Penn State snaps losing streak with a win against Illinois 3-1 (25-23, 25-27, 25-23, 25-22)

Posted on by DigNittany Staff

The last few matches have been less than ideal for the Penn State Nittany Lions but today they snapped their 3-match losing streak with a 3-1 win (25-23, 25-27, 25-23, 25-22) against the Fighting Illini at Huff Hall. The Nittany Lions had 3 players with double digit points. They were led by Kennedy Martin (23.5 points, 22 kills, 1 block assist, 1 ace, 0.333 hitting percentage), Maggie Mendelson (17 points, 16 kills, 2 block assists, 0.516 hitting percentage with 0 errors) and Emmi Sellman (15.5 points, 14 kills, 3 block assists). The Nittany Lions squeezed out a win to go 14-10 overall, 8-6 in the B1G.

The Nittany Lions edged out the Illini with a strong serving performance (8 – 2 aces) all other scoring stats were close, 66-65 attacks and 8-7 blocks. Both teams scored most of their points each set Penn State score 20.5 points per set while Illinois scored 18.5. Kennedy Martin pulled out another double-double performance with 22 kills, 11 digs, 1 block assist and 1 ace.

Maggie Mendelson, Penn State’s most efficient hitter of the season, scored 16 kills from 31 errorless swings. Emmi Sellman has found a streak of form with this being her 4th consecutive match hitting above her season average, she pitched in 14 kills and 3 blocks. Gillian Grimes had a marvelous defensive performance with a season-high (and career-tying-high) 27 digs and 1 ace. Ava Falduto backed her up with 9 digs and a team-high 3 aces. Addie Lyon led the team with a career-high 52 assists. Jordan Hopp did not have the greatest offensive outing (3 kills from 10 swings with 1 error) but had a great defensive game with a team-high 5 blocks.

The Penn State Coaching Staff also made some clever changes during the match defensively like switching defender positions when the middle is serving and a premature substitution for Alexis Ewing (9 kills) to bolster passing.

The Nittany Lions will aim to continue the momentum they got from this match in another away match against Minnesota next Friday.

Box Score

Match Details

Penn St. Illinois
Set K E TA % K E TA %
1 17 3 51 0.275 16 6 44 0.227
2 18 3 43 0.349 23 3 46 0.435
3 14 7 42 0.167 10 4 33 0.182
4 17 2 39 0.385 16 5 42 0.262
Total 66 15 175 0.291 65 18 165 0.285
Penn St. Illinois
Points 82 74
Kills 66 65
Aces 8 2
Blocks 8 7
Assists 60 58
Digs 70 77

Match Leaders

Penn St. – Leaders
Kills Kennedy Martin (22), Maggie Mendelson (16), Emmi Sellman (14)
Aces Ava Falduto (3), Jordan Hopp (2), Kennedy Martin (1), Addie Lyon (1), Gillian Grimes (1)
Blocks Jordan Hopp (6), Emmi Sellman (3), Addie Lyon (3)
Assists Addie Lyon (52), Ava Falduto (3), Gillian Grimes (2)
Digs Gillian Grimes (27), Kennedy Martin (11), Ava Falduto (9)
Illinois – Leaders
Kills Alyssa Aguayo (14), Auburn Tomkinson (14), Taylor de Boer (14)
Aces Taryn Kirsch (1), Kenna Phelan (1)
Blocks Ashlyn Philpot (5), Kenna Phelan (4), Auburn Tomkinson (2), Gabby Dean (2)
Assists Kenna Phelan (50), Taryn Kirsch (5), Sophi Randall (2)
Digs Alyssa Aguayo (24), Taryn Kirsch (12), Averie Hernandez (11)

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 22 4 54 0.333 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 11 0 0 23.5
44 Maggie Mendelson 4 16 0 31 0.516 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 17
13 Emmi Sellman 4 14 3 38 0.289 1 0 0 5 0 3 0 8 0 1 15.5
27 Alexis Ewing 4 9 5 29 0.138 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 9
5 Jordan Hopp 4 3 1 10 0.200 1 0 2 1 1 5 0 1 0 0 8.5
7 Addie Lyon 4 2 1 8 0.125 52 0 1 2 0 3 1 7 0 0 4.5
2 Ava Falduto 4 0 0 2 0.000 3 0 3 3 0 0 0 9 0 0 3
3 Gillian Grimes 4 0 0 2 0.000 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 27 0 0 1
11 Jocelyn Nathan 4 0 1 1 -1.000 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0
9 Lexi Gin 1 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Gabrielle Nichols 4 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 66 15 175 0.291 60 0 8 13 1 14 1 70 0 2 82

Illinois Stats

Attack Set Serve Block Def Rec
# Player SP K E TA % A E SA SE BS BA BE DIG BHE RE Pts
1 Auburn Tomkinson 4 14 4 32 0.313 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 5 0 0 15
5 Taylor de Boer 4 14 6 37 0.216 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 14
19 Alyssa Aguayo 4 14 1 31 0.419 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 24 0 0 14
16 Ashlyn Philpot 4 8 2 18 0.333 1 0 0 0 1 4 0 4 0 0 11
8 Averie Hernandez 4 7 3 23 0.174 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 0 7
15 Gabby Dean 4 6 2 14 0.286 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 7
7 Kenna Phelan 4 1 0 5 0.200 50 0 1 2 0 4 0 10 0 0 4
13 Kenzie Cogan 4 1 0 3 0.333 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 9 0 2 1
2 Taryn Kirsch 4 0 0 1 0.000 5 0 1 4 0 0 0 12 0 3 1
17 Vivian Campbell 4 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 Sophi Randall 4 0 0 1 0.000 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
22 Ava Wysocki 2 0 0 0 0.000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 65 18 165 0.285 58 0 2 8 1 12 1 77  

0

 6 74

Box Score