Nittany Lions win with a sweep in their Penn State Classic opener vs. South Florida (25-18, 25-23, 26-24)

Finley Krystkowiak and Alexis Stucky embrace after connecting for a kill.

In their penultimate non-conference match, the Nittany Lions faced the University of South Florida Bulls. Kennedy Martin (16 pts, 15 kills, 0.609 hitting percentage, 2 blocks), Gabrielle Nichols (11 pts, 7 kills, 0.357 hitting percentage, 7 blocks) and Ryla Jones (9.5 pts, 6 kills, 0.556 hitting percentage, 2 aces, 2 blocks) led the Nittany Lions’ effort.

With two more matches in non-conference play Penn State was looking to get some positive momentum as B1G play starts. The Penn State Nittany Lions had a familiar opponent in the South Florida Bulls. These two teams faced each other last year in the first round of the NCAA Tournament where Penn State came out in a close 3-1 victory.

1st 2nd 3rd
Penn State 25 25 26 3
South Florida 18 23 24
0
Kennedy Martin had her best performance of the season thus far earning 15 kills (from 23 swing and only 1 error), earning a season-high hitting percentage of 0.609. She showed the powerful hits from both the front and back court that the Nittany Lions were familiar with from last season. Look for Martin to continue hitting high and coming in for the bic as the season progresses. In addition to her offensive contributions, Martin also pitched in 8 digs and 2 blocks.  This was also made possible by senior setter Alexis Stucky (31 assists, 3 kills, 3 digs, 2 blocks) who was spreading the offense around leading to a team hitting percentage of 0.302. Aside from the very strong connection with Martin, Stucky directed the offense well through the middles. Gabrielle Nichols, last match’s top-scorer, continued to be a go-to point scorer for Penn State as she contributed 11 points (7 kills, 7 blocks). Both her and Ryla Jones (6 kills, 0.556 hitting percentage, 2 blocks, 2 aces) connection with Stucky were strong – hitting the slides and quick sets very well.
The Nittany Lions offense stood out in this match as they led in kills against USF, 44-32. The Nittany Lions also held the USF Bulls to a 0.133 hitting percentage with a mix of strong blocking and digging. The Nittany Lions were also the lower error team comitting 15 hitting errors (to USF’s 19) and 7 serving errors (to USF’s 8). However, the Nittany Lions will aim to improve their passing performance from this match as they were aced 11 times.
Penn State will close out their non-conference slate with a ranked match vs. the University of Tennessee Volunteers on Sunday in Rec Hall.
Ava Falduto whispers in Ryla Jones’ ear before Penn State’s press conference got underway.

Post-Match Press Conference

After the match, Coach Katie, Ava Falduto, and Ryla Jones answered questions from the media.  Below is a transcript of the questions and answers, lightly edited for length and clarity.

Opening Statement by Coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley.

Thank everyone for coming! To the wRECking crew and everybody. It’s nice to win. It’s hard to win, and I’m just glad we found a way to finish that. USF gave us some problems in serve receive, and we’ll definitely be better at that.

Question: Do you think that was more that they’re giving you a problem or you having an off night?

Coach Katie: I think it was a little bit of both. I thought they served tough and served the seams. It gave us a little bit of trouble, I think it was a little bit of both.

Question: Did you ever consider trying to bring in, bringing in Emmi Sellman like you did last game to help with the passing?

Coach Katie: You know, it’s a fine line. We’re trying to find a way to let people work out of it a little bit, and I wanted to see what we can do tonight with who we had on the floor.

Question: Only one attack error from Kennedy (Martin) tonight. What was working for her?

Coach Katie: I thought Ken took some big swings, front court and backcourt. I thought Stucky did a good job of moving the ball around, and I thought both middles were involved. Kennedy was finding ways to score.

Question: What did you make of that play that Finley (Krystkowiak) made in the first set where she kind of had a bad pass and then recovered to get it over the net?

Ava Falduto: I’m sure it was awesome (laughs). I really have a bad memory, but, no, she’s really good at being really aggressive, and I know she is able to recover quickly no matter what the situation is, and she bounced back really well.

Question: Ryla, you’ve said that your serve has really improved since last season. What are some of the things that helped you achieve that?

Ryla Jones: I think we focus a lot on it in practice, and Katie’s always saying to be aggressive from behind the line because when we get them out of system, we can play really well, especially our blockers. So we dedicate a lot of time to serve and pass, and I think that has a big impact.

Question: Ava, what are some things you’ve done to kind of work on your overhead sets?

Ava Falduto:  Yeah, we do system work just about every single day. It’s a really big piece of the game. I think being able to get more reps and work with our different hitters has been really helpful. We’ve been with the same hitters since January, so it’s been nice to evolve with them.

Question: Playing outside in the past, how has that kind of helped you when you’re setting out of system?

Ava Falduto:  Yeah, I feel like I kind of just understand, like, what the blocker tendencies would do a little bit more. Like, if I need to push it out to the pin more, keep them more inside. And that kind of goes with each hitter, too.

Question: Ryla, how have you seen your connection with Stucky improve throughout the season?

Ryla Jones: I feel like it’s getting a lot better. She feeds me really good balls, and she instills a lot of confidence in me. Even if I don’t make the best swing, she gives me a really big smile and gets me the ball again. So I feel like her confidence in me helps a lot.

Question: You have a really athletic family. How has that kind of helped your upbringing?

Ryla Jones: I do. My sister actually played yesterday (her twin sister Renee Jones plays for Arizona Volleyball). I think they made me really competitive, and I always wanted to be better than them, especially being the youngest, because they always tried to make me feel like I was the worst (laughs). But I think they pushed me a lot and gave me a lot of support. Especially my two sisters who play volleyball, I get a lot of tips from them.

Penn State Stats

#
Player
S
K
E
TA
%
A
E
SA
SE
BS
BA
BE
DIG
BHE
RE
PTS
18
Martin, Kennedy
3 15 1 23 .609 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 8 0 0 16
8
Nichols, Gabrielle
3 7 2 14 .357 0 0 0 0 1 6 0 3 0 0 11
7
Jones, Ryla
3 6 1 9 .556 0 0 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 9.5
26
Lauenstein, Whitney
3 7 5 23 .087 2 0 1 1 0 2 0 1 0 2 9
42
Krystkowiak, Finley
3 4 4 13 .000 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 3 4.5
5
Stucky, Alexis
3 3 0 6 .500 31 0 0 1 0 2 0 3 0 0 4
23
Burgdorf, Haley
3 2 2 8 .000 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 4 2
2
Falduto, Ava
3 0 0 0 .000 4 0 1 1 0 0 0 12 0 1 1
11
Nathan, Jocelyn
3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
TM
Team
3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Totals
44 15 96 .302 38 0 4 7 2 14 1 35 0 11 57.0

South Florida Stats

#
Player
SP
K
E
TA
%
A
E
SE
SE
BS
BA
BE
DIG
BHE
RE
PTS
12
Brus, Addy
3 8 1 23 .304 1 0 3 1 0 0 0 6 0 1 11
1
Tomasa, Paula
3 7 6 23 .043 1 1 0 2 0 5 0 1 0 0 9.5
15
Wass de Czege, Amelia
3 3 0 6 .500 0 0 4 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 8.5
4
Pampin, Mora
3 8 6 23 .087 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 8
11
Garvin, Iyanna
3 3 4 12 -.083 0 0 0 0 2 4 0 0 0 0 7
5
Jioshvili-ravva, Nina
3 1 0 1 1.000 16 0 3 0 0 1 1 5 0 0 4.5
0
Abdur-rahim, Samiyah
1 2 1 4 .250 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2.5
3
Thomas, Miya
3 0 0 0 .000 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 7 0 1 1
7
Djordjevic, Sofija
3 0 1 2 -.500 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 9 0 1 0
19
Stettin, Emelyn
2 0 0 1 .000 7 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
21
Yamada, Rana
2 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0
2
Ivey, Laila
1 0 0 3 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
17
Rondo, Ryelle
1 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
TM
Team
3 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals
32 19 98 .133 31 1 11 8 2 14 3 32 0 4 52.0

Box Score