Penn State Volleyball Sweeps Rutgers In Big Ten Opener

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

No. 20 Penn State women’s volleyball swept Rutgers 3-0 (25-10, 25-12, 25-20) in its Big Ten opener Friday night at The RAC in Piscataway, New Jersey.

2021 PSU Roster

Jonni Parker led the Nittany Lions with a match-high 11 kills in the win, while Gabby Blossom paced the team in multiple facets with 30 assists and three of Penn State’s eight aces. The Nittany Lions hit .407 and out-blocked the Scarlet Knights 9-5.

Penn State’s outside hitters, Adanna Rollins and Erika Pritchard, turned in strong performances with nine kills apiece to finish second on the team in that category. Both hit better than .350 and tallied an ace. Kaitlyn Hord and Allie Holland combined for 10 kills and zero attack errors on an efficient night for the pair of middle blockers.

Blossom, Rollins, and senior libero Jenna Hampton were Penn State’s best passers against the Scarlet Knights, who fell to 8-4 on the season after hitting just .073 Friday night. Hampton had a team-high eight digs. Penn State dominated the first two sets, but Rutgers kept things relatively close in the third set before the Nittany Lions eventually improved to 18-0 in the all-time series.

Cassie Kuerschen, Keatan Broughton, and former Rutgers player Anastasiya Kudryashova, who transferred to Penn State prior to the 2020 season, were Russ Rose’s only substitutes of the match. Pritchard returned to the starting lineup after not playing against West Virginia last Friday in Morgantown.

The Nittany Lions (8-3, 1-0 Big Ten) will be back in Rec Hall this Sunday for a big match against No. 3 Ohio State at 4 p.m. The contest will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network. The Buckeyes are 10-1 after suffering their first loss of the season against No. 7 Purdue in five sets Friday.

Box Score

Match Details

Penn St. Rutgers
Set K E TA % K E TA %
1 13 1 24 0.500 7 9 29 -0.069
2 13 2 23 0.478 7 7 29 0.000
3 15 5 34 0.294 12 4 24 0.333
Total 41 8 81 0.407 26 20 82 0.073
Penn St. Rutgers
Points 58 32
Kills 41 26
Aces 8 1
Blocks 9 5
Assists 40 25
Digs 30 30

Match Leaders

Penn St. – Leaders
Kills Jonni Parker (11), Adanna Rollins (9), Erika Pritchard (9)
Aces Gabby Blossom (3), Allie Holland (1), Jenna Hampton (1), Jonni Parker (1), Adanna Rollins (1), Erika Pritchard (1)
Blocks Kaitlyn Hord (7), Jonni Parker (4), Erika Pritchard (2)
Assists Gabby Blossom (30), Jonni Parker (6), Jenna Hampton (4)
Digs Jenna Hampton (8), Adanna Rollins (7), Gabby Blossom (6)
Rutgers – Leaders
Kills Beka Kojadinovic (10), Kamila Cieslik (6), Shea McNamara (4)
Aces Cansu Gunaydin (1)
Blocks Shea McNamara (5), Inna Balyko (3), Anastasiia Maksimova (1), Kamila Cieslik (1)
Assists Inna Balyko (21), Cansu Gunaydin (2), Madyson Chitty (2)
Digs Madyson Chitty (9), Inna Balyko (8), Kamila Cieslik (4)

Penn Statae Stats

# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
9 Jonni Parker 3 11 3 19 0.421 6 0 1 0 1 3 0 3 0 0 14.5
5 Erika Pritchard 3 9 2 19 0.368 0 0 1 2 0 2 0 2 0 0 11
23 Kaitlyn Hord 3 6 0 12 0.500 0 0 0 0 3 4 0 0 0 0 11
1 Adanna Rollins 3 9 3 17 0.353 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 7 0 1 10
20 Allie Holland 3 4 0 5 0.800 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 5.5
13 Gabby Blossom 3 0 0 1 0.000 30 0 3 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 3
18 Anastasiya Kudryashova 2 2 0 8 0.250 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
15 Jenna Hampton 3 0 0 0 0.000 4 0 1 2 0 0 0 8 0 0 1
3 Keatan Broughton 1 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
12 Cassie Kuerschen 3 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Total 41 8 81 0.407 40 0 8 7 4 10 1 30 0 1 58

Rutgers Stats

# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
1 Beka Kojadinovic 3 10 3 23 0.304 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 1 10
5 Shea McNamara 3 4 3 10 0.100 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 1 0 0 6.5
13 Kamila Cieslik 3 6 3 16 0.188 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 0 3 6.5
17 Cansu Gunaydin 2 3 5 17 -0.118 2 0 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 0 4
10 Inna Balyko 3 1 0 2 0.500 21 0 0 0 0 3 0 8 1 0 2.5
7 Anastasiia Maksimova 1 1 3 7 -0.286 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1.5
16 Tina Grkovic 3 1 1 3 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1
14 Megan Vernon 1 0 2 4 -0.500 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Samantha Graver 3 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
2 Madyson Chitty 3 0 0 0 0.000 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 9 0 0 0
11 Stella Antypa 1 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 26 20 82 0.073 25 0 1 4 0 10 2 30 1 5 32

Box Score