No. 3 Penn State women’s volleyball (23-2, 13-1 Big Ten) was swept 3-0 by Wisconsin (18-5, 12-2 Big Ten) on Saturday afternoon in Madison, Wisconsin.

The Nittany Lions remained competitive through the first set, but were never able to recover from Wisconsin runs in the second and third sets.

How It Happened

Jess Mruzik opened up the game with a kill but the Badgers took the next point and evened the score. Wisconsin’s Anna Smrek kicked off a 3-0 run for the Badgers that gave them an early 4-2 lead.

The Nittany Lions got back to even at 4-4 after a Wisconsin attack error and a Camryn Hannah kill. The teams continued trading points with neither able to string together more than two consecutive points.

The Badgers put together a 4-0 run as they pushed the lead to 11-7 behind three kills from Sarah Franklin and forced Penn State head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley to call a timeout.

Taylor Trammell registered a kill on the first point out of the timeout but the Badgers responded with a 3-0 run and pushed their lead to 14-8. A kill from Caroline Jurevicius got Penn State back on the board but Wisconsin responded and took the next point.

A kill from Maggie Mendelson was followed up by two aces from Mruzik as Wisconsin called its first timeout of the match. Hannar grabbed two more kills out of the timeout before the Wisconsin defense registered a block and stopped the Nittany Lions’ momentum as the Badgers lead shrunk to 16-14.

A kill from Franklin put Wisconsin up three at 17-14 before a service error brought the lead back to two. Trammell got the Nittany Lions back to within one on a kill but Wisconsin took the next point and was the first to reach 20 at 20-18.

The teams traded points until Mruzik followed a kill with a service ace and tied the game at 22-22 and Wisconsin called its second timeout of the set.

Wisconsin took the first point out of the timeout and followed it up with a block that gave Wisconsin a set point at 24-22. Penn State took its second timeout of the set ahead of the Badgers’ set point. A Hannah kill brought the Nittany Lions within one, but the Badgers took the next point and the Nittany Lions dropped set one 25-23.

The teams traded the game’s first four points before the Badgers caught fire. A 6-0 run was kicked off by a Julia Orzol kill and ended with a Penn State timeout. The Badgers continued the domination out of the timeout, taking another eight points before Mruzik stopped the 14-0 run as the Nittany Lions trailed 15-3. An ace from Hannah capped a two-point run for Penn State with the score 19-8.

The Badgers continued to execute and allowed only four more Nittany Lion points as the Badgers took set two 25-12.

An attack error from Franklin gave Penn State the first point of set three, and a Mruzik kill two points later tied the game at 2-2. Smrek started a 6-1 run with a kill for the Badgers that forced a Nittany Lion timeout quickly trailing 7-3. Mruzik slammed a ball home for a kill on the first point out of the timeout and the Nittany Lions narrowed the gap to three. Franklin countered on the next point and Penn State continued to trail 8-4.

The momentum continued to swing in the Badgers’ direction and they took the next three points to lead 11-4 before Mendelson ended the run with a kill of her own. The teams went back and forth before Carter Booth registered a kill and kicked off a 3-0 run that put the Badgers up 16-6 as Schumacher-Cawley called timeout.

Hannah managed a kill out the timeout which was followed by two Wisconsin kills that pushed the Badger lead to 11. The lead stayed at 11 until Jurevicius hit back-to-back kills and got the deficit to 21-11.

Kills from Mendelson and Mruzik brought the score to 22-13, but a kill from Orzol and a Mendelson error gave the Badgers a match point at 24-13. Booth registered the final kill of the game as Wisconsin took set three 25-13.

Takeaways

• The Penn State defense struggled with Wisconsin’s Franklin, who ended the game with 13 kills, tied for the team’s best with Smrek.
• Mruzik was held to nine kills in the loss, while Hannah led the team with 10.
• Penn State’s offense struggled as a whole, hitting .117 on the match with only one player reaching double-digit kills.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions return home to take on the Illinois Fighting Illini at 7 p.m. on Friday, November 15.