No. 24 Penn State women’s volleyball (17-11, 11-7 Big Ten) dominated and swept Maryland (8-20, 1-17 Big Ten) on Sunday afternoon at Rec Hall in three sets on Senior Day.

The first set was the closest at 25-19, but the Nittany Lions really imposed their will in the second and third sets, dominating them 25-15 and 25-14 for their third consecutive victory.

How It Happened

The first set started off choppy for the Nittany Lions, as a pair of early service errors by Karis Willow and Jordan Hopp got Maryland off to a good start, but Penn State mostly remained in control.

Two attack errors by Emmi Sellman cut the lead to 12-11 at one point, but Penn State turned it up from there. Maggie Mendelson, Kennedy Martin, and Caroline Jurevicius bombarded Maryland with thunderous kills to open up a lead. An ace by Ava Falduto opened it up to 19-14.

Maryland fought back with a few kills by Haley Melby, but Penn State halted the momentum with a few big blocks at the net. The Terrapins scored three straight after falling behind 23-16, but a kill by Hopp and a block by Addie Lyon finished off the first set with a 25-19 victory for the Nittany Lions.

Martin and Mendelson started the second set with kills, setting the pace for a set that Penn State would control. Martin later registered a pair of aces, forcing a timeout. The lead ballooned to 9-2 before Maryland settled in, but they couldn’t get closer than five.

Falduto had an ace, Jurevicius had a number of kills, and they were able to counter every charge by Maryland. After three more kills by Jurevicius late in the set, the lead was back to 23-15. Two points later, Falduto set up Martin for a set-winning kill.

Penn State started the third set by winning the first three points on a trio of kills by Martin and Mendelson, but Maryland rebounded by winning three of the next four on two kills by Ajack Malual.

The story of the beginning of the third set was several long rallies, with both teams pulling off miraculous saves to extend it and get the point. Maryland kept hanging around, but another quick 3-0 run by Penn State that was capped by a Lyon ace forced a timeout at 11-6.

The timeout didn’t stop the run for Penn State, as Maryland struggled to deliver a rally-breaking kill and struggled to stop the strong offense of Mendelson and Martin, taking another timeout after falling behind 14-6. Lyon would get an ace out of the timeout to cap a 7-0 run before the Terrapins finally broke through on a kill by Duru Gken.

Penn State opened up a 19-8 lead before a small rally by Maryland closed the deficit to eight on a pair of attack errors and kills by Melby and Eva Rohrbach. A nifty kill by Lilly Wagner faked out the Nittany Lions to close it to 22-14, but that would be Maryland’s last gasp, as consecutive kills by Mendelson, Jurevicius, and Martin closed the door on this one.

Takeaways

• This was the feel-good finale at Rec Hall that Katie Schumacher-Cawley certainly wanted in what has been a turbulent season. Maryland has been overmatched all season and has lost 11 consecutive games, so it was imperative to impose their will.
• 16 more kills for Kennedy Martin, continuing her remarkable season. She added a pair of aces.
• Penn State had six aces to six service errors. They surrendered just one ace.

Up Next

The women’s volleyball team concludes its regular season with a road trip, beginning with a daunting task in Lincoln, taking on No. 1 Nebraska at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, November 28. The game will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.