No. 19 Penn State women’s volleyball (13-9, 7-5 Big Ten) fell to Indiana (18-4, 9-3 Big Ten) in three sets at Rec Hall on Sunday.

Penn State could not help itself out in Sunday’s contest as it tallied 12 service errors, five of them occurring late in the first set. The Nittany Lions’ front line held strong with seven blocks on the day, but ultimately, the Hoosiers outplayed them in all three sets.

How It Happened

The Hoosiers kicked off the Big Ten matchup with an ace by Teodora Krikovi, and the two ranked teams found themselves trading off kills until Indiana went on a four-point run with Jaidyn Jager serving. Penn State found a few points, but Indiana controlled early in the first set with an 8-4 lead.

Kennedy Martin spiked home Penn State’s fifth and sixth points before her service error to keep the deficit at four points, 10-6 Hoosiers. A couple of kills by Jager extended Indiana’s lead to five points before the Nittany Lions called a timeout at 13-8 to stop the momentum.

Out of the timeout, Addie Lyon dropped a cheeky hit onto the Hoosier floor that sparked Penn State’s offense. Gillian Grimes saved a deflection that continued a long rally between the teams, in which Penn State would win. Up to this point, Penn State hadn’t seized any rallies.

Indiana barked right back with a block on Martin’s spike that brought their lead back to six points at 18-12. Martin and Gabrielle Nichols collected two kills, then Nichols blocked an Indiana kill attempt, bringing the score to 19-15. The Hoosiers used their first timeout.

Martin served out of timeout and brought the set within three points, the closest it had been since Indiana led 11-8. At 20-17, the Nittany Lions controlled a rally that Emmi Sellman would kill, making it a 20-18 game before Indiana used their final timeout. The pressure seemingly flipped onto Indiana despite its late-set two-point lead.

Penn State gave back all of the momentum they gained in the remaining points of the set. Jocelyn Nathan and Lexi Gin committed two service errors, which gave Indiana a four-point lead at 23-19. Addie Lyon committed a service error, giving Indiana the service to win the set. A late comeback attempt was flushed away when Ava Falduto sailed her service out of bounds to give Indiana the first set with a score of 25-22.

Service struggles continued in the second set as Lyon opened the set with a service error. A few points later, Gillian Grimes’ service fell short and gave the Hoosiers a 3-2 lead. Alexis Ewing ended a short-lived rally by dropping the ball over two Indiana defenders, but Indiana held onto their 4-3 lead with an Avry Tatum kill. Penn State couldn’t help themselves out early in the second set; A few bad hits coupled with a Tatum ace extended Indiana’s lead to five points before Penn State utilized their first timeout.

Maggie Mendelson had the opportunity to end Indiana’s dominant stretch out of timeout, but sent the ball out of bounds, and the Nittany Lions found themselves in an eight-point hole with a 15-7 score. As they had in the first set, Penn State fought back and landed three straight kills, two by Caroline Jurevicius, which forced Indiana’s coach Steve Aird to call his first timeout.

Jurevicius’ dominance didn’t end with the timeout, however, as she blocked Tatum’s kill attempt, and Penn State was in reach. Their comeback diminished quickly when Indiana landed two kills and an ace during a five-point run to make it 20-11. Katie Schumacher-Cawley called her final timeout of the set.

With a score of 21-12, Tatum aced Penn State, and the following two points were killed by Alonso-Corcelles. Penn State survived Alonso-Corcelles’ set-point service, and Gin received the ball to serve down 11 points. After an ace, Gin sent her service out of bounds, and Indiana had a 2-0 set lead.

Penn State did not lead in the first two sets, but opened their third set with a Sellman kill, giving them their first lead of the match. Their following two service attempts fell short, but Indiana committed a service error of their own to keep the set at four apiece. Jurevicius knocked down her fourth kill of the match, and the set was tied up at six; the tightest one yet.

With a 9-7 score, Kennedy Martin got her 11th kill of the match, and Jager committed an attack error that tied the set for the Nittany Lions. Tatum and Martin exchanged kills, their eleventh and twelfth, respectively, of the match, then Penn State found momentum. At 11-11, they went on a three-point run, courtesy of a block assist by Karis Willow and Jordan Hopp. Penn State had a 14-11 lead when Indiana used their first timeout of the set.

Fresh off the timeout, Martin nailed her fourteenth kill to resume Penn State’s scoring run. Willow followed Martin’s kill with one of her own, giving Penn State its largest lead of the day at 16-11. Indiana took advantage of a few Penn State errors and brought the set score within a point when Schumacher-Cawley utilized her first timeout.

Out of the timeout, the teams traded kills, but Penn State won consecutive points when Jager misfired, making the set score 20-18. The Hoosiers responded with three consecutive points, putting them atop for the first time since the set score was 11-10.

Schumacher-Cawley used her final timeout of the set as the Nittany Lions were stepping into their grave. Out of the timeout, Indiana’s momentum wasn’t halted. Jager soared up to collect her fourteenth kill of the match, which gave Indiana a 22-20 lead. Tatum knocked in her thirteenth and fourteenth kill of the match, giving Jager service for match point.

Mendelson delivered a kill off of Jager’s service, and Penn State blocked consecutive spikes to bring the set score to 24-23. For the match point, Willow swung to equalize but was blocked by Tatum to sweep the match for Indiana.

Takeaways

• Penn State committed five service errors in the first set, four of them coming in the last several points of the set, which undermined their comeback attempt.
• The Nittany Lions found their first lead of the match early in the third set, but couldn’t hang on to a five-point lead down the home stretch.
• Caroline Jurevicius had kills in big moments of the second set to continue Penn State’s momentum in the middle of the set.

What’s Next?

Penn State will travel to Purdue next weekend to face the Boilermakers at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, November 7. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.