No. 1-seeded Penn State women’s volleyball (31-2, 19-1 Big Ten) took down North Carolina (23-8, 14-6 ACC) 3-1 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Rec Hall on Saturday night.

Penn State jumped out to a 2-0 set lead behind Jess Mruzik’s extremely strong opening frames. North Carolina rallied heavily in the third set to pull one back, but the Nittany Lions retained their focus and ran away with the game in the fourth set.

How It Happened

North Carolina got off to a quick 2-0 lead before Mruzik notched her first kill of the night for the Nittany Lions. However, the Tar Heels didn’t let the score tarnish their hot start. North Carolina jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the first set after multiple attack errors by Penn State.

The Nittany Lions started to string together a couple of kills, but North Carolina preserved the lead 10-7. Penn State pulled within one after Mruzik’s ferocious kill.

Both teams started to exchange kills, but Maddy May notched a service ace to push the Nittany Lions into the lead 13-12. Penn State’s 5-0 run culminated with North Carolina’s Emani’ Foster’s attack error, propelling the Nittany Lions up 15-12.

Mruzik hit another vicious kill from an awkward angle to keep the lead at three. Camryn Hannah got her second kill of the night after a long rally between the two teams, forcing the Tar Heels to call a timeout.

Trammell knocked down another kill to push Penn State’s lead to five at 21-16. North Carolina inched closer with a run of kills of their own, making the score 23-20. Mruzik hit her seventh kill to close out the opening set as a 25-21 Penn State win.

Mruzik collected her eighth kill as the Nittany Lions jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead to open the second frame. Mruzik and Izzy Starck connected for a pair of kills to make the lead 6-2.

Penn State reached double digits quickly after an attack error by North Carolina’s Chelsea Thorpe. The Tar Heels called a timeout as they faced a six-point deficit at 10-4.

Trammell matched North Carolina’s kill to open up the game after the timeout. She continues with back-to-back blocks to put the Nittany Lions up 13-5.

Mruzik reached 10 kills quickly after Trammell’s heroics. Maggie Mendelson shot down her second kill of the night to force North Carolina into another timeout as Penn State reached a 16-7 lead in the second set.

North Carolina started to rally towards knotting the game up. The Tar Heels reached within four points, only down 18-14. Trammell got her fourth kill of the night to soar Penn State to 20 in the second frame. Both teams exchanged kills back and forth, but Penn State cornered North Carolina once again as it went up 23-17.

Mruzik scored back-to-back kills to win set two 25-18.

Both teams traded service errors to open the third set. North Carolina went out to a 3-2 lead, but Mendelson and Starck put the Nittany Lions up 4-3.

North Carolina went on a 3-0 scoring run to go up 7-5. Hannah hit the ball out of bounds as the Tar Heels extended their lead to 9-6.

The Tar Heels continued to claw at Penn State, not going down without a fight. North Carolina cautiously stayed in front of Penn State by at least three. Chelsea Thorpe’s kill made the game 15-11 off of Safi Hampton’s kill before a media timeout.

North Carolina scored once again coming out of the media timeout, but Mruzik finally got Penn State to a dozen with her 16th kill of the game.

The Nittany Lions ensured that the deficit never reached beyond five. Hannah and Trammell continued to inch towards the Tar Heels, making it 18-15. North Carolina got the longest rally of the game to extend its lead to 20-15.

North Carolina lost its challenge but scored on its next possession to go up 21-16. Trammell scored her seventh kill to get within four. Mruzik got a back-to-back kill and block to pull within two.

The Tar Heels got the job done at the end of the third set to take it 25-20.

Penn State jumped out to a 5-1 lead at the start of the fourth set. Mruzik continued her superb defensive outing with a block, forcing North Carolina to burn a timeout.

The Nittany Lions continued a solid run to extend the lead to 8-4 in the fourth frame. Hannah smashed down a kill to help Penn State reach 10 points. Trammell and Starck connected for consecutive blocks, elevating the Nittany Lions to a 12-4 lead.

Caroline Jurevicius accounted for three of Penn State’s last four points with three kills as Penn State reached a 19-11 lead. Mendelson’s block soared the Nittany Lions to a 21-11 lead.

Hannah scored back-to-back kills to close out the game with a 25-15 fourth-set win for the Nittany Lions.

Takeaways

• Mruzik dominated the whole game. She ended her night with 21 kills, leading the Nittany Lions on the night and outscoring the next closest Nittany Lion by eight.
• Penn State came into the fourth set completely locked in after dropping the third set for only the fourth time this season. Its concentration on closing the game out will go a long way as the tournament goes deeper.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions move on to the third round of the NCAA Tournament to take on Marquette at Rec Hall. A game time and date is yet to be determined.