the bleeding as the Nittany Lions increased their lead to 11 on a kill by Caroline Jurevicius. They increased to five soon after to give themselves a 19-6 lead.

Both teams traded blows for the next six points as Penn State’s lead stayed intact. However, Purdue started to show signs of life and recorded back-to-back kills to trim the deficit to 11. After a kill by Hannah got the Nittany Lions within two points of winning the first set, the Boilermakers responded by winning three straight points to decrease their deficit to single digits.

However, Penn State refused to give any momentum to Purdue and went on to win the next point on a recorded kill by Hannah to give itself its first set point opportunity. The Nittany Lions took advantage of their first set opportunity with another kill by Hannah to take the set at 25-14.

Unlike the first set, Purdue won the first point of the second set on a recorded kill by Kenna Wollard. This lead was short-lived as Penn State responded by winning three straight points to take a 3-1 lead. This run was highlighted by a kill fraom Jurevicius and a service ace by Gillian Grimes. After that, the Nittany Lions got sloppy by committing back-to-back errors, which allowed the Boilermakers to tie the set at three.

However, the errors kept mounting for Purdue as it let Penn State win four straight points on one service error and three attack errors to regain the lead at 7-3. Both teams exchanged kills before Hannah recorded back-to-back kills for the Nittany Lions to increase their lead to six. After a service error by Mzurik, the Nittany Lions kept putting the pressure on the Boilermakers and recorded back-to-back kills by Mzurik and Starck to increase their lead to seven. This forced Purdue to take its first timeout of the set.

Out of the timeout, both teams exchanged kills for four straight points before an attack error by Trammell decreased Purdue’s deficit to six. On the next point, Purdue got within five as Trammell recorded an attack error. However, after Penn State head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley challenged the call, the call was overturned as the officials determined there was a touch from the Boilermakers before the ball went out of bounds. This was a critical point as Penn State’s lead increased to eight instead of being decreased to six. After both teams traded blows for four points, the Nittany Lions increased their lead to nine on a kill by Mzurik.

After Mzurik’s kill, Purdue won the next two points on a kill by Hudson and a service ace by Colvin. Even though Colvin recorded a service error on the next point, the Boilermakers refused to go away and went on a 3-0 run to trim their deficit to five. Both teams went blow-for-blow for the next six points as Penn State’s lead stayed intact. The Nittany Lions’ lead increased to six as Jurevicius recorded a kill. This led the Boilermakers to take another timeout in hopes of finding momentum to get back in the set.

Purdue recorded a kill out of the timeout to get within five of Penn State’s lead. However, Mzurik responded for the Nittany Lions with a recorded kill and to bring up set point. Penn State failed to capitalize on its first opportunity due to an attack error by Anjelina Starck. This trend continued for in the next two points as Mzurik committed an attack error and Hudson recorded a kill to trim the Boilermakers’ deficit to three. This forced the Nittany Lions to take a timeout, hoping to regain their footing in this set. This timeout paid dividends as they went on to win the second set at 25-21 on their fourth set point opportunity thanks to a kill by Mzurik.

This two-set lead gave momentum to Penn State heading into the third set. This was evident as the Nittany Lions won the first two points of the set. Purdue got on the board with a kill by Colvin to decrease its deficit to one. Penn State recorded back-to-back kills by Mendelson to take a 4-1 lead. Both teams traded blows for the next six points as Penn State’s lead stayed intact. Its lead increased to four as Jurevicius recorded a kill for the Nittany Lions.

After Purdue committed an attack error, the Boilermakers recorded back-to-back kills to trim their deficit to three. Even though Hannah recorded a kill for Penn State on the next point, Purdue kept riding its momentum and went on a 3-0 run to get within one of tying the set. However, Trammell came up huge for the Nittany Lions and recorded a kill to take an 11-9 lead. Both teams exchanged the next four points before a service ace by Mzurik increased Penn State’s lead to three. A media timeout occurred right after both teams traded points on errors.

Out of the timeout, Purdue refused to let Penn State run away with the set and won the next two points to trim the deficit to one. Both teams went blow-for-blow for the next six points as Penn State’s one-point lead stayed intact. However, the Nittany Lions demonstrated their resilience and took a 20-17 lead off an attack error by Hudson and a recorded kill by Izzy Starck. This forced the Boilermakers to take a timeout hoping to regain their momentum.

Purdue recorded a kill to decrease its deficit to two after the timeout. Both teams exchanged kills before back-to-back kills by Mzurik and Trammell got the Nittany Lions within two points of winning the match. This led to another timeout by Purdue.

After the timeout, Penn State got its first match-point opportunity thanks to an attack error by Hudson. The Nittany Lions failed to convert on their first opportunity due to a kill by Chicoine but capitalized on their second opportunity on a kill by Hannah as it finished off the set at 25-20.

Takeaways

• This was Penn State’s third win against a top-10 team this season. Despite losing to Pitt a week ago, the Nittany Lions played very well in front of a hostile environment at Purdue. This ended a 13-home-match winning streak for Purdue.
• The kills played a huge factor in determining the outcome of this match. The Nittany Lions recorded 50 kills compared to Purdue’s 33.
• The duo of Hannah and Mzurik continued to lead the way for Penn State. They combined to record 27 kills from the team’s 50 kills and were catalysts in dominating Purdue’s defense.

What’s Next?

Penn State will look to extend its winning streak when it returns to Rec Hall to take on Michigan State at 2 p.m. on Sunday, September 29.