No. 3 Penn State women’s volleyball (23-1, 13-0 Big Ten) defeated Northwestern (4-17, 2-11 Big Ten) 3-1 in the Welsh-Ryan Arena on Friday night. The Nittany Lions’ unbeaten Big Ten record stayed alive ahead of a tough matchup against a ranked Wisconsin team tomorrow.

Once again, the Nittany Lions struggled to put away an inferior opponent in straight sets. After holding a commanding lead in the first set, Penn State’s lead evaporated and allowed Northwestern hope of pulling off the upset by taking the first set. However, the Nittany Lions persevered by winning three consecutive sets to finish off the Wildcats in four sets.

How It Happened

The first set started with Camryn Hannah recording the first kill for the Nittany Lions before Northwestern got on the board on the next point. Then, Penn State responded by recording three straight kills to take a 4-1 lead in the set. This run ended on the next point with a kill by Northwestern’s Kathyrn Randorf. After both teams traded the next four points, the Wildcats got very sloppy on the attack as they committed back-to-back errors that allowed the Nittany Lions to increase their lead to four.

Both teams exchanged service errors before Jess Mzurik’s kill increased Penn State’s lead to five. This kill gave the Nittany Lions momentum as they went on to win the next two points. However, Northwestern responded by winning back-to-back points to decrease their deficit to five. After Izzy Starck recorded a kill for Penn State, the Wildcats seized their momentum and won the next two points to get within four of Penn State’s lead. On the next point, Hannah recorded a huge kill for the Nittany Lions to take a 14-9 lead in the set. Gillian Grimes committed a service error and both teams exchanged kills after this before a media timeout occurred.

Out of the timeout, Northwestern’s Buse Hazan recorded back-to-back kills for the Wildcats to trim their deficit to two. However, Penn State responded with back-to-back kills by Hannah and Taylor Trammell to restore its four-point lead. Both teams went back and forth for the next four points as Penn State’s lead stayed intact. However, Northwestern refused to go away and went on a 4-0 run to tie the set at 19. This forced the Nittany Lions to take a timeout hoping to regain their footing in the set.

After the timeout, the Wildcats took their first lead in the set with a kill by Kennedy Hill. This run extended to six on the next point due to a service ace by Northwestern’s Drew Wright. However, Penn State showed its resilience and recorded back-to-back kills to tie the set at 21. This forced the Wildcats to take a timeout.

Penn State regained the lead out of the timeout due to Hannah’s kill. However, this lead was short-lived as Maggie Mendelson committed an attack error on the next point to tie the set up once again. Mendelson redeemed herself after this error as she recorded a kill to get the Nittany Lions within two points of winning the first set. This led Northwestern to take another timeout.

This timeout paid huge dividends for the Wildcats as they went on a 3-0 run to surprisingly take the first set at 25-23. This run was highlighted by two errors by the Nittany Lions and a kill by Hill.

The second set got underway, and the errors kept piling up for the Nittany Lions as the Wildcats won the first point before they got on the board on the next point. However, Northwestern kept putting their foot on the gas and went on a 4-0 run to take a 5-1 lead in the second set. After making a quick substitution, Penn State started to show signs of life and responded with a 3-0 run to get within one of Northwestern’s lead. This run was short-lived as Randorf recorded a kill to give the Wildcats some breathing room.

Both teams exchanged points before kills by Hannah and Mzurik tied the set up at seven. After Hannah’s error restored the lead for Northwestern, the Nittany Lions regained the lead right away due to two straight errors by the Wildcats. The Wildcats tied the set at nine on the next point due to a kill by Alexa Rousseau. Penn State’s attack started to wake up and went on a 4-0 run to take a 13-9 lead in the set. This run was highlighted by kills by Hannah, Trammell, and Mzurik. Both teams traded blows on the next four points as Penn State’s lead stayed intact heading into the media timeout.

First to 10 on @CamrynHannah's 10th kill of the night#WeAre pic.twitter.com/bP7NkR3lEm

— Penn State Women’s Volleyball (@PennStateVBALL) November 9, 2024

Out of the timeout, Ava Falduto committed a service error which ended the Nittany Lions’ run. Penn State went on to record back-to-back kills to take a 17-12 lead in the set. After Starck’s attack error, the Nittany Lions kept seizing their momentum and extended their lead to six which forced the Wildcats to take a timeout hoping to regain their momentum from the first set.

Penn State extended the lead to eight out of the timeout due to an attack error by Northwestern and a kill by Hannah. However, the Wildcats won back-to-back points right after to get within six of the Nittany Lions’ lead. After both teams traded kills, Trammell’s kill and Hannah’s service ace gave Penn State their first set-point opportunity. The Nittany Lions failed to capitalize on their first two opportunities as Northwestern won back-to-back points to trim their deficit to six once again. Then, Penn State finally converted on its third opportunity on a kill by Caroline Jurevicius to cap off the set at 25-18 and tie the match at one heading into the third set.

. @CamrynHannah ACE! #WeAre pic.twitter.com/5dQO4aJ0dE

— Penn State Women’s Volleyball (@PennStateVBALL) November 9, 2024

The third set started with Northwestern winning the first point before Mzurik’s kill got Penn State on the board. Both teams traded points before a kill by Mzurik and service ace by Falduto gave the Nittany Lions a 4-2 lead in the set. After both teams exchanged points, Penn State got sloppy and committed back-to-back errors, which allowed Northwestern to tie the set at five.

Both teams went back and forth for the next eight points as the deadlock stayed intact. However, the Wildcats took the lead in the set at 10-9 due to a kill by Rylen Reid. On the next point, Jurevicius responded with a kill to tie the set again. This trend continued for the six points as neither team pulled away. Northwestern took a two-point lead right after with back-to-back kills heading into the media timeout.

The Wildcats’ momentum continued out of the timeout as they took advantage of Penn State’s errors to take a 17-13 lead in the set. Both teams traded blows for the next four points before consecutive errors by the Wildcats decreased the Nittany Lions’ deficit to two. This forced Northwestern to take a timeout hoping to avoid giving any sort of momentum to Penn State.

Penn State got within one point of Northwestern’s lead after the timeout due to a service ace by Hannah. However, the Wildcats responded by winning back-to-back points to get within four points of taking the third set. Both teams exchanged points before an attack error by Northwestern and back-to-back kills by Mzurik tied the set up at 22, which forced the Wildcats to take another timeout.

17 kills on .400 hitting for @voll_jess!

It's a 3-0 Penn State run#WeAre pic.twitter.com/gKZLT4sf3s

— Penn State Women’s Volleyball (@PennStateVBALL) November 9, 2024

Both teams exchanged errors before an attack error by Northwestern gave Penn State its first set-point opportunity. However, the Nittany Lions failed to capitalize on this opportunity due to a service error by Mzurik. On the next point, the tables turned, and Northwestern got their first set point opportunity on a service ace by Hill, which forced Penn State to take a timeout.

Out of the timeout, the Wildcats could not take advantage of this opportunity due to a service error which tied the set at 25. Both teams traded blows for the next four points as neither team took advantage of their set-point opportunities. However, the Nittany Lions responded when it mattered most and recorded back-to-back kills to take the third set at 29-27.

The fourth set started with both teams exchanging kills before Randorf’s kill gave Northwestern a 2-1 lead. Mruzik went on to record back-to-back kills before an attack error by Jordan Hopp tied the set at three. However, Penn State challenged this call, and it was overturned which turned Hopp’s error into a kill to give them a 4-2 lead. Both teams traded points before the Nittany Lions went on a 3-0 run to increase their lead to four, which forced the Wildcats to take a timeout.

Out of the timeout, Northwestern refused to throw in the towel and responded with a 4-0 run to tie the set at seven. This run ended right after due to a kill by Hannah which restored Penn State’s lead. After the Nittany Lions extended their lead to two, the Wildcats won back-to-back points to tie the set at nine. Both teams went back and forth for the next four points as the deadlock stayed intact. However, Northwestern took its first lead of the set due to a service ace by Rousseau. On the next point, Mzurik committed an error which allowed Northwestern to take a 13-11 lead.

After exchanging errors, Randorf recorded a kill for the Wildcats to increase their lead to three. Northwestern got sloppy right after and committed back-to-back errors, which allowed Penn State to get within one point of tying the set. After Buze Hazan recorded back-to-back kills for the Wildcats, the Nittany Lions’ resilience was on display as they went a 4-0 run to take an 18-17 lead in the set. This run was highlighted by two kills by Hannah and forced Northwestern to take a timeout.

Penn State extended its run to five after the timeout with another kill by Hannah. However, this run was ended right after with back-to-back kills by Hazan to tie the set again at 19. The Nittany Lions refused to give the Wildcats any sort of momentum and responded with a 3-0 run to get within three points of finishing off the match. After Northwestern recorded back-to-back kills to get within one, Trammell’s kill and Starck’s ace gave Penn State its first match-point opportunity. Unlike the previous two sets, the Nittany Lions capitalized on their first opportunity to finish off the set at 25-21.

Takeaways

• That wasn’t a pretty win for the Nittany Lions. Just like their last game against Iowa, they struggled to put away a poor Northwestern team in three sets. The Wildcats gave them a run for their money throughout the entire match and had opportunities to win a critical third set. That third set played a huge factor in determining the outcome of this match.
• The duo of Hannah and Trammell saved the day for Penn State in this match. On a night when Mzurik wasn’t at her best, they both stepped up for the team when they needed it by combining 37 of the team’s 58 kills.
• With a huge matchup looming tomorrow against a ranked Wisconsin, it was essential for the Nittany Lions to take care of business in straight sets against a bad Northwestern team and they didn’t do that. This team had to exhaust a lot of energy to avoid the upset. It will be interesting to see how this team responds in less than 24 hours.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will have a quick turnaround as they will head to Madison, Wisconsin to take on No. 7 Wisconsin at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 9. The game will be broadcast by NBC.