Penn State Volleyball Beats Iowa In Challenging Five-Setter

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

No. 14 Penn State women’s volleyball staved off Iowa’s upset attempt to win 3-2 (25-27, 25-22, 25-15, 20-25, 15-13) on the road Saturday night and improve to 57-0 all-time against the Hawkeyes.

Kash Williams led the Nittany Lions (15-4, 4-4 Big Ten) with a match-high 16 kills in the close win, including the final kill on the second match point. Maddy Bilinovic paced Penn State’s defense with 15 digs.

The Nittany Lions hit .232 to Iowa’s .191 and outblocked the Hawkeyes 15-7 at Xtream Arena in Coralville, Iowa. Both teams finished with seven aces. Allie Holland, who had 10 kills and hit .304, tied her career high with four aces in the win. Holland and Taylor Trammell had a match-high seven blocks apiece.

Zoe Weatherington joined Williams and Holland in double digits with 11 kills against the Hawkeyes, while Trammell finished just shy of the mark with nine kills and a .389 hitting percentage. Alexa Markley continued her solid form of late with seven kills, three digs, and a block off the bench.

Leisa Elisaia did a little bit of everything for the Nittany Lions Saturday night, tallying a match-high 46 assists, seven digs, six kills, five blocks, and an ace. Gillian Grimes (12 digs) and Anjelina Starck (10) made some impressive defensive plays in Penn State’s third five-set win of the season.

There was a strange sequence with Penn State leading 23-21 in the second set when Iowa’s coaching staff challenged a play at the net — even though they had already used their two challenges and should not have been permitted by the referees to contest it. The play stood as called, so it didn’t affect the score, but it sure was a head-scratcher.

The Nittany Lions will have the chance to watch some film and refine things in practice next week before traveling to College Park Friday for an 8 p.m. ET match against Maryland (11-8, 2-5 Big Ten) on Big Ten Network. The Terrapins swept Northwestern Friday in Evanston, Illinois.

Box Score

Match Details

Penn St. Iowa
Set K E TA % K E TA %
1 11 9 34 0.059 12 6 32 0.188
2 16 6 34 0.294 10 5 38 0.132
3 14 1 21 0.619 13 7 29 0.207
4 13 6 45 0.156 16 4 35 0.343
5 7 3 21 0.190 9 7 28 0.071
Total 61 25 155 0.232 60 29 162 0.191
Penn St. Iowa
Points 83.5 74
Kills 61 60
Aces 7 7
Blocks 15.5 7
Assists 53 53
Digs 59 56

Match Leaders

Penn St. – Leaders
Kills Kashauna Williams (16), Zoe Weatherington (11), Allie Holland (10)
Aces Allie Holland (4), Cassie Kuerschen (2), Seleisa Elisaia (1)
Blocks Allie Holland (7), Taylor Trammell (7), Seleisa Elisaia (5)
Assists Seleisa Elisaia (46), Maddy Bilinovic (2), Gillian Grimes (1), Cassie Kuerschen (1), Anjelina Starck (1), Zoe Weatherington (1), Kashauna Williams (1)
Digs Maddy Bilinovic (15), Gillian Grimes (12), Anjelina Starck (10)
Iowa – Leaders
Kills Amiya Jones (14), Michelle Urquhart (11), Delaney McSweeney (11)
Aces Michelle Urquhart (2), Bailey Ortega (2), Addie VanderWeide (1), Edina Schmidt (1), Amiya Jones (1)
Blocks Delaney McSweeney (4), Amiya Jones (3), Edina Schmidt (2)
Assists Lily Tessier (24), Bailey Ortega (23), Mari Hinkle (3)
Digs Mari Hinkle (16), Lily Tessier (10), Sydney Dennis (9)

Penn State Stats

# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
20 Allie Holland 5 10 3 23 0.304 0 0 4 2 3 4 1 3 0 0 19
23 Kashauna Williams 5 16 7 43 0.209 1 1 0 0 0 4 1 3 0 2 18
1 Taylor Trammell 5 9 2 18 0.389 0 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 13
17 Zoe Weatherington 5 11 7 26 0.154 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 12.5
5 Seleisa Elisaia 5 6 0 10 0.600 46 0 1 1 0 5 0 7 0 0 9.5
19 Alexa Markley 5 7 2 24 0.208 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 7.5
12 Cassie Kuerschen 5 0 0 0 0.000 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 5 0 1 2
11 Katie Clark 2 1 2 4 -0.250 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
10 Anjelina Starck 5 1 2 7 -0.143 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 10 0 2 1
2 Maddy Bilinovic 5 0 0 0 0.000 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 15 0 1 0
24 Quinn Menger 1 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Gillian Grimes 5 0 0 0 0.000 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 12 0 0 0
Total 61 25 155 0.232 53 1 7 9 5 21 2 59 0 6 83.5

Iowa Stats

# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
9 Amiya Jones 5 14 9 36 0.139 0 0 1 1 1 2 0 3 1 0 17
6 Delaney McSweeney 5 11 3 22 0.364 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 13.5
15 Michelle Urquhart 5 11 5 36 0.167 0 0 2 3 0 1 0 6 0 3 13.5
22 Addie VanderWeide 5 9 4 22 0.227 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 10.5
3 Audrey Black 5 8 3 20 0.250 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 8
20 Edina Schmidt 5 4 3 16 0.063 0 0 1 2 0 2 0 2 0 0 6
12 Bailey Ortega 5 1 0 2 0.500 23 1 2 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 3
5 Toyosi Onabanjo 2 1 2 7 -0.143 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1.5
7 Lily Tessier 5 1 0 1 1.000 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 0 1
10 Mari Hinkle 5 0 0 0 0.000 3 0 0 2 0 0 0 16 0 0 0
4 Sydney Dennis 5 0 0 0 0.000 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 9 0 3 0
1 Nia Washington 1 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 60 29 162 0.191 53 1 7 11 2 10 0 56 1 6 74
Box Score