No. 1-seeded Penn State women’s volleyball (32-2, 19-1 Big Ten) defeated Marquette (25-9, 16-2 Big East) in a four-set thriller in the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday afternoon at Rec Hall.

The Nittany Lions advanced to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2019 thanks to the dominant efforts of Jess Mzurik and Camryn Hannah. After letting the third set slip away on three match point opportunities and Marquette having an early lead in the fourth set, Penn State demonstrated its resilience and refused to let Marquette pull off the comeback.

How It Happened

The first set started with the Nittany Lions winning the first point on a kill by Mzurik. Then, Carsen Murray recorded a kill for Marquette on the next point to get on the board. Both teams traded blows for the next four points before the Golden Eagles won back-to-back points to take a 5-3 lead in the set.

However, Penn State showed its resilience and went on a 3-0 run to take the lead. This run was highlighted by kills by Mzurik and Hannah along with a service ace by Mzurik. On the next point, the Nittany Lions extended their run to four on an attack error by Hattie Bray. The errors started to mount for the Golden Eagles as they went on to commit back-to-back errors to give Penn State a four-point lead. This forced Marquette to take a timeout hoping to end Penn State’s momentum.

This timeout paid dividends for the Golden Eagles as they recorded back-to-back kills to decrease their deficit to two. Both teams traded points before a kill by Hannah and block assists by Taylor Trammell and Caroline Jurevicius restored the Nittany Lions’ four-point lead. After Izzy Starck committed a service error on the next point, Penn State started to seize its momentum and went on to record three consecutive kills to extend their lead to six.

Hannah committed a service error to end the Nittany Lions’ run. However, the attack errors kept piling up for the Golden Eagles as they committed an attack error on the next point. Then, Maggie Mendelson recorded a solo block to give Penn State a seven-point lead. This forced Marquette to take another timeout.

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Out of the timeout, both teams exchanged service errors before a kill by Ella Foti ended Marquette’s stretch of errors on the attack. The Nittany Lions won back-to-back points right after to increase their lead to eight. Then, the Golden Eagles responded with back-to-back kills to get back within six. However, Penn State refused to let Marquette back in the set and went on a 3-0 run to take a 23-14 lead in the set. This run was highlighted with kills by Starck and Hannah.

On the next point, Mzurik committed an attack error that ended this run. Then, Hannah recorded a kill right after to give the Nittany Lions their first set point opportunity. Penn State capitalized on its first opportunity on a kill by Jurevicius to finish off the first set at 25-15.

The second set got underway with Trammell recording the first kill of the set for the Nittany Lions. After Foti’s kill got the Golden Eagles on the board, Penn State kept its foot on the gas and went on a 3-0 run to take an early three-point lead. This run was highlighted with kills by Jurevicius and Mzurik along with a service ace by Ava Falduto. Then, Aubrey Hamilton recorded a kill on the next point to end Penn State’s run.

Both teams went back and forth for the next four points as Penn State’s lead stayed intact. The Nittany Lions refused to give the Golden Eagles any sort of momentum and went on another 3-0 run to extend their lead to four. Hannah’s attack error ended Penn State’s run once again right after. Both teams traded blows for the next four points before back-to-back kills by Mzurik gave the Nittany Lions a 12-7 lead.

However, Marquette refused to go away and went on a 3-0 run to trim its deficit to two. On the next point, Mzurik recorded a huge kill for Penn State to give itself some breathing room. Both teams exchanged points before an attack error by Starck allowed the Golden Eagles to get within one of tying the set at 14. Hannah refused to let Marquette seize its momentum and recorded a huge kill for the Nittany Lions to give themselves some breathing room heading into the media timeout.

After the media timeout, Penn State took advantage of yet another Marquette attack error on the next point to increase its lead to three. However, the Golden Eagles refused to throw in the towel and went a critical 3-0 run to tie the set at 16. Penn State’s head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley decided to take a timeout right after hoping to cool off Marquette’s momentum.

Out of the media timeout, Natalie Ring recorded a huge kill for Marquette to take its first lead in the set. Then, the Nittany Lions’ elite attack was on display as they recorded back-to-back to retake the lead. After Murray’s kill on the next point tied the set at 18, Hannah and Mzurik recorded critical kills for Penn State to take a two-point lead and forced the Golden Eagles to take a timeout.

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— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 13, 2024

Both teams traded blows for the next four points out of the timeout as the Nittany Lions’ lead stayed intact. Then, Mendelson recorded a critical kill for Penn State to get them within two points of winning the second set. This forced Marquette to take yet another timeout hoping to regain its footing in the set.

Hamilton recorded a kill out of the timeout before another kill by Mzurik gave the Nittany Lions their first set point. Just like the first set, Penn State capitalized on its first opportunity as Hannah’s kill closed out the set at 25-21 and give itself a two-set lead heading into third set.

Attack errors by Jurevicius and Mzurik gave Marquette the first two points in the third set. Mzurik redeemed herself right after as she recorded a kill to get the Nittany Lions on the board. Both teams went back and forth for next six points as the Golden Eagles’ lead stayed intact. Then, Marquette showed its resilience and went on a 3-0 run to extend its lead to four. Schumacher-Cawley decided to take a timeout right after hoping for her team to regain their footing.

This timeout paid off as the Nittany Lions recorded back-to-back kills to trim their deficit to two. Both teams exchanged points before a kill by Mzurik got Penn State within one point of tying the set at nine. However, Hattie Bray recorded a critical kill to give the Golden Eagles some breathing room. After Murray and Ring recorded a block assist, the Nittany Lions showed their resilience and won back-to-back points to tie the set at 11.

After Murray’s kill on the next point restored Marquette’s lead, Penn State’s elite attack was on display when it mattered most and recorded three consecutive kills to take a two-point lead in the set. This run was highlighted with kills by Starck, Hannah, and Mendelson. This forced the Golden Eagles to take a timeout hoping to regain their momentum.

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— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 13, 2024

Mzurik recorded a kill out of the timeout to extend the lead to three. However, Marquette refused to throw in the towel and responded with a 3-0 run to tie the set at 15. On the next point, Hannah came up clutch for Penn State and recorded a critical kill to regain its lead. Then, Foti’s kill and Bray’s block gave the Golden Eagles the lead once again right after. However, Hannah continued to show her dominance in this match and recorded back-to-back kills along with a solo block to give the Nittany Lions a two-point lead in the set. Marquette took a timeout right after.

Both teams exchanged kills out of the timeout. Then, a service error by Hannah and a kill by Murray allowed the Golden Eagles to tie the set at 20. After both teams traded kills once again, Mzurik recorded a huge kill for the Nittany Lions to regain the lead. Then, Falduto came clutch and recorded back-to-back service aces to earn the first match point.

Unlike the first two sets, the Nittany Lions could not capitalize on this opportunity as Foti recorded a kill. This kill gave a lot of momentum to the Golden Eagles as they went on to save two more match points to tie the set at 24. After that, the tables turned, and Jenna Reitsman recorded a huge service ace to give Marquette its first set point opportunity. This forced Penn State to take a timeout hoping to avoid a collapse.

Out of the timeout, the Golden Eagles completed the huge turnaround and capitalized on an attack error by Mzurik to take a critical third set at 26-24. However, Schumacher-Cawley decided to challenge the call hoping that someone on Marquette’s attack touched the ball before it went out of bounds. The challenge was unsuccessful, and Penn State’s collapse allowed this match to go to a fourth set.

The fourth set started with a service error by Bray that ended Marquette’s run at five from the previous set. However, the Golden Eagles kept seizing their momentum and recorded four consecutive to take a three-point lead. Both teams went back and forth for the next four points as Marquette’s lead stayed intact. Penn State refused to let the collapse from the previous set deter them and went on a critical 3-0 run to tie the set at six.

However, the Golden Eagles responded right away and won back-to-back points to regain the lead. The Nittany Lions fought back, and Hannah recorded three consecutive kills to take the lead. After Starck’s service error tied the set at nine, Penn State kept its foot on the gas as Hannah’s kill and block assists by Trammell and Jurevicius took a two-point lead. After Jurevicius committed an attack error on the next point, Trammell and Mzurik recorded huge kills for the Nittany Lions to extend their lead to three and force the Golden Eagles to take a timeout.

Penn State continued to seize its momentum out of the timeout as it went on a 3-0 run to take a 16-10 lead in the set. Both teams traded service errors before consecutive points by Marquette decreased the deficit to four. After Foti committed a service error, the Golden Eagles recorded back-to-back kills to trim their deficit to three and forced Penn State to take a timeout.

After the timeout, both teams traded the next eight points as Penn State’s lead stayed intact. After Ring’s kill got Marquette within two of tying the set, Mzurik once again came up huge for the Nittany Lions and recorded a kill to get themselves within two points of finishing off the match. Marquette took a timeout right after hoping to gain some momentum.

After the timeout, Mzurik recorded another kill to give Penn State its fourth match point spanning from the previous set. This time around, the Nittany Lions refused to let this opportunity slip away and Falduto’s ace capped off the set at 25-20.

Takeaways

• After failing to make the quarterfinals in their past two NCAA Tournament appearances, Penn State finally banished its demons. The atmosphere at Rec Hall played a huge factor in helping the Nittany Lions win this match.
• Mzurik and Hannah were the huge catalysts in this match. The duo combined for 44 of the team’s 66 kills and came up clutch whenever the momentum was swinging in Marquette’s favor.
• Despite the win, Penn State’s collapse in the third set cannot go unnoticed. The team let three match point opportunities slip away from them and allowed the Golden Eagles to get back into the match. Even though the team persevered, this cannot happen in future rounds.

What’s Next?

Penn State advances to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament to face Creighton at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 15, at Rec Hall. The game will be broadcast by ESPN.