Kentucky Downs Penn State 3-0 in Home Opener for the Lions

Posted on by Nyline

On a night when Penn State raised the 2024 National Championship banner (its 8th National Championship all-time), the Nittany Lions dropped a tough match to #4-ranked Kentucky, 3-0 (21-25, 16-25, 23-25) in front of 6031 fans.  Penn State, now  2-3 on the season, will take on New Hampshire on Sunday.

Jess Mruzik and Quinn Menger on hand for the 2024 National Championship Banner raising.  Photo by Ethan Kasales.

Kennedy Martin once again led Penn State, racking up 19.5 points (18 kills, 1 service ace, and 1 block assist), with Caroline Jurevicius (7 kills), Emmi Selman (5 kills), and Maggie Mendelson (5 kills) also chipping in.  Penn State hit .240 for the match, directed by setter Addie Lyon’s 36 assists.

Asked after the match about Lyon’s performance, Coach Katie said “I thought Addie did a good job of moving the ball around for [Maggie Mendelson] and will continue to get better.  I think Addie works hard in practice. I think I said that in one of my early interviews, she’s a great leader. She’s a great teammate, she works really hard, and she will get better and get more comfortable with the hitters. No, nothing but great things for that kid.”

Addie Lyon

Coach Katie also said she isn’t worried about Penn State’s offense becoming one-dimensional with Kennedy Martin:

I mean, that’s what she does, she scores. So yeah, I think our pins need to score a little bit more. But when you can score well [like Kennedy], it’s okay to set [her].”

Kentucky’s .349 team hitting percentage was just too much for the Nittany Lions to overcome.  Brooklyn DeLeye led the Wildcats with 19 kills. Asked about Brooklyn DeLeye, Coach Katie said

She brought it, didn’t she? I didn’t even see the final score. But, she’s a phenomenal player and she’s going to have a great season. I like how she plays. She plays hard. She does a lot of great things on the floor. I love Brooklyn.

Despite being a sweep by Kentucky, the match wasn’t a runaway victory.  Penn State led 15-14 in Set 1, and pulled to within 2 points at 22-20, but ultimately dropped the set 21-25.  The Nittany Lions hit .281 for the set, but Kentucky hit .371.  And in Set 3, Penn State led 21-19, but Kentucky battled to a 24-23 lead, and took the match point on a kill by Eva Hudson.

Prior to the match, Izzy Starck posted that she is stepping away from volleyball for the season to “prioritize my mental health,” adding “I recognize that I need to take a step back and focus on getting the help and care I need at this time. . . .  I would greatly appreciate if everyone would respect me and my family’s privacy.”

At DigNittany, our only concern is with Izzy’s well-being and we intend to honor her request.

The complete match stats are below the match videos.

Box Score

Match Details

Kentucky Penn St.
Set K E TA % K E TA %
1 17 4 35 0.371 15 5 35 0.286
2 16 2 31 0.452 9 7 30 0.067
3 17 6 43 0.256 16 3 39 0.333
Total 50 12 109 0.349 40 15 104 0.240
Kentucky Penn St.
Points 65 47
Kills 50 40
Aces 4 2
Blocks 11 5
Assists 48 39
Digs 43 40

Match Leaders

Kentucky – Leaders
Kills Brooklyn DeLeye (18), Eva Hudson (10), Asia Thigpen (9)
Aces Brooklyn DeLeye (3), Trinity Ward (1)
Blocks Lizzie Carr (7), Kennedy Washington (4), Eva Hudson (3)
Assists Kassie O’Brien (27), Ava Sarafa (15), Molly Tuozzo (3)
Digs Molly Tuozzo (15), Brooklyn DeLeye (8), Eva Hudson (8)
Penn St. – Leaders
Kills Kennedy Martin (18), Caroline Jurevicius (7), Emmi Sellman (5), Maggie Mendelson (5)
Aces Kennedy Martin (1), Gillian Grimes (1)
Blocks Maggie Mendelson (3), Emmi Sellman (2), Gabrielle Nichols (1), Caroline Jurevicius (1), Kennedy Martin (1), Addie Lyon (1), Jordan Hopp (1)
Assists Addie Lyon (36), Ava Falduto (1), Jocelyn Nathan (1), Jordan Hopp (1)
Digs Gillian Grimes (12), Ava Falduto (7), Jocelyn Nathan (6), Kennedy Martin (6)

Penn State Stats

# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
18 Kennedy Martin 3 18 3 45 0.333 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 6 0 0 19.5
14 Caroline Jurevicius 3 7 5 12 0.167 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 7.5
44 Maggie Mendelson 3 5 1 8 0.500 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 6.5
13 Emmi Sellman 3 5 3 29 0.069 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 6
5 Jordan Hopp 3 4 2 7 0.286 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 4.5
3 Gillian Grimes 3 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 12 0 1 1
27 Alexis Ewing 1 1 0 1 1.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
7 Addie Lyon 3 0 0 0 0.000 36 0 0 2 0 1 0 3 0 0 0.5
8 Gabrielle Nichols 2 0 1 2 -0.500 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.5
11 Jocelyn Nathan 3 0 0 0 0.000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 3 0
2 Ava Falduto 3 0 0 0 0.000 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 7 0 0 0
9 Lexi Gin 1 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 40 15 104 0.24 39 0 2 6 0 10 1 40 0 4 47

Kentucky Stats

# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
17 Brooklyn DeLeye 3 18 5 37 0.351 1 0 3 4 0 1 0 8 0 0 21.5
7 Eva Hudson 3 10 3 30 0.233 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 8 0 1 11.5
20 Asia Thigpen 3 9 2 15 0.467 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 10
15 Lizzie Carr 3 6 1 12 0.417 1 0 0 0 0 7 0 1 0 0 9.5
10 Kennedy Washington 3 4 1 8 0.375 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 1 0 0 6.5
6 Kassie O’Brien 2 3 0 6 0.500 27 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 4
2 Ava Sarafa 2 0 0 1 0.000 15 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 1
1 Trinity Ward 3 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
12 Molly Tuozzo 3 0 0 0 0.000 3 0 0 1 0 0 0 15 0 0 0
11 Molly Berezowitz 3 0 0 0 0.000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 0
Total 50 12 109 0.349 48 0 4 6 1 20 0 43 0 2 65

Box Score