No. 1-seeded Penn State women’s volleyball (33-2, 19-1 Big Ten) defeated No. 2-seeded Creighton (32-3, 18-0 Big East) in a five-set thriller in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night at Rec Hall.

After Penn State dominated the first set, Creighton refused to be deterred and won the second set and took an early lead in the third. However, with the help of a hostile environment at Rec Hall, the Nittany Lions overcame their deficit and won that critical third set. After Creighton sent the match to five sets, Penn State demonstrated its resilience and dominated to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2017.

How It Happened

A kill by Jess Mruzik got the first set underway before a kill by Norah Sis on the next point put Creighton on the board. Then, Penn State put its foot on the gas and went on a 3-0 run to take an early 4-1 lead. This run was highlighted with kills by Taylor Trammell and Caroline Jurevicius. After that, the Bluejays won back-to-back points to get within one point of the Nittany Lions’ lead.

Both teams traded points before a kill and service ace by Mruzik allowed Penn State to regain its three-point lead. However, the Nittany Lions got sloppy on the attack and committed three consecutive errors to allow Creighton to tie the set at seven. Then, Penn State responded with a 3-0 run of its own to regain its lead. This run was highlighted by two kills by Camryn Hannah and a service ace by Quinn Menger. Both teams went back and forth for the next four points before an attack error by Sis extended the Nittany Lions’ lead to four and forced the Bluejays to take a timeout.

Out of the timeout, Penn State kept feeding off the energy of Rec Hall and went on another 3-0 run, highlighted by two service aces from Hannah, to extend its lead to seven. This forced the Bluejays to take yet another timeout hoping to cool off the Nittany Lions’ momentum.

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— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 16, 2024

Penn State’s run ended right after the timeout as Kiara Reinhardt recorded a kill for Creighton. However, the Nittany Lions’ elite attack was on full display as they went on a 5-0 run to increase their lead to 11. This run was highlighted with two kills by Trammell, a kill by Jurevicius and Mruzik, along with a service ace by Gillian Grimes.

The Bluejays stopped the bleeding by winning back-to-back points to decrease their deficit to single digits. Both teams traded blows for the next four points before a kill by Izzy Starck gave Penn State its first set point. The Nittany Lions could not capitalize on their first opportunity as Ava Martin recorded a kill for Creighton. However, Penn State refused to give Creighton any sort of hope and Trammell recorded a kill on its second opportunity to take a critical first set at 25-15.

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— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 16, 2024

The second set started with Trammell recording the first kill for the Nittany Lions before a kill by Jaya Johnson on the next point got the Bluejays on the board. Both teams went back and forth for the next four points as the deadlock stayed intact. Then, Elise Goetzinger’s attack error and a block assist by Trammell and Hannah gave Penn State a 5-3 lead. After both teams exchanged service errors, Creighton refused to go away and went on a critical 3-0 run to take its first lead in the set.

After an attack error by Sis tied the set at seven, Sis redeemed herself and recorded back-to-back kills to regain the lead. Both teams traded blows for the next six points as Creighton’s two-point lead stayed intact. However, a kill by Goetzinger and an attack error by Maggie Mendelson extended the Bluejays’ lead to four. Hannah recorded back-to-back kills for the Nittany Lions before a kill by Martin gave Creighton a 15-12 lead heading into the media timeout.

After the media timeout, both teams traded blows for the next four points before Trammell’s kill decreased Penn State’s deficit to two. However, Creighton refused to let the hostile environment at Rec Hall deter them and responded with back-to-back kills to extend its lead to four. Head coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley took a timeout right after hoping for her team to regain its footing.

This timeout did not pay off as the Bluejays continued to seize their momentum. They went on a 4-0 run with a kill by Martin, an attack error by Jurevicius, a service ace by Sis, and a solo block by Reinhardt to get within two points of winning the second set. This forced Penn State to take another timeout.

Jurevicius recorded a kill after the timeout, but Martin recorded a kill on the next point to give Creighton its first set point opportunity. The Bluejays capitalized on this opportunity with a service ace by Maddy Bilinovic to finish off the set at 25-16 and tied the match at one set apiece.

The third set got underway with both teams exchanging the first four points. After Sis committed an attack error to give Penn State a 3-2 lead, Creighton took advantage of its momentum from the previous set and went on a 3-0 run to take a two-point lead. After the Bluejays committed a service error, they didn’t give up any momentum and went on another 3-0 run to extend their lead to four. This forced Schumacher-Cawley to take a timeout hoping for her team to get back into the match.

A service error by Creighton occurred right after the timeout. However, the Bluejays continued to exert their dominance in this match and went on yet another 3-0 run to increase their lead to six. Both teams traded kills before the Nittany Lions started to show signs of life and won back-to-back points to trim their deficit to four. After both teams traded kills, Martin recorded a huge kill for the Bluejays to extend their lead to five.

However, Penn State refused to throw in the towel and won back-to-back points to get within three points of Creighton’s lead. Martin responded with a kill and service ace to restore the Bluejays’ five-point lead. The Nittany Lions continued to fight and with the help of a hostile environment in Rec Hall, they won back-to-back points to decrease their deficit to three.

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— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 16, 2024

After Hannah’s error on the next point extended Creighton’s lead to four, the Nittany Lions responded with back-to-back points to get within two points of the Bluejays’ lead. Both teams traded kills before a kill by Sis allowed Creighton to extend its lead to three. However, Penn State showed its resilience as Mruzik and Jurevicius recorded kills to get within one point of tying the set at 20. This forced Creighton to take timeout hoping to cool off Penn State’s timeout.

The Nittany Lions tied the set right after on an attack error by Martin. Both teams exchanged kills before the tables turned and Jaya Johnson’s attack error gave Penn State the lead in the set. Then, Penn State continued to feed off the energy of the crowd as Starck’s kill gave them a 23-21 lead and forced Creighton to take another timeout.

Out of the timeout, the Nittany Lions continued to show a tremendous amount of perseverance as Mruzik’s kill gave the team their first set point. However, Penn State could not capitalize on its opportunity as Goetzinger recorded a kill to keep Creighton in the set. Then, Mruzik came clutch for the Nittany Lions and recorded a huge kill to win a critical third set at 25-22 and take a 2-1 set lead heading into the fourth set.

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— NCAA Women's Volleyball (@NCAAVolleyball) December 16, 2024

Creighton got off to a fast start in the fourth set as it won the first three points of the set. On the next point, Jurevicius recorded a kill to get Penn State on the board. After Martin committed an attack error on the next point, the Bluejays showed its resilience and went on a 3-0 run to increase their lead to four. This forced Katie Schumacher-Cawley to take a timeout hoping for her team to regain its footing.

This timeout paid dividends as Mruzik recorded back-to-back kills to trim Penn State’s deficit to two. After Ava Falduto committed a service error on the next point, the Nittany Lions continued to feed off the energy of Rec Hall as Mruzik’s kill and a block assist by Jordan Hopp and Starck got them within one point of tying the set at seven. However, Penn State got sloppy on the attack and committed three consecutive errors that allowed Creighton to take a four-point lead.

Both teams exchanged kills before Mruzik’s kill and Hannah’s solo block decreased the deficit to two. Both teams went back and forth for the next four points as Creighton’s lead stayed intact. Then, Sis came up big for the Bluejays and recorded a kill and service ace to restore their four-point lead. However, the Nittany Lions refused to let Creighton run away with the set and responded with a critical 3-0 run to get within one point of tying the set at 15. This run was highlighted with a block assist by Starck and Hopp along with a service ace by Falduto. This forced Creighton to take a timeout hoping to cool off Penn State’s momentum.

This timeout paid huge dividends for the Bluejays as they responded with a 3-0 run to give themselves some breathing room. This run was highlighted with kills by Johnson and Goetzinger along with a service ace by Bilinovic and forced Penn State to take a timeout.

After the timeout, both teams went back and forth for the next 10 points as Creighton’s lead stayed intact. Then, a kill by Reinhardt gave the Bluejays their first set-point opportunity. Creighton could not capitalize on its opportunity as Trammell’s kill kept Penn State in the set. However, the Bluejays refused to waste this opportunity and capitalized on their second opportunity with a kill by Johnson to end the set at 25-20 and send this match into a decisive fifth set.

The fifth set started with Mruzik recording a kill before Jocelyn Nathan committed a service error to get Creighton on the board. Both teams traded blows for the next four points as the deadlock stayed intact. Penn State, with the help of the fans at Rec Hall, went on a critical 3-0 run to take a 6-3 lead in the set. This run was highlighted with a kill by Jurevicius and a block assist by Mruzik and Hopp, which forced the Bluejays to take a timeout.

Out of the timeout, Martin recorded a huge kill for Creighton to end the Nittany Lions’ run. However, Penn State’s elite attack came up huge as Mruzik and Hannah recorded back-to-back kills to extend its lead to four. Then, Martin committed an attack error on the next point which sent Rec Hall into a frenzy and caused the Bluejays to take another timeout.

Penn State’s run ended at three as Martin redeemed herself with a kill after the timeout. Then, the Nittany Lions put their foot on the gas and went on a 3-0 run to take a 12-5 lead. However, Creighton refused to throw in the towel and responded by winning consecutive points. After that, Penn State took advantage of a service error and a block assist by Hannah and Trammell to give themselves its first match point. On its first opportunity, the Nittany Lions took advantage of this opportunity as Trammell recorded the kill to win the fifth set at 15-7.

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— Onward State (@OnwardState) December 16, 2024

Takeaways

• The Nittany Lions demonstrated why they are among one of the best teams in the NCAA Tournament. After being down throughout most of the third set, they showed a lot of resilience and came back when they needed to win a critical third set. Whenever momentum was swinging in favor of Creighton, the Nittany Lions always found a way to respond back and the environment at Rec Hall played a huge factor in this match.
• Mruzik once again was the hero for Penn State tonight. She led the team with 20 of the team’s 56 kills and came up for this team whenever they needed it. Also, on a night when Hannah wasn’t at her best, Jurevicius was there to help out Mruzik.
• Despite both teams being evenly matched, the biggest determiner in this matchup was the hitting percentage. Creighton had a hitting percentage of .141 compared to Penn State’s .226.

What’s Next?

Penn State advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 2017 where a rematch against Nebraska awaits it. The game will either take place at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, December 19, or 30 minutes after the Louisville vs. Pitt semifinal at 6:30 p.m. at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky. It will be broadcast by ESPN.