Nittany Lions fall short in 4 against Tennessee (19-25, 23-25, 25-20, 20-25)

Gabrielle Nichols takes a swing against Tennessee.

The Nittany Lions fall short in their last match of the non-conference slate as they lose to the Lady Volunteers of Tennessee in 4 sets (19-25, 23-25, 25-20, 20-25). Kennedy Martin (21 pts, 20 kills, 0.381 hitting percentage, 2 blocks), Ryla Jones (15 pts, 10 kills, 0.333 hitting percentage, 8 blocks) and Gabrielle Nichols (10.5 points, 9 kills, 0.467 hitting percentage, 3 blocks) led Penn State’s effort.

It was a tough night for the Lions as they fell short against #16 Tennessee. The Nittany Lions were unable to contain the three pins Kennedi Rogers (22.5 pts), Jalyn Stout (13.5 pts) and Maggie Dostic (13 pts). Prior to the match, Tennessee led the nation in kills per set at 15.04 and it showed in today’s match.

	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Total
Tennessee	25	25	20	25	3
Penn St.	19	23	25	20	1

The Nittany Lions put up a strong showing in second and third set led by Kennedy Martin (21 pts, 20 kills, 0.381 hitting percentage, 2 blocks) who is following a strong performance against South Florida. Alexis Stucky (38 assists, 2 kills) showed great connections with Martin and the two middles, Ryla Jones and Gabrielle Nichols. Ryla Jones led the team in blocking with 8 blocks and added 10 kills (0.333 hitting percentage) to Nittany Lions effort. She also brings a ton of swag and energy to team when she celebrates these blocks. Gabrielle Nichols is continuing her streak of good matches as she notches another double digit point performance. She added 9 kills (0.467 hitting percentage) and 3 blocks.

Coach Schumacher Cawley was trying to find the right mix of outside to hit the court today as that was the position that struggled the most offensively. Five different outsides saw playing time today but was only able to earn a combined 12 kills (-0.036 hitting percentage).

Defensively, the Nittany Lions had streaks of strong floor and block defense. Ava Falduto led the team in digs with 15.

The match was statistically tight in kills (53-55), digs (55-54), and blocks (12-11). Tennessee however was cleaner in serving (13-9 serving errors) and hitting (22-19 hitting errors). The Nittany Lion’s passing was also streaky as they struggled in the first and last set while passing well in the middle.

This match ends the Nittany Lions non-conference schedule with an 8-2 record. They will next face Michigan (9/25) and Michigan State (9/27) to begin conference play.

Penn State’s starting lineup versus Tennessee, from left: Ava Falduto, Whitney Lauenstein, Haley Burgdorf, Kennedy Martin, Gabrielle Nichols, Ryla Jones, and Alexis Stucky

Post-Match Press Conference

After the match, Coach Katie and Alexis Stucky 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.

I’d like to thank the wRECking Crew and the students that came today. It was a great atmosphere and unfortunately, we didn’t hold up our part.

Question: Were you pleased with the improvement in passing, coach?

Coach Katie: I thought we passed much better, but I think we had 43 errors. When you’re up in the set 22-19, you have to finish. You have to be able to find a way to finish and dig in, and we didn’t do that. Tennessee’s a great team, and they’ll win a lot of matches this year. They took advantage of that.

Question: Coach, Kennedi Rogers had 21 kills for Tennessee today. What made her so effective against you guys?

Coach Katie: She’s a great player. She’s aggressive and didn’t stop swinging. I thought they used our block a little bit, and defensively we were a step slow, but she’s a very good player.

Question: Alexis, what did (Caroline) Kerr do to kind of keep you guys off balance today?

Alexis Stucky: She’s just an awesome setter. She does such a good job of getting her feet to the ball, being really deceptive, and taking the ball in the same place every single time. She looks the same every time she sets the ball, which makes it tough for our defenders to defend.

Question: What did you learn that you can take into Big Ten play from today?

Coach Katie: Yeah, it’s hard to win, and everyone’s got players. We need to get back to work in the gym, be better at the little things, and find some ways to score a few more points.

Question: Alexis, you were tested a lot in non-conference play. How is that going to help the team moving forward?

Alexis Stucky: I know I’ve never played in the Big Ten before, but I’ve played a bunch of Big Ten teams in non-conference. It’s good to be challenged because I know our conference schedule is definitely going to challenge us.

Box Score (vs. Tennessee)

Match Details

	Tennessee				Penn St.
Set	K	E	TA	%	K	E	TA	%
1	17	2	39	0.385	11	3	31	0.258
2	15	4	33	0.333	13	8	46	0.109
3	9	9	36	0.000	14	6	31	0.258
4	14	4	34	0.294	15	5	34	0.294
Total	55	19	142	0.254	53	22	142	0.218

	Tennessee	Penn St.
Points	71	67
Kills	55	53
Aces	5	2
Blocks	11	12
Assists	52	48
Digs	54	55

Game Leaders

	Tennessee – Leaders
Kills	Kennedi Rogers (21), Jalyn Stout (12), Maggie Dostic (11)
Aces	Maggie Dostic (2), Emma Frietch (1), Mackenzie Plante (1), Caroline Kerr (1)
Blocks	Chelsea Sutton (5), Caroline Kerr (5), Anni Tang (4)
Assists	Caroline Kerr (42), Raegan Burns (5), Jalyn Stout (4)
Digs	Raegan Burns (14), Caroline Kerr (13), Kennedi Rogers (10)

	Penn St. – Leaders
Kills	Kennedy Martin (20), Ryla Jones (10), Gabrielle Nichols (9)
Aces	Haley Burgdorf (2)
Blocks	Ryla Jones (8), Haley Burgdorf (5), Gabrielle Nichols (3)
Assists	Alexis Stucky (38), Ava Falduto (6), Haley Burgdorf (2), Jocelyn Nathan (2)
Digs	Ava Falduto (15), Alexis Stucky (12), Kennedy Martin (8)

Penn State Stats

			Attack				Set		Serve		Block			Def		Rec
#	Player	SP	K	E	TA	%	A	E	SA	SE	BS	BA	BE	DIG	BHE	RE	Pts
18	Kennedy Martin	4	20	4	42	0.381	0	0	0	4	0	2	0	8	0	0	21
7	Ryla Jones	4	10	3	21	0.333	0	0	0	1	2	6	1	2	0	0	15
8	Gabrielle Nichols	4	9	2	15	0.467	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	1	0	0	10.5
23	Haley Burgdorf	4	4	5	26	-0.038	2	0	2	1	1	4	1	5	0	0	9
26	Whitney Lauenstein	2	5	4	15	0.067	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	4	0	1	5
42	Finley Krystkowiak	2	2	4	12	-0.167	0	0	0	3	0	2	0	1	0	1	3
5	Alexis Stucky	4	2	0	7	0.286	38	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	0	0	2
13	Emmi Sellman	2	1	0	2	0.500	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	1.5
14	Caroline Jurevicius	2	0	0	2	0.000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	Jocelyn Nathan	4	0	0	0	0.000	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	5	0	1	0
2	Ava Falduto	4	0	0	0	0.000	6	0	0	1	0	0	0	15	0	2	0
9	Lexi Gin	3	0	0	0	0.000	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Danielle Whitmire	1	0	0	0	0.000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
Total			53	22	142	0.218	48	0	2	13	3	18	3	55	0	5	67

Tennessee Stats

			Attack				Set		Serve		Block			Def		Rec
#	Player	SP	K	E	TA	%	A	E	SA	SE	BS	BA	BE	DIG	BHE	RE	Pts
0	Kennedi Rogers	4	21	7	55	0.255	0	0	0	2	0	3	0	10	0	0	22.5
7	Jalyn Stout	4	12	5	26	0.269	4	1	0	0	0	3	1	6	0	1	13.5
15	Maggie Dostic	4	11	3	29	0.276	1	0	2	2	0	0	0	7	0	0	13
11	Caroline Kerr	4	4	0	11	0.364	42	1	1	1	0	5	0	13	0	0	7.5
16	Chelsea Sutton	4	5	0	12	0.417	0	0	0	0	0	5	1	0	0	0	7.5
17	Anni Tang	3	1	1	4	0.000	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	3
22	Jolene Oddo	3	1	3	5	-0.400	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	2
6	Mackenzie Plante	4	0	0	0	0.000	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
1	Emma Frietch	4	0	0	0	0.000	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	1
14	Sydney Jaynes	4	0	0	0	0.000	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
13	Raegan Burns	4	0	0	0	0.000	5	2	0	2	0	0	0	14	0	1	0
Total			55	19	142	0.254	52	4	5	9	0	22	2	54	0	2	71