Penn State Volleyball Sweeps Louisville, Exacts Revenge For Last Year

Posted on by Ethan Kasales

No. 7 Penn State women’s volleyball swept No. 4 Louisville in the Nittany Lions’ home opener Tuesday night at Rec Hall, avenging last year’s road loss to the Cardinals in dominant fashion.

The Nittany Lions (3-0) didn’t allow Louisville to reach 20 points in any of the three sets and beat the Cardinals 25-13 in the third set by hitting a ridiculous .583 as a team. Penn State hit .358 for the match to Louisville’s meager .091 clip. The match took only 1:34 and the announced attendance was 3,865.

Box Score

Penn State’s starters — Jess Mruzik, Caroline Jurevicius, Maggie Mendelson, Taylor Trammell, Gill Grimes, and Izzy and Anjelina Starck — signed mini volleyballs and threw them into the crowd as lineups were introduced. The program also sung the Penn State alma mater in a new location right in front of a packed student section following the win.

Mruzik had a match-high 13 kills (.367) and nine digs in the top-10 victory, which saw the Nittany Lions outperform Louisville across the board. Penn State clearly had more energy than the Cardinals, too. Mruzik was interviewed by the Big Ten Network broadcast team afterward, which featured Penn State volleyball alumna and two-time NCAA national champion Kristin Carpenter Steadman as the color commentator.

Jurevicius joined Mruzik in double figures with 11 kills in her Rec Hall debut, while Camryn Hannah and Mendelson had eight and seven kills, respectively. Both Hannah and Mendelson hit well above .400 Tuesday night. Mruzik and Hannah broke out some colorful Nike Kobe Bryant signature sneakers for the televised match. Program great Micha Hancock was known for wearing Kobes during some big matches in her Penn State career.

Trammell had a match-high four total blocks, four digs, and three kills against the Cardinals, helping Penn State secure an 8-5 advantage in blocks. The Nittany Lions also finished with a 45-28 lead in kills on a night where Louisville struggled to get much momentum going. At one point, Anna DeBeer accidentally ran into teammate Charitie Luper while trying to take a swing, and both fell to the court in frustration.

Grimes, Penn State’s junior libero, showed why she’s one of the most improved players on the roster and perhaps in all of the Big Ten, as she and freshman defensive specialist Ava Falduto were outstanding patrolling the backcourt. Grimes had a match-high 13 digs, four assists, and one of Penn State’s five aces, while Falduto had seven digs and two assists after seeing some time at libero in Sunday’s sweep of Temple.

Falduto, Hannah, and senior co-captain Quinn Menger were the only substitutes for the Nittany Lions Tuesday night, just like in Penn State’s season-opening 3-1 win over Tennessee. Coming off her first Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors, Izzy Starck had a match-high 32 assists, six digs, three kills, one ace, and one block in the lopsided win, while her older sister, Anjelina, had three digs and an ace of her own.

The Nittany Lions will be back in action Friday at 7 p.m. ET when they face No. 9 Kentucky (3-1) in another huge non-conference match at the newly renovated Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Taylor Trammell’s hometown. Penn State will play a familiar face in Darcy Dorton and Ball State Saturday at 5 p.m. in Lexington. Dorton is in her second season as an assistant coach for the Cardinals.

Jurevicius and Mendelson joined their head coach, Katie Schumacher-Cawley, in speaking to the media after Penn State’s emphatic win over Louisville. The full transcript of questions and answers from their press conference can be found below. It’s evident Jurevicius and Mendelson, who are roommates with Izzy Starck and Ava Falduto, share a strong bond on and off the court.

Opening statement:

KSC: “Thanks for coming. I want to give a shoutout to our student section, the wRECking Crew. What a great turnout it was tonight for this team. I’m proud of the way the team played. Everyone competed and they did their job, so it was a lot of fun.”

A question for all three of you. Izzy Starck has had a very strong start to the season. She had 32 assists tonight. What are your thoughts on her season so far and tonight’s match?

Jurevicius: “I think it’s no secret that Izzy Starck is an extremely hard worker and always has been. Her reputation, from even before I knew her, has definitely preceded her. The work that she does on the side to get better, whether it be watching film at 11 o’clock at night or getting to the gym 30 minutes early, it really showed, so I’m proud of her.”

Mendelson: “Yeah, same thing. I was with her last night and we were watching film at like 11:30. She’s always pushing for more reps, pushing to watch more film. She’s always willing to go the extra mile for our team, and it really shows on the court. I’m just so grateful that I get to play with her.”

KSC: “She works hard. These guys push each other and want to be better and get in the gym. I think Izzy’s a student of the game, too. She wants to learn and she wants to do more. I’m excited to see her continue to grow and get better as the season goes.”

Coach, your team hit .583 in the third set. What was working well offensively tonight?

KSC: “They all were. I think we were passing well and everyone was scoring. I thought Izzy did a good job of moving the ball around. Everyone has kills. That’s what we want. We want a balanced offense. I thought everyone did a great job.”

What did the student section’s energy do for the team?

KSC: “I thought it was great. We’re so lucky. Rec Hall is a special place to play. I’m grateful for the students and the wRECking Crew, and hope we can continue to win and bring more of them here.”

How do you two feel about your first home match at Penn State?

Jurevicius: “I grew up being a Penn State volleyball fan, and I was a little girl up in those stands the last time I was in here. To be on the court, where so many women have come through here and made this program what it is, it’s surreal. I’m very thankful that my path led me here.”

Mendelson: “I’m just super grateful that I get to be a Penn Stater. It’s such an awesome place. Being on that court just really exemplifies the experience. Us, today, all the hard work we put in, I could really feel it paying off. I’m just excited to see where we can go.”

For the players, what impresses you about each other’s game? What’s your relationship like off the court?

Jurevicius: “We’re tight. We’re really, really tight. I think the thing that impressed me the most was the relentlessness tonight. We dropped, like, two points in a row. ‘Okay, how do we rebuild and how do we come back?’ And we did. I don’t think there was any point of doubt, for me, in the match. When I was looking around and looking at the faces of the girls around me, it looked like we wanted it.”

Mendelson: “Yeah, no dropped heads. I didn’t see anything happen in the game. Everybody was willing to go for the next ball and had a really quick reset, which I think was really awesome. Off the court, we’re really tight and hang out a lot, maybe a little bit more than we should. We’re always together.”