Penn State hosted James Madison in the first game of their annual Penn State Classic on Saturday.
The Dukes came into the match with a win streak of three. The Nittany Lions were looking to come back after a hard-fought road loss to Pitt on Wednesday, where they were swept by the No. 1 women’s college volleyball team.
“I think on Wednesday, it was a struggle for us to kind of get into our groove,” Penn Stater Camryn Hannah said. “I think [Saturday] we started off a little bit slow, but we came together.”
James Madison earned the first point as Rebecca Watkins hammered a kill. The Dukes immediately ran the score up to 6-5 capitalizing on Nittany Lions errors.
Penn State rallied on repeat to take the edge away making the first set score 10-7 off of a kill by Hannah. By the end of the match, she was all over the score sheet in the kill department.
The first set came close in the end as James Madison made it 18-16 with a service ace for Annie Smith. Penn State went on a 4-0 scoring run to end the set 25-20 with a block by Taylor Trammell and Izzy Starck.
The Dukes tried to shift gears as they went on their own 4-0 scoring run to start the second set. An ace by Jaydyn Clemmer and a kill by Melisa Ilter contributed to that scoring run, but Hannah ended it.
Maggie Mendelson protected the net with blocks as she ended the night with five. Jess Mruzik would get her eighth kill, making the set 14-10.
The Nittany Lions took off again at the end of set two as Starck ended the set 25-20 with a kill. The second set was full of service errors as both teams combined made a total of nine.
Even though the set scores during this match looked close, Penn State dominated statistically compared to the Dukes. The Nittany Lions did have to use their big hitters this game due to James Madison being fourth in the nation in blocks per set.
The Nittany Lions wasted no time in the third set as they went on a 7-0 scoring run. Gillian Grimes would get two aces during the run as well as a kill by Mruzik to get her eleventh.
Miette Veldman contributed greatly to the Dukes despite the loss and she ended Penn State’s scoring with her sixth kill. Service errors would continue to haunt each team at the end of the set as each team got three.
The longest point of the match made it 22-19 as they volleyed. Veldman and the Dukes took the point to try to prevent a sweep.
The last play of the game was made by Mendelson; her fourth kill to win the match 3-0 in a 25-19 set win. Both Hannah and Mruzik finished the night with 13 kills. Starck was huge in the domination for Penn State as she accounted for 35 assists and seven attacks.
“I think Izzy’s a great player and a great setter. I think she’s getting better every set she plays in and it’s nice to see her attack the ball a little bit and find other ways to score,” Schumacher-Cawley said about the freshman.
The Nittany Lions now have 18 straight match wins in the Penn State Classic and are 7-0 over the Dukes overall. They finish the Classic on Sunday at with a match against Yale. It starts at 2 p.m.
