No. 2 Penn State women’s volleyball (2-0, 0-0 Big Ten) defeated No. 14 Kansas (1-1, 0-0 Big 12) in a five-set thriller in its final match of the AVCA First Serve on Monday night at Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

After sweeping Creighton in its first match of the tournament, the Nittany Lions had to overcome a six-point deficit to win the first set, and it looked like they were on course for a two-set lead as they had two set points. The Bluejays saved both set points and stole the second set. This gave them momentum as they won the third set convincingly and had a match point in the fourth set. However, Penn State showed its resilience by saving the match point and winning the final two sets as it survived Kansas’ upset bid.

How It Happened

Penn State went with the same starting lineup from its last game against Creighton. The Nittany Lions got on the board first on a kill by Emmi Sellman, but Kansas responded right away by going on a 4-0 run to take a three-point lead. Their lead was short-lived as Penn State responded with a 4-0 run of its own to regain the lead. This run was highlighted with kills by Maggie Mendelson and Kennedy Martin.

The Bluejays tied the match at five on the next point due to a block assist by Reese Ptacek, Jovana Zelenovic, and Selena Leban. Both teams went back-and-forth for the next four points before Kansas went on a 3-0 run to take a 10-7 lead. This forced Penn State head coach, Katie Schumacher-Cawley, to use her first timeout of the game.

After the timeout, the Bluejays extended their run to four which gave them a 11-7. The run came to an end on the next point due to a kill by Martin. Both teams traded blows for the next eight points as Kansas’s three-point lead stayed intact. However, after Zelenovic had back-to-back kills that increased the Bluejays’ lead to five, Penn State started to show signs of life as it went on a 4-0 run to get within one of tying the set at 17.

Kansas responded on the next point with a kill Leban to end the Nittany Lions’ run. Both teams exchanged points before a kill and ace by Martin tied the match at 19. Before the media timeout, the Nittany Lions took the lead on a kill by Izzy Starck.

Out of the media timeout, the Bluejays’ recorded consecutive kills that allowed them to regain the lead. The Nittany Lions responded with kills by Caroline Jurevicius and Sellman that got them within two of winning the first set. Addie Lyon recorded a kill on the next point that gave the Nittany Lions set point. They capitalized on this opportunity with a block assist by Mendelson and Starck as Penn State won the first set 25-22.

The littles love the DS kill!#WeAre | @AvaFalduto pic.twitter.com/VNWuyM1imA

— Penn State Women’s Volleyball (@PennStateVBALL) August 25, 2025

Kansas got on the board first in the second set on a kill by Leban before Penn State tied the set on the next point due to a kill by Sellman. Both teams traded the next four points before back-to-back kills by the Nittany Lions gave them an early two-point lead. However, the Bluejays put their foot on the gas and went on a 7-1 run that gave them a 10-6 lead. This led to the first media timeout.

Out of the media timeout, Jurevicius recorded consecutive kills that allowed Penn State to get within two of Kansas’ lead. Both teams went back and forth for the next four points before a 4-0 run by the Bluejays increased their lead to six. This led to another timeout by the Nittany Lions hoping to regain their footing in the set.

This timeout paid huge dividends for Penn State as it went on a 6-1 run to trim its deficit to one. Both teams traded blows for the next six points before a kill by Jurevicius tied the set at 20. The deadlock stayed intact for the next four points, but the Nittany Lions won consecutive points that allowed them to have two set points.

However, they failed to convert both opportunities as a service error and block assist by Leban and Ptacek allowed Kansas to tie the set at 24. This gave a lot of momentum to Kansas as it went on to extend its run to four which allowed it to steal the second set 26-24 and go into the third set at one set apiece.

The Nittany Lions ended the Bluejays’ run from the second set on the first point of the third set due to a kill by Sellman. Kansas won back-to-back points right after before a 3-0 run by Penn State gave it the lead. However, the Bluejays refused to give the Nittany Lions any sort of momentum and responded with a 4-0 run that gave them a two-point lead. Both teams exchanged the next eight points before a media timeout occurred with Kansas holding a 10-8 lead.

After the media timeout, both teams exchanged points before consecutive points by the Bluejays increased their lead to four. The back-and-forth play kept on wagering for the next six points before Kansas won back-to-back points that allowed it to take a 18-12 lead. This forced Schumacher-Cawley to take another timeout.

The Nittany Lions started to fight back as they won four the next six points to decrease their deficit to four. However, the Bluejays refused to give the Nittany Lions any sort of momentum to get back into the set and went on a 5-0 run to win the third set 25-16 and take a two sets to one lead heading into the fourth set.

Both teams traded the first six points of the fourth set before a 3-0 run by Penn State gave it an early 6-3 lead. Both teams went back-and-forth for the next eight points as the Nittany Lions’ three-point lead stayed intact heading into the media timeout.

After the media timeout, Kansas won consecutive points to get within one of Penn State’s lead before a block assist by Mendelson and Martin allowed it to have some breathing room. The back-and-forth play kept on wagering for the next six points as the Nittany Lions’ lead stayed intact. Sellman and Starck recorded back-to-back kills that allowed Penn State to extend its lead to four which forced the Bluejays to use their timeout.

Both teams traded blows for the next six points after the timeout, but Kansas refused to go away as it recorded consecutive blocks to trim its deficit to two. This forced Penn State to use its timeout in hopes of regaining its footing in the set. After the timeout, the back-and-forth play kept on going as both teams exchanged the next six points before back-to-back points by the Bluejays tied the set at 22. However, Schumacher-Cawley challenged the attack error on Hopp, and her challenge was successful as it was deemed that the ball touched a Kansas’s player which allowed the Nittany Lions to keep the lead.

Leban recorded a kill for the Bluejays on the next point before Hopp’s kill gave Penn State two set point opportunities. Just like the second set, it could not convert these opportunities as Kansas tied the set at 24. Penn State failed to convert a set point for the third time before a kill by Zelenovic gave the Bluejays a match point. The Nittany Lions saved match point on a kill by Mendelson as the match kept on going.

Both teams traded blows for the next four points as Penn State failed to convert two more set point opportunities. With the score tied at 28, Jurevicius recorded a huge kill that gave Penn State a sixth set point opportunity. On their sixth opportunity, the Nittany Lions finally capitalized as Gillian Grimes’s service ace as they took the fourth set 30-28 to send this match into a final set.

Off the tape for an ACE and we're going FIVE!#WeAre pic.twitter.com/SxoiXX9vbR

— Penn State Women’s Volleyball (@PennStateVBALL) August 26, 2025

The final set got underway with both teams exchanging points before a kill by Zelenovic and attack error by Martin gave the Bluejays an early two-point lead. After both teams traded points, the Nittany Lions won back-to-back points to tie the set at four. The deadlock stayed intact for the next four points as neither team managed to pull away.

Penn State recorded a kill that gave it the lead and on the next point, it extended its lead to 8-6 on a kill by Sellman. Both teams traded blows for the next six points before Martin’s kill got the Nittany Lions within three points of winning the match. This led to Kansas taking a timeout as the match started to slip away from it.

Ok, Maggie!!!#WeAre pic.twitter.com/IH6zCYDhGX

— Penn State Women’s Volleyball (@PennStateVBALL) August 26, 2025

Out of the timeout, Penn State’s two-point lead stayed intact for the next four points before an attack error by Hopp decreased its lead to one. This led Schumacher-Cawley to take her final timeout in hopes of closing out the match. After the timeout, Jurevicius recorded a kill that gave the Nittany Lions a match point. Unlike the second and fourth set, they converted on this opportunity on a kill by Sellman as the Nittany Lions won the fifth set 15-12.

Takeaways

• It wasn’t pretty but the Nittany Lions got the job done as they showed their resilience once again. After failing to convert two set points in the second and fourth set before being on a point from losing, they saved a match point and converted on their sixth set point opportunity. This gave them momentum going into the fifth set and used their championship mentality to close out the match.
• On a night that Kennedy Martin and Emmi Sellman were struggling with their hitting percentage, it was Caroline Jurevicius that anchored this comeback win as she recorded 14 kills on a .393 hitting percentage which was the second highest on the team behind Maggie Mendelson. She was named the MVP of the game.
• Despite the loss, a lot of credit has to be given to Kansas. It gave the defending champions a run for their money and had them on the brink with a match point. It had six-point leads in the first three sets and saved two set points to win the second set. It was an impressive performance by the Bluejays.

What’s Next?

Penn State will head to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the State Farm Women’s College Volleyball Showcase where it will take on No. 13 Arizona State on Sunday, August 31, at 5 p.m. The match will be nationally televised by FOX.